080
mixture of offence and defence is vital. First you
need to break your opponent’s posture through
repeated attacks, then land the final death blow.
Slow the relentless pursuit in order to save
yourself and the enemy’s posture will recover.
Some have to be tired out through dodges before
you can even think about breaking their defence,
all the while keeping your own guard up through
a combination of parrying, dodging, and jumping
away to avoid wide sweeps aimed at your legs.FIRST STABS
If this sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. Even
smaller enemies are quick and devastating in
groups, and you will likely need a few tries to get
the timing of your deflections right so you can
get away unharmed. The unbelievable rush when
you take down your opponent is invigorating,
the controller shaking to give a sense of the
force of your thrust. Sekiro is quick to deliver
the next challenge: every area features several
mid-bosses in addition to a main boss, each a
test of everything you’ve learned up to this pointwith their wide move sets and
incredible speed.
It may be tempting to skip
some of the bosses, but it isn’t
advisable. They’re an important
source of practice and they
drop items with which to
permanently increase your
stats. Even then you’re always
very vulnerable. Good thing
you have an advantage in the
form of your prosthetic arm,
which you can upgrade with
different shinobi tools strewn
across the world. That way
you gain a second weapon that
exploits enemies’ weak points,
for example by dousing them
in flames or shattering shields
with a heavy hand axe. These
tools are neither gimmicks nor
failsafe ways to fell someone,
but absolutely essential parts of
the entire experience. If you’re
missing a tool you will end up
at an impasse sooner or later.
Thankfully it’s not all
trial-and-error. Moving
through a world filled with
humans means you can listenin on conversations to learn
useful information regarding
encounters or the locations
of important items. To obtain
an item that gets you finally
past an obstacle feels almost
as rewarding as winning a
battle, mostly because the
way to these consists of tense
sneaking and several battles.
Sekiro does have a short skill
tree, but these skills, which
you buy with your experience
points, often come at the cost
of being difficult to execute.
Like the prosthetic tools, they
are necessary to give you an
edge and also add variety to
combat. A handful of items give
you temporary boosts – you
can throw ash in an enemy’s
face or eat different sugars
for short increases in defence,
posture, damage, and stealth.
Upon death you lose half your
money and experience unless
you receive Unseen Aid, which
removes this penalty. This aid,
as well as your resurrection
ability, does come at a price,“THE UNBELIEVABLE RUSH
WHEN YOU TAKE DOWN YOUR
OPPONENT IS INVIGORATING.”
Right Even with
bosses a good
hiding spot can
be essential.In Sekiro’s beautiful
environs, you can
plan your moves
from afar.Left Some
enemies also
inflict nasty
status effects
such as
debilitating fear.