You may have heard of a little game called . It recently won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019, surprising many by taking the prize from Death Stranding. There are a lot of people who believe Sekiro deserved it, and I know I can count my girlfriend among them. Not for Sekiro's strik⛄ing visual style, mechanical 🧸polish, or enthralling lore, however.
No, she loves Sekiro be💮cause it gave her countless hours of watching me rage.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice released back in March, right around my birthday. This qualified it for my yearly tradition. I like to take the weekend after my birthday to exit society. I fuse with the couch, order pizza, get some choice snacks to pair it with, and game from Saturday morning (read: 12 p.m) to Sunday night (read: 2 a.m. Monday morning). This year's festivities would be different for one big reason: I was reviewing Sekiro for TheGamer.
My review duties gave me a legitimate reason to game all weekend. I had to get my review in fast! My girlfriend, Beth, asked me to play it at her place so we could spend the weekend together. She also happens to be a huge Bloodborne fan, and wanted to see its creator's new game. So with lots of unhealthy snacks, a strict deadline, and my love at my side, I set out to conquer Sekiro in a weekend.
Friday: The Assassin's Creed Japan I Always Wanted
Birthday weekend got an early start on Friday night. I picked up pizza, picked up Sekiro from GameStop, got a as a pre-order bonus, and arrived at Beth's house. Then... we ate while waiting for the ga𓄧me to install. B🐠ut that's what Netflix is for! One episode of something later, I was able to start being a ninja.
We were both blown away for different reasons. As as Assassin's Creed fan, I felt like I was finally getting the Japan-themed stealth game I had been asking for. As a Bloodborne fan, Beth enjoyed the gruesome visuals and the way they were incorporated into the feudal setting. She's a seamstress, and she likes to sew while watching TV. Sometimes I would pause to make sure she didn't miss things when she looked down at her machine - usually 𝐆whenever I got a cool kill, or encountered a giant rooster.
I would get my f♈irst taste of re♎peated defeat from the chained ogre. My trained action game instincts of constantly dodging worked against me. A few times I dodged into the ogre's grab. He threw me off a cliff to an instant death. I thought I heard Beth chuckle.
She swears she didn't.
Saturday: Curse You Lady Butterfly
Lady Butterfly was the first boss to really nail home the need to "git gud" at Sekiro. I found that the chained ogre and other early-game bosses each taught me a specific lesson. By this point I had learned when to parry, how to find the small window of oppo♌rtunity against a foe who constantly attacks, and which prosthetic arm gadget was right for the situation at hand. Lady Butterfly forced me to put all of those lessons into practice or die quickly. Even then, I still died to her swift assaults and tricky combos.
And that was just the first part of the fight.
The later part of the fight sees Lady Butterfly summon an army of illusory warriors. Yet despite being conjurations, they can do full damage. Meanwhile, Lady Butterfly herself still jumps around and attacks. It's easy to get overwhelmed, and I did. Many times. As I did everything in my power to stop myself from chucking my controller at the wall, Beth's eyes were still glued to the TV. She wasn't the one playing, so she was still enjoying herself as much as she was the day before. She even offered helpful observations li🌌ke "it looks like you got too eager when her health was low and messed up," or "maybe try a different boss and come back later."
The turning point came when I discovered an item that dispels illusions. "This is the key to beating that damn butterfly!" I thought. It was not. The item only dispels illusions right next to the main character. Meaning I still had to dive headfi🉐rst into the illusory army and Lady Butterfly's attacꦗks to use it. Not worth it.
Beth then gave another of her useful suggestions. Maybe I should take a break. We could go on a Pokémon GO walk and get some fresh airꦗ. "No," I replied. "I have to beat this stupid game."
The shinobi code (and TheGamer's review schedule) dema♕nded I endure.
Sunday: Pride And Accomplishment, But For Real
Eventually, something clicked. Maybe all of the repetition finally paid off. Maybe moving forward and getting health upgrades gave me the grit to survive Lady Butterfly's army. Whatever it was, I finally managed to put Lady Butterfly down for good. The first thing I heard was applause coming from right next to me༺.
Beth had been right there cheering for me all along. She watched me fail time after time, but only because she wanted to see me succeed. It sounds 🧸cheesy, and it was probably the low-sleep, weekend-long binge talking, but I felt the spirit of "Soulsborne" then. The hellish difficulty seems wജay too much at times, but it only enhances the rush of joy when you finally overcome it.
There was only one thing I could do at that point. I took her up on that Pokémon GO walk. Then we spend the rest of Sunday night watching anime. TheGamer's Sekiro review was published way after the deadline. It was the only way for me to give the game the time it needed for an honest review. If you 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:read the review, you'll see that time allowed me to truly appreciate the craft behind Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
We both appreciated the final product, enough that we were happy to see it win Game of the Year 2019. Beth appreciated it so much that she turned to me and said "You should really play through Sekiro again to get all the endings."
Help me.