When one talks about the developers FromSoftware you feel inclined to talk about the Dark Souls Trilogy. After all, it was a growing cult following that developed for Demon’s Souls, a PlayStation 3 exclusive, and the multiplatform Dark Souls game that brought From’s unique take🍸 on🐽 the action RPG genre to the mainstream.
So it’s easy to forget that they have been responsible for other great games before the term Souls-like became a sub-genre in its own right. However, even Demon’s Souls was developed as a spiritual successor to the Kings Field series another notoriously difficul🙈t but fair෴ dungeon crawler by the developer.
FromSoftware has been responsible for producing and publishing other titles like Armored Core, Chromehounds, Otogi, Eternal Ring, and Enchanted Arms. Unfortunately, said ✃games were not a major h🧸it outside of Japan despite being well-received by fans and critics.
So you can’t blame FromSoft for sticking with the Souls-like formula for almost a decade with three Dark Souls titles and the PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne. However, now that series’ director Hidetaka Miyazaki has stated that the Souls series has ended and there is no sign of a Bloodborne sequel, the developer has been free to create something new in the genre it popularized with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Set during the 16th century Sengoku period in Japan, thematically Sekiro is already a departure from the Gothic and medieval se൲ttings of its predecessors. However, it is the exclusion of the RPG mechanics and its focus on action over stats that sets this title apart.
So does Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice have the soul of a Shinobi or is a FromSoft🀅’s new title a watered down version of the genre it made famous?
25 Good: Character-Driven S𝓡tory
The Dark Souls series were never games that told stories that developed its characters. Instead, the Souls series tasked players with piecing together its🔯 ✤cerebral story through carefully crafted and interconnected worlds and strange NPCs.
Sekiro’s narrative focuses on a defined protagonist with meaningful interactions rather than a silent and created one. So even though there’s still a beautiful world to explore, as in the Souls ser▨ies, FromSoftware has opted to focus on characters that develop within the game’s world rather than the other way round.
24 💦 Good: Tenchu Fans Will Fall In Love With Seki🐬ro
The Metal Gear Solid series is often regarded as the first game to popularise the action-stealth genre on the PlayStation. However, it was the Tenchu series w⛄hich not only predated Snake’s first outing on the PS1 but was the more "pure stealth" experience desp🍬ite not having the sales number of Konami's title.
Interestingly, FromSoftware was responsible for publishing some of the Tenchu games in Japan and Sekiro was in the largely forgotten stealth ninja series. So despite having its lineage in the Dark Souls series, fans of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice should note it shares a lot of its DNA with Tenchu and could be regarded as an homage to th𝔉at series.
23 Bad: The Chara꧑cter’s Face Models Seem Low-Tech
Visually, FromSoftware’s Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne are still two of the best looking games this generation. However, the character faces never looked much better than the ones seen Demon’s Souls on the PlayStation 3.
The faces have a sort lifeless look about them which worked well for the worlds that Dark Souls and Bloodborne existed in but in a character-driven story like Sekiro, it would have been nice to see something on par with the likes of recent action titles like Devil May Cry 5.
22 Good: The Art Direction Is Fant🍎astic
Beyond the incredible gameplay, there’s another reason why FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series has stood the test of time, and that is the art style. This style has been distinctive since thꦇe first in the series and extends to everything from creature design, armor, and weapons.
Like the Souls series Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has beautiful art design. Sekiro though sets itself apart from the Souls series with its unique world inspired by Japanese mythology, temples, Shinobi, and Samurai. Instead of the medieval and Gothic art style that we associate with the developers, Sekiro resembles antique Japanese silk s🉐croll paintings and it’s beautiful.
21 Good: Environmental Level Desig🍌n 🍷
For veterans of the Souls series, Sekiro’s world design and the engine will feel familiar. Everything feels distinct and memorable in its own way and just like Souls, the interconnected level design is unmatched in t🤪he genre.
Sekiro’s world feels more open than ever before with snow-filled lands to duel on, long blades of grass to hide in, and rooftops accessible with your grappling hook. Sekiro is a faster, more explorable experience than its predecessors a✃nd there’s a sense of freedom and power not seen before in a From title🍸.
20 Bad: Souls Fans May Struggle At First 🤪
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice being the first new IP coming from Dark Souls Director Hidetaka Miyazaki since Bloodborne released four years ago ♔on the PlayStation 4. Naturally, fans of Miyazaki’s work have been waiting with a great deal of excitement for his latest work.
However, Souls veterans expecting to dive into Sekiro armed with just their experience of the previous titles may find themselves surprised by how differ⛦ent this new game is.♌ The game is faster than its predecessors and will require quite a bit of practice to master it the combat.
19 Good: The Battle System Is Arguably 👍Better Than Souls
As you’d expect from the creators of the Dark Souls series Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicehas a difficult to master yet fair combat system. In Sekiro, there is more emphasis on speed, timing counters and parrying more than ever ൲before.
Anticipating your opponent's attac🍒ks is important too as you attempt to break their poise by side-stepping, hitting flurries of combinations, and eventually landing that all-important finishing move.
18 Good: Impre🧸ssive Tactical Swordplay 🌱
There are very few games on the market that really focus on delivering tactical and real back and forth swordplay. In recent years there has been Kingdom Come: Deliverance, For Honor, Metal Gear: Rising, and of course, the Dark Souls series to some extent offer a more cereb🍒ral approach to sword fighting.
Sekiro does a good job of combining all the best elements of the back and forth swordplay you’ll find in the aforementioned titles. Some old-school gamers may remember sword fighting sims called Bushido Blade and Kengo, which focused a pure hardcore experience where one hit could end the fight🌄.
Sekiro isn’t quite as unforgiving but it is very close in terms of tac꧒tics and back and forth action, where the fight could still end very quickly and will give the impression that Sekiro is harder than its predecessors until you adjust your playstyle.
17 ♔ Bad: T🧔he Lack Of RPG Mechanics
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has shifted its focus to a more straight-forward storytelling style than the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. As a result, FromSoftware has opted to do away𝕴 with many of the RPG mechanics that fans wi🌜ll be used to.
There’s still a sense of RPG-like progression but instead of developing your character down to every last statistic there’s a skill tree for you to unlock abilities. However, in order to unlock these skill trees, you will need to find certain key items in the world. It’s a progression system that seems to aim at making Sekiro a more accessible title than its predecessors.
16 Good: The Stea൲lဣth Mechanics Work Very Well
There are very few games that succeed in providing a good stealth experience in a game. The purpose oꩲf a stealth game is to make the pla💦yer feel powerful and skillful at the same time. A good action-stealth game needs to find a balance between action and sneaking around.
We’ve seen this executed perfectly in the Batman Arkham series, Splinter Cell, Dishonored, and Metal Gear Solid. You can now add Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to that elite list ꦬtoo, attacking from hidden vantage points is so smooth and fluid that 🏅it’s incredibly satisfying and rewarding.