The time of From Software’s latest game is almost upon us, and that game is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Some of you might still have controllers embedded in the wall from the last Dark Souls game, but it’s time to dig them out. Sekiro will give a similar feel and challenge as previous From Software games, but with a few different twists.
You play as a disgraced samurai warrior with only one arm. You were pulled back from the brink of death and now you are a bodyguard to a young lord. This lord belongs to an ancient bloodline and bad guys just love targeting people like that for some reason. This young man is no exception to the rule, as he gets captured, making it your job to get him back safe and sound.
Your character is called the ”one-armed wolf” probably because you have one arm. No one told me that, it’s just tremendous insight on my part. However, this will not be a drawback to a warrior like you. The arm is now mechanical and does truly awesome things that will make us all feel like badasses. It will be mostly used for traversal as it can be a grappling hook. But in combat, it can also be used as a shield according to some of the videos. It might be an un-lockable ability, but one that would be worth acquiring as soon as possible.
There is a reason for the title including ”shadows die twice.” When you die in battle, which will happen a lot, you might be able to resurrect and pick up right where you left off. You can’t do this every time you die, so you will have to decide when best to use it and when best to save it. It can give you a strategic advantage to die and get back in the fight taking those that killed you by surprise. You can revive again by killing more enemies. It’s a similar idea to the regain system in Bloodborne.
There is also a stealth mechanic in Sekiro, which could really give you an edge. As in many games, foliage will make you almost invisible, but you can sneak up behind enemies who aren’t facing you and put you great big katana straight through their stomach. But your biggest ally here will be the grapple hook arm. You can get on the tops of buildings and do an oh so satisfying death from above. You probably won’t be able to clear entire areas this way but it will be a nice way to put the odds a little more in your favor.
It might also please you to know that Sekiro is not the only game From Software is working on at the moment. Not only have they recently released the PSVR title Deracine, but there are two new games in the works that have yet to be announced. This news comes straight from studio boss himself, Hidetaka Miyazaki in an interview with 4Gamer. He, of course, could not say what those games were but to rest assured that they will fit in with what we have come to expect from From Software games. Meaning more crushing difficulty that will make us want to bite our own hands off for not doing what we wanted them to do.
Autosarcophagy aside, this news leaves a lot of room for theories. Perhaps there will be a new Dark Souls. Deracine had a Bloodborne Easter Egg that made many think that it could mean Bloodborne 2 was in the works. Miyazaki said it didn’t mean anything, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working on it anyway. A Demon Souls Remake would also be quite nice. Or they could be none of those and be completely new. At this point all options are exciting.
For now though, we still have Sekiro: Shadows to Die Twice coming pretty soon. It will be released on March 22, 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC and will be rated M for Mature.