Sekiro review-in-progress: a bold and brutal new vision

Not to brag, but I’ve beaten Ornstein and Smough on NG+3 without summoning (and with a strength build). That’s why I trust I’ll emerge from my time with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice bearing a happier emotion than self-loathing, but that’s what I’m feeling right now. Soulsborne games often feel their most unconquerable at the beginning. Take for instance the long run to the Taurus Demon in Dark Souls, or if you’re a PlayStation moonlighter, the brutal slog to the werewolves early in Bloodborne. These sections are challenging enough in themselves, but are made harder while you're still learning each game’s particular rhythm: keep your shield up and wait for an opening in Dark Souls, then unlearn those habits for Bloodborne's more aggressive approach. Sekiro requires the same patience to learn its peculiarities, the most demanding of which are the changes to combat. You can deflect most enemy attacks, and if you get the timing dead-on, a satisfying pop of light indicates that you’ve damaged their posture. Break their posture entirely and you can deal a ‘shinobi deathblow’. Regular mobs can be killed like this or by depleting their health the old-fashioned way, while bosses require multiple deathblows to finish. If your timing is slightly off, deflecting won’t weaken enemy posture but can still protect you from damage, which is nice.

from PCGamesN https://ift.tt/2FsAHmm