Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

As a pretty big fan of the Soulsborne games I was really excited when I saw the teaser for this game at the Game Awards last year. There was a lot of speculation going on about what this game was going to be. Personally, I was in the camp hoping for a Bloodborne sequel, but it turned it to be on original IP which seems to be set in feudal Japan, called Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice.

If you’ve played or even seen Nioh in action then this game will look immediately familiar. Not exactly in terms of the gameplay but more with regards to the aesthetics. Being a huge fan of Nioh as well as ninja / samurai settings in games or films I am happy with this direction. They didn’t give away too much as yet, but it definitely has From Software written all over it. The same visceral brand of combat from their other games looks to be fully intact here along with the great boss battles we have come to expect from this developer. The grappling mechanic shown in the trailer also looks very interesting and there seems to be a unique mechanic regarding the player’s death as well. I look forward to learning more about these and any other unique mechanics in the time building up to release. It has also been confirmed that Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne director Hidetaka Miyazaka will once again be in the director's chair.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the fact that the game is published by Activision. I don’t think anybody could have guessed we would see a game developed by From Software and published by Activision at E3, especially not during the Microsoft Presentation. It definitely is an interesting partnership to say the least and I am very excited to see how it ends up. Hype engaged. You can check out the reveal trailer here: