The stunning 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' is 'Dark Souls' as a Kurosawa film
There is something so beautifully fitting about From Software entering the pantheon of Japanese artists who have tackled the legacy and violence of the samurai legend.
The acclaimed creators of Dark Souls and Bloodborne elevated calculating, highly technical video game violence to new heights, creating a new sub-genre in the process. One cannot overstate the influence of From's uniquely ruthless and macabre rules around in-game death, in which you have to return to your corpse to hang on to progress you've made, and brutally unforgiving combat.
But Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (which we're officially calling the new YOLO) appears to raise the bar on that elegance, recalling one of the most renowned filmmakers in history: Akira Kurosawa.
Set during a fictionalized take on Japan's Sengoku period, during the 1500s -- the same timeframe as Kurosawa's Seven Samurai -- the parallels between the two go deeper than just era and mythology. From what we could tell during our hands-off E3 demo, there's also hints of Kurosawa-esque themes in the narrative.
You are the "one-armed Wolf" (a rough English translation of "Sekiro"), a disgraced warrior charged with rescuing your master, a young lord kidnapped due to his ancient and important bloodline. The underlying motivation of your journey is revenge, as you seek to regain the honor lost after a hooded Ashina samurai defeated you, cutting off your arm in the process.
From Software's Yasuhiro Kitao described the world as simultaneously rife with the death and decay of the period's civil war -- while also luxuriating in the natural beauty of Japan. At one point during the demo, you come across a beautiful garden with fallen red maple leaves littering the floor. But it looks like blood, and sure enough this scene leads you to a bridge where you meet a vicious boss.
Those familiar with both Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series will find the aesthetic and bosses familiar, though with a notably increased emphasis on sword-to-sword combat. Creator Hidetaka Miyazaki calls it the intense "flashing of swords," even integrating a "posture" stat that requires both parties (you and your enemy) to parry and attack with precision timing.
When someone's posture bar gets low, they become stunned and helpless. The ceremony of katana battles seems to be evidenced in the animations too, with the protagonist actually shaking an enemy's blood off his blade before sheathing it. There are also somewhat magical elements, with the one-armed wolf's prosthetic limb adding a variety of special abilities, like the stun-inducing "firecracker" effect seen in the image above.
There is one major deviation from the usual From Software formula, though: a complete reversal on their trademark death mechanic. As implied by the "Shadows Die Twice" subtitle, reviving yourself is an actual strategy in this game. It can "reset" a fight, allowing you to gain the split second of advantage needed to turn defeat into victory.
To be clear, resurrections are not unlimited -- and you will still be dying a lot in this game. From Software has not confirmed if there's any similarity to the Souls approach of forcing players to secure progress by recovering it from their previous life's corpse. But From's obsession with rendering death as a game mechanic continues in Sekiro.
Three other clear departures from the studio's previous work are in evidence at this point: the mechanics around movement and a more formal integration of light stealth gameplay. There's also no multiplayer of any kind.
The protagonist's prosthetic arm comes equipped with a grappling hook, allowing you to leap between rooftops. And while stealth (or just running in terror from everything) was an occasionally viable strategy game in previous From Software games, Sekiro necessitates it for success in certain encounters.
True to the studio's ruthless legacy, stealth can even require quietly slitting the throat of a sweet-looking elderly woman, because she's actually part of an evil cult that will become alerted to your presence if you don't silence her.
The decision to keep Sekiro focused around a solitary experience is meant to add an extra layer of isolation and focus on the protagonist's singular journey. Souls games allow players to summon others playing online for aid (or battle), but that's not an option here.
There is also more of a "cat and mouse" element to certain boss fights, like a giant snake that you narrowly avoid by escaping into an unreachable crevice. The other boss hinted at in the demo is what the studio calls "the corrupted monk,' an undead-looking female enemy draped in a bridal veil.
All of these shake ups to the core aspects of what fans have come to expect with From Software action-RPGs might lead to worry. But from what we can tell, this is a revitalization of the studio's core template. And the results will hopefully speak for themselves.
Sekiro is slated for release in early 2019, and is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Topics Gaming
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
