Sekiro - Review Roundup

Some reviews for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice:

• Attack of the Fanboy - 4.5/5
• COGconnected - 88/100
• Destructoid - 9/10
• Game Informer - 9
• Gamespot - 9 (review in progress)
• GamingTrend - 95/100
• Hardcore Gamer - 4/5
• IGN - 9.5
• Polygon - No score
• The VG247 review - No score

More information.

Well deserved scores. It's early to say, but so far it's my GOTY.

Are there enough RPG elements to satisfy an RPG fan?

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Are there enough RPG elements to satisfy an RPG fan?

Doubt that. Unlike their previous games this does not have e.g weapons or armor drops. There is an upgrade system though (for your arm i believe).

From what i'm reading on other forums it's also harder, and some people say it's just too frustrating to be fun (more so than DS).

From Softvare in Sekiro emphasized different parts of the whole, compared to DS. Combat itself is now more complex I would say. While in DS, there were different attacks with different weapons, in Sekiro you have only one sword and additional attacks and moves are obtained through skill trees. Sekiro has very basic stats though. Vitality and attack power, thats it. What I like about Sekiro, is that level and encounter design has less artificial feeling. In DS I had often feeling that all around is set like puzzle stage for player, rather then real place. Dont feel like that in Sekiro as much. And there seems to be more narated story. But dialogues are not much less confusing then in DS :-)

Well… the "RPG" tag is so diluted these days. It depends on where you put the line, really. Sekiro has customisable talent trees, dialogues and gameplay choices that matter and change the world around you drastically, and puts you in the role of a nameless shinobi in pursuit of the only duty he has ever known - protecting his master. The choices you make both in dialogues and in the way you choose to play will have consequences.

That said, tt doesn't have the RPG level of say Torment, or some other text-heavy choice-centric RPG, but in my book it can be very well catalogued as an Action RPG and your choices mater more than they do in games like say, most Zelda games, which to many are the epitome of "RPG" and you really just follow a very preset story with no power to change anything in it other than whether you do Dungeon A before Dungeon B or the other way around, and the RPG elements are three sword upgrades, a boomerang and heart containers. Sekiro's lore and background are solid and rich, and it does a much better job at telling you its story than the Souls games do.

So in short, I'll say yes, Sekiro is a RPG, because it gathers enough elements to be considered a RPG.

Someone has to be a negative nacy it's an action adventure game. It's like someone calling BatteTech an RPG. Guess the bar has been set low that any game is an RPG.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action-adventure video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Activision. The game was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 22, 2019.

Title: Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice
Genre: Action, Adventure

Then I have to say I enjoyed Zelda, the Action Adventure saga.

time to buy I think.

I've been participating in discussions about RPGs for over 20 years, and I've never once seen someone claim Zelda as being the epitome of an RPG.

Originally Posted by Andrew23
From Softvare in Sekiro emphasized different parts of the whole, compared to DS. Combat itself is now more complex I would say. While in DS, there were different attacks with different weapons, in Sekiro you have only one sword and additional attacks and moves are obtained through skill trees. Sekiro has very basic stats though. Vitality and attack power, thats it. What I like about Sekiro, is that level and encounter design has less artificial feeling. In DS I had often feeling that all around is set like puzzle stage for player, rather then real place. Dont feel like that in Sekiro as much. And there seems to be more narated story. But dialogues are not much less confusing then in DS :-)

Combat, more complex than dark souls? I cant agree with that at all. There’s just so much going on behind the scenes influencing combat in DS. Weapons don’t just have different attacks they have different, weight,speed, damage, effects (poison, fire , bleed, etc) and combos. Then there’s shields with all the same attributes plus parrying. Then add in different builds, stats, poise, and encumbrance which all effect your speed, rolls, attacks, parry and i-frames. Then you have the ability to backstab in combat. I mean all these things work together so intricately to effect everything all the way down to how fast or slow you drink a potion.

Sekiro has none of that, no poise, no different speeds or weights, no encumbrance, no true parry or backstab (in combat) and so on. Sure sekiro does have options but not much complexity imo.

95% on encounters rely on managing posture. You get to pick what move you want to do that but that’s the extent of it.

Not saying sekiro isn’t good because i think it is but I wouldn’t call it complex and its a far cry from the complexity of DS imo.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Someone has to be a negative nacy it's an action adventure game. It's like someone calling BatteTech an RPG. Guess the bar has been set low that any game is an RPG.

Yep, from software has said from the beginning that its not an RPG, its an action adventure game.

It does have a skill tree, dialogue options, npc’s and choice that affect the world and its multiple endings. If that’s enough for RPG fans will be up to each individual.

I play more than just RPG’s though so it’s plenty for me.

I'd like to buy this… but in every souls game there are a few bosses I could never master… I always needed help to kill them… especially the last two bosses in the final DS3 expansion (the dragon and that last guy can't remember his name)… I could never beat those. If I run into a situation like that in this game I'm done and it will be 60 bucks down the tubes.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I'd like to buy this… but in every souls game there are a few bosses I could never master… I always needed help to kill them… especially the last two bosses in the final DS3 expansion (the dragon and that last guy can't remember his name)… I could never beat those. If I run into a situation like that in this game I'm done and it will be 60 bucks down the tubes.

Yep, forgot to mention this in my earlier post.

This game is hard, i have thousands of hours in these kinds of games and I’m telling you its hard. Now i do have to take in to account that I’m learning a new combat system but still, its hard. Did i say it’s hard yet?

I have a bad feeling that many ( how many, I have no idea) people could get stuck and get tired of banging thier head against the wall and quit. As did one reviewer in this roundup.

Not having multiplayer or at least a summoning system for an npc is a mistake imo.

Now I don’t have all the skills so they may use them to compensate. For instance enemy thrust attacks were a pain until i got a skill that allows me to deflect them and now enemies with thrust attacks are pretty trivial. Even if that’s the case though how many people are going to wait to see if they get a skill or prosthetic that will help them?

Originally Posted by sakichop
I have a bad feeling that many ( how many, I have no idea) people could get stuck and get tired of banging thier head against the wall and quit. As did one reviewer in this roundup.

This is my biggest concern, when thinking about getting this game.

I don't mind banging my head against the wall for a few encounters during a game (dying and restarting a fight), as long as it doesn't mean having to replay an entire 15 minute area (not just the difficult fight) and as long as it doesn't happen more than a few times.

Or if it happens more than a few times, I would be okay with dying a lot as long as I am not dying a lot on one single fight and that repetition does not occur too often during a game.

Just found an NPC that will help you with a fight. Of course he’s brain dead, ran in and got himself killed before even landing a hit. But at least he’s there.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Combat, more complex than dark souls? I cant agree with that at all. There’s just so much going on behind the scenes influencing combat in DS. Weapons don’t just have different attacks they have different, weight,speed, damage, effects (poison, fire , bleed, etc) and combos. Then there’s shields with all the same attributes plus parrying. Then add in different builds, stats, poise, and encumbrance which all effect your speed, rolls, attacks, parry and i-frames. Then you have the ability to backstab in combat. I mean all these things work together so intricately to effect everything all the way down to how fast or slow you drink a potion.

Sekiro has none of that, no poise, no different speeds or weights, no encumbrance, no true parry or backstab (in combat) and so on. Sure sekiro does have options but not much complexity imo.

95% on encounters rely on managing posture. You get to pick what move you want to do that but that’s the extent of it.

Not saying sekiro isn’t good because i think it is but I wouldn’t call it complex and its a far cry from the complexity of DS imo.

Definitely agree DS has much more variables that have impact on combat. After all, DS is RPG, while Sekiro … not really.

So yes, in DS you may approach each fight in numerous different ways, starting with different builds, weapons, armors, rings, buffs, afflictions, etc. But once choices are made, execution itself is rather straightforward, or even simple (dont confuse with easy, mind you :-) Execution of combat in Sekiro is more varied, thanks to many contextual skills, making the fight event more complex. And as well harder to master I would say.

I think combat can't really be compared between Dark Souls and Sekiro. The vitality/posture formula makes combat a little more tactical, and in a way, more realistic in the sense that enemies aren't HP sponges, you fight to outmaneuver them and bring their guard down, and then a single precise strike puts them down (or takes a "pip" in the case of bosses). I don't think it's either better or worse.. it's mostly down to personal preference. I like both, and I don't want to write any of them as worse than the other.

I do feel Sekiro is more punishing and requires more "perfect play" than Dark Souls that often is reduced to an universal "roll behind the boss and use single/quick attacks" formula to win almost any scenario. Sekiro forces you to play the way it's meant to be played and cheese tactics are limited, which makes combat feel more epic and impactful, but again, not to say Dark Souls is bad, I can see why some might prefer that combat type over Sekiro's.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I've been participating in discussions about RPGs for over 20 years, and I've never once seen someone claim Zelda as being the epitome of an RPG.

Well, lucky you, I already did.

Yeah I’m going to say “no” to this game being more tactical or in any way more realistic than DS. If someone cuts your throat because you ill timed your swing and left an opening your “posture” would be quite irrelevant.

DS games cater for different styles of play and builds to allow you to customise your game according to your ability and make progress. This makes the DS games manageable and enable fun exploration and discovery.

I have not played Sekiro but from what people are saying it is forcing one style of play to succeed. Is that right?