Sekiro’s review: Shadows Die Twice

Presentation

Dark Souls games have never been known for displaying the best graphics. Still, they have always had a distinctive style. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice carries on this tradition, with a captivating design strongly inspired by its setting. Of course, everything works very well, with the character animations looking superb.

Audio design is also a pleasure. Keeping your ears open is essential in this title, but you will never regret it. Great music and voice acting make the game a joy. Meanwhile, the sound effects provide constant hints and insights on what to do, especially in boss battles.

An occasional problem, and the only real problem, is that the camera can sometimes get lost in combat. The lock function will fail to find the correct target or fall completely, leaving you frantically trying to reorient yourself.

Final verdict

As always, FromSoftware manages to accurately balance infamous difficulty with a sense of fairness. Death is almost always the result of your mistake. Whether it’s a missed parry or just losing focus, you can’t blame the game. The fault lies with the player and in this sense Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice never gets too frustrating. The addition of a proper story, stealth gameplay, and attack-oriented fighting style make it feel like a whole new type of game. It looks fresh and exciting while still retaining the underlying Dark Souls formula.