Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

 Xbox One
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 1759 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,556 out of 1759
  2. Mixed: 50 out of 1759
  3. Negative: 153 out of 1759
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  1. Kingdim
    Apr 27, 2020
    5
    First, I wanna say that I beat the game, and played over 80 hours. I've done the longest end and beat all the mini boss.

    This game is great and had a phenomenal potential...the problem is that half of the time you will feel frustration in this game, essentially due to bad mechanics, camera, input delays, stuck in animation, counter intuitive things, bad controllers, camera delock during    First, I wanna say that I beat the game, and played over 80 hours. I've done the longest end and beat all the mini boss.

    This game is great and had a phenomenal potential...the problem is that half of the time you will feel frustration in this game, essentially due to bad mechanics, camera, input delays, stuck in animation, counter intuitive things, bad controllers, camera delock during boss fight (one mistake you can die)....

    So this game is not for everybody; it's hard but the problem with the difficulty is that there is another one added : articficial difficulty. Umbalance boss, crazy learning curve and a GIGANTIC gap between exploration phases (very easy..) and bosses.

    When I finished the game I was released, not happy.

    I tried again in NG+, but even if I'm playing much better, I am still always frustrated with the same things.

    in summary :

    + POSITIVE
    -great musics
    -great landscapes
    -nice moves in the exploration phases
    -steath mecanic

    - NEGATIVE
    -odd camera
    -deflecting system too hazardous
    -gameplay not clear
    -input delay
    -you have to be fast and lots of time you will be stuck in animations
    -somes bosses are overpowered
    -Last boos, not chekpoint after Genichiro (you have to beat him all over again, it's just annoying, beleive me)
    -artificial difficulty (overpower bosses)
    -tiny space for some bosses, it's a nightmare (camera, you see nothing, you don't know what is going one etc ..)
    -when you die you 'll lose half of your exeperience HALF, unless the decease is not there, but even in this case you just have 30% chance to save it, half of your money etc ...

    (Sorry for my english, I'm not a native english speaker)    … Expand
  2. cableguy3333
    Feb 10, 2021
    5
    You want me to what ? parry ? well that's new to me and I dont want to so I wont be playing anymore of this nonsense. Honestly I could give the game a 0 but as huge lover of the developer via the dark souls games I wont. I've completed ds3 and ds1 ng+2 and still counting and I've never parried anything, I tried it once in ds 3 got hit a couple of times to my 1 hit and decided that was dumbYou want me to what ? parry ? well that's new to me and I dont want to so I wont be playing anymore of this nonsense. Honestly I could give the game a 0 but as huge lover of the developer via the dark souls games I wont. I've completed ds3 and ds1 ng+2 and still counting and I've never parried anything, I tried it once in ds 3 got hit a couple of times to my 1 hit and decided that was dumb so I never did it again, I played using just a sword and no shield unless you count the grass one strapped to my back never to be removed but there you have it, melee you have 3 options, dodge, parry or block and also in my opinion order of effectiveness, Sekiro has one class and one option parry parry parry. So if you like to parry sure you will probably love it, but if parrying is boring to you then stear well clear you will be disappointed, also I find parrying such a ridiculous idea, sure against fellow humans but against giants and such are you having a laugh, i guarantee you parry anything from a giant your end up the other side of the country it's like a truck is driving right at you, do you a) jump out the way or b) try to deflect it with a piece of metal, I don't care how big the lump of metal is you are holding, you wont be holding it for long… Expand
  3. piscesperiod
    May 8, 2020
    6
    Sekiro - Shadows Die Twice is the first game for which I've requested refund in many years (the last one was a malfunctioning copy of Power Stone for the Dreamcast). I bought it following the hype, the 'game of the year' thing and what not. Totally overrated. The combat system doesn't make any sense (precision gambling) - it's a visually delightful but badly executed hack-and-slash. NotSekiro - Shadows Die Twice is the first game for which I've requested refund in many years (the last one was a malfunctioning copy of Power Stone for the Dreamcast). I bought it following the hype, the 'game of the year' thing and what not. Totally overrated. The combat system doesn't make any sense (precision gambling) - it's a visually delightful but badly executed hack-and-slash. Not much to say about it, other than Microsoft did grant me refund in the end. Yay.… Expand
  4. Soleil83
    Oct 8, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The structure of the game turns it into a slog. I love the idea behind the combat system, but the bosses take an enormous number of hits and deflects to wear down and kill, meanwhile they can kill you in one or two hits. The battles aren’t insurmountable, but often require several attempts and there is a boss or mini boss roughly every ten feet. This pacing really makes the game feel like a punishing slog. The fights are fair but often don’t feel fair at first, and I ended up having to put the game down periodically because it was wearing me out. I did enjoy fighting the normal enemies, but fighting them is only necessary for grinding since you can use the game’s preposterous, archaic stealth system to avoid combat altogether. If you get spotted, crouch somewhere for ten seconds and they will forget you ever existed. In the end I only beat the game because I paid for it. You will see negative reviews claiming that the game is cheap and unfair. It isn’t. But it also isn’t worth the effort it requires. Great games like Bloodborne will make you want to strive to be better at them, and enjoy that process. Sekiro feels like an unpleasant chore. It is a well made game (except for some From-typical camera issues), but not a particularly enjoyable one. It’s a shame to see From join the ranks of AAA studios more concerned with making impressive games than enjoyable ones.… Expand
  5. Dom007
    Feb 13, 2021
    5
    As much as I love bloodborne and all other from software games I can't say the same with sekiro. I know they tried something different but this game feels inferior to every other game they've made. Whilst the game does indeed look beautiful and whilst the combat system is as always great. The level design is very linear. Usually I really like linear games but here it feels like just a bitAs much as I love bloodborne and all other from software games I can't say the same with sekiro. I know they tried something different but this game feels inferior to every other game they've made. Whilst the game does indeed look beautiful and whilst the combat system is as always great. The level design is very linear. Usually I really like linear games but here it feels like just a bit too much. There are two branching paths/areas within the first few hours and it would have been far nicer to have had more of them. The customisation is dreadful. There are no armour sets, swords or weapons to be found in the levels which makes exploring them pointless. The mini bosses are far too frequent and lacking in quality. The fact there's hardly a levelling up system is not good. Not only does it limit the replay value immensely in terms of playing as different builds/classes (something the souls games undoubtably had) it also makes defeating bosses frustrating. There where so many times when I spent hours upon end on bosses only to have no fun or enjoyment whatsoever throughout the encounter. In the case of the souls games if you ever got stuck on a boss you could backtrack to level up or get better equipment or even visit another area. But in the case of sekiro From software just force you into a boss fight and say good luck. This game is no doubt one of the most unenjoyable games I've ever played and it's a shame considering how much I like From softwares previous games.… Expand
  6. ashrageous3000
    Feb 14, 2021
    5
    The game graphics and story line are awesome, but the game is too hard. I was about halfway through the game when I got a microsoft ‘trophy’ that stated that I got the last trophy and less than 3% of people got it. The game is too hard if 97% of people can’t beat the 2nd main boss!
  7. ThePluckyBrit
    Apr 8, 2019
    7
    This review is a personal opinion and not necessarily a reflection of the game quality, if you enjoy the souls based games you may like this game, however I wouldn't suggest this is a guarantee, the souls games present you with more options where as this game is fairly linear and bar path choices makes most of the decisions for you, start with a katana, finish with a katana.

    I found the    This review is a personal opinion and not necessarily a reflection of the game quality, if you enjoy the souls based games you may like this game, however I wouldn't suggest this is a guarantee, the souls games present you with more options where as this game is fairly linear and bar path choices makes most of the decisions for you, start with a katana, finish with a katana.

    I found the difficulty annoying in this game, certain enemies very frustrating, and overall this is a serious case of get annoyed or get gud. I was of the latter camp and therefore have personally wasted my money, I gave the game 11 hours and reached madam butterfly before deciding I just wasn't really having fun and if I'm not enjoying an experience it's an experience best ignored. If you enjoy the Git Gud challenge you'll likely enjoy this but I'm a little long in the tooth for that kind of game these days. Well made, never encountered any issues or bugs (besides weird carp physics) and a decent game, but not a game for everyone.    … Expand
  8. kLRc4GE
    Apr 5, 2019
    6
    It's nice that FromSoftware has new engine but overall this game is too simplified.
    I don't give a damn about vertical movement and swimming (it's not revolutionary in 2019 - ough - for FS it is).
    Sekiro is nowhere near as good as SoulsBorne franchise. Just ONE weapon with ONE light attack, no stats, no armors, prosthetic arm with so-so "tools" and non-imaginative skill trees. Skills    It's nice that FromSoftware has new engine but overall this game is too simplified.
    I don't give a damn about vertical movement and swimming (it's not revolutionary in 2019 - ough - for FS it is).
    Sekiro is nowhere near as good as SoulsBorne franchise.
    Just ONE weapon with ONE light attack, no stats, no armors, prosthetic arm with so-so "tools" and non-imaginative skill trees.
    Skills are described via pictures (lol - you don't know what you exactly get and you cannot respec - it's 2019 FromS! Look at Nioh/GOW/DMC 5 approach!) and you have ONE gameplay option - parry, parry, parry - no diversity, no options and no other/different path - replay value 3/10.

    It's not a proper RPG and not a solid action game.
    At this downgrade rate I bet that next FromSoftware game will be released without items system - Soul Calibur style...

    HESUS - you give me this after Bloodborne?    … Expand
  9. seagseag123
    Apr 10, 2019
    5
    low-budget degradation of the series, from the middle is very complex, monotonous ....
  10. volkermuller55
    Mar 29, 2019
    6
    Say goodbye to armor, primary weapons, varied and complex builds, emotes and any other roleplaying elements, coop, and pvp. This is not a soulsborne game and fans of the soulsborne franchises should not be misled into believing that the gameplay is similar. Virtually every system has been overhauled, for better or worse.
    In some ways this title is more friendly to new players than    Say goodbye to armor, primary weapons, varied and complex builds, emotes and any other roleplaying elements, coop, and pvp. This is not a soulsborne game and fans of the soulsborne franchises should not be misled into believing that the gameplay is similar. Virtually every system has been overhauled, for better or worse.
    In some ways this title is more friendly to new players than previous ones because you'll never have to look at wall of stats that you'd have to dig around online to make sense of and you won't have the training scars from playing earlier titles. But in another way, it's much more hostile to new players because the difficulty scaling is unprecedented even for a From Software game.
    Grinding is mostly ineffectual as the only reward you get for grinding is Sen (the primary currency, which can be used to purchase consumables and in some cases prosthetic attachments) and Skill Points, which are used to purchase new acrobatic abilities for your character (only one of which can be slotted at a time). You cannot increase your HP pool or Posture by grinding and you cannot summon friendly NPCs to assist you in boss fights, meaning that when you get stuck on a boss your only option is to continue slamming your head against that wall until you win or quit the game.
    Many returning FromSoft fans that are hostile to new players, casuals, and the notion of accessibility in game design will see these changes as improvements, however I generally see them as a step backwards. I don't think it's good game design for the basic narrative elements to be inaccessible to many players (even some who are willing to spend countless hours trying to 'git gud').
    My single biggest complaint with the game is the reductive nature of the new combat system. Many players seem to feel that the combat system is more complex than ever, but I disagree and I will enumerate my reasons why: Poise has been all but removed from the game, weapon arts have been replaced by acrobatic skills, stamina management was replaced by posture, spirit emblems effectively replaced FP, the prosthetic replaced spell attunement, and the jump mechanic replaced the kick. The vast array of sorceries, miracles, and pyromancies (96 total in dark souls 3) have been replaced by 11 prosthetic attachments. In Dark Souls or Bloodborne there are a wide variety of different play styles and approaches that are equally viable for completing the PVE content. You can be a strong dude with heavy armor, a giant, slow weapon, and tons of poise that just knocks bosses on their asses and manages damage trades. You can use spellcasting as your primary strategy for virtually every boss in the game. You can use a dex character with high mobility and fast weapons that inflict status effects like bleed on enemies. They all do the job, and this fantastic variety makes for excellent replay value (even for the players that aren't interested in challenge runs).
    That's just not the case in Sekiro. You have one weapon, one basic play style, and bosses only have one or sometimes two different basic strategies that are viable to beat them. To make things worse, many of the acrobatic skills that can be acquired that are supposed to make the player feel like they're making progress and getting deeper gameplay are completely nullified by certain bosses. For example, unblockable thrust weapon attacks and some kicks can be countered with a skill called the mikiri counter and unblockable sweep attacks can be jumped over, followed by a swift kick to the face that deals a lot of posture damage. Certain bosses, like Genichiro Ashina (a required boss for story progression), for example, can completely nullify these abilities and punish the player for trying to take advantage of them. This removes depth from the combat and this tactic the developers use to increase the difficulty of the game is equally artificial as tactics like making a boss' attacks deal so much damage they're all one-shot kills or tripling the HP pool of the boss to make it harder.
    It certainly feels like the central principal of this game's design was to make it extremely difficult without regard for making the gameplay feel fair, varied, or balanced.
    These drawbacks are such an intrusive impediment to enjoying the game that they overshadow many pleasant qualities in the game. I like that they tried to challenge returning hardcore players by removing I-frames from dodges. I like the new grappling mechanic and how this frees up the artists who designed the maps to add an entirely new dimension to the areas you play in. The visuals and voice acting are superb, and there appears to be just as much effort put into developing the lore of this game universe as previous titles. There are tons of different boss fights to be had in this game with 15 bosses and 29 Mini-bosses, although some of them are effectively just re-skins. I love FromSoft and their games, but I think this one was simply a step in the wrong direction. 6/10    … Expand
  11. tobemayr
    May 22, 2019
    7
    By removing most tactical options concerning armament and character build, the main focus is on the attack-and-deflect combat.

    The stealth element similar to From Software's previous Tenchuu series makes a weak comeback, and the action/sword combat doesn't have much room for personal expression. Level artwork and setting is atmospheric, storytelling interesting. Overall, a lot of    By removing most tactical options concerning armament and character build, the main focus is on the attack-and-deflect combat.

    The stealth element similar to From Software's previous Tenchuu series makes a weak comeback, and the action/sword combat doesn't have much room for personal expression.

    Level artwork and setting is atmospheric, storytelling interesting. Overall, a lot of impact is sacrificed at the cost of high replay and practice demand.    … Expand
  12. Mauron
    Mar 23, 2019
    7
    Uno de los mejores juegos de from software, un sistema de pelea bastante comodo, unas graficas y cinematicas hermosas, y como siempre, los juegos de from, tan difíciles como sus antecesores dark souls III, me va encantando el juego, y mas porque el juego pesa alrededor de 12 gb!, es simplemente wow, pensé que el juego pesaria lo promedio, alrededor de 20gb, o 60gb, pero no!, me lleve laUno de los mejores juegos de from software, un sistema de pelea bastante comodo, unas graficas y cinematicas hermosas, y como siempre, los juegos de from, tan difíciles como sus antecesores dark souls III, me va encantando el juego, y mas porque el juego pesa alrededor de 12 gb!, es simplemente wow, pensé que el juego pesaria lo promedio, alrededor de 20gb, o 60gb, pero no!, me lleve la sorpresa de ser de solo como 8gb mas 5 de un parche, actualización o algo asi, lo cual no lo veo nada mal!, me hubiera gustado multijugador en este juego, pero pues tristemente, no tiene, espero que algún dia añadan multijugador, o algo, seria bastante divertido, una de las cosas que me desagrada del juego, son que los controles no son nada responsivos en ocasciones, me quiero cubrir, y no se cubre esquivo, y como quiera me golpean… Expand
  13. Hitjhon
    Oct 29, 2021
    7
    Primero que nada quisiera empezar diciendo que le juego es simplemente genial. Si ya son fans de Dark Souls no tienen que preocuparse. Este juego tiene la calidad esperada de cualquier juego de la saga Souls. Muy Recomendado. Ahora bien aquí empiezan los problemas que me parecen que para esta versión específicamente deberían solucionarse ya que al ser el publicador Activision el precio noPrimero que nada quisiera empezar diciendo que le juego es simplemente genial. Si ya son fans de Dark Souls no tienen que preocuparse. Este juego tiene la calidad esperada de cualquier juego de la saga Souls. Muy Recomendado. Ahora bien aquí empiezan los problemas que me parecen que para esta versión específicamente deberían solucionarse ya que al ser el publicador Activision el precio no va a bajar al menos no significativamente.
    El primer problema es uno de la saga souls en general y en este juego ya me pareció mas incómodo es definitivamente la cámara, a estas alturas no entiendo porque no se ha solucionado. El otro problema que encontré es los servidores que a veces simplemente no funcionan y por ende no se puede jugar. Y por último el problema relacionado a la versión del juego correspondiente a Xbox One es que si se tiene una consola de nueva generación como la Series S en mi caso el juego corre 30 FPS que no son para nada suaves parecen que caen pero según tengo entendido es otro problemas me parece que lo llaman ritmo de FPS. Y esto se relaciona al problema de que Activision no rebaja sus juegos y que además sacaron una versión de "juego del año" el año anterior y sinceramente este no es un juego de 60 dólares (la versión de PC sí). Así de sencillo. Con todos los problemas que mencioné recomendaría comprar en descuento y si es posible una key mucho más rebajada.    … Expand
  14. nateOstrike
    Apr 9, 2023
    5
    Money for jam.

    Creating a game that goes on and on for 100s of hours all because all you do is fight each stage and the bosses 100s of times trying to figure out how to beat them. BORING…!!! Lots of people love this type of thing but it is so hard and pointless to me that it isn’t even fun. The graphics are awesome, the enemies are great, sword play is amazing and story was pretty good    Money for jam.

    Creating a game that goes on and on for 100s of hours all because all you do is fight each stage and the bosses 100s of times trying to figure out how to beat them.

    BORING…!!!

    Lots of people love this type of thing but it is so hard and pointless to me that it isn’t even fun. The graphics are awesome, the enemies are great, sword play is amazing and story was pretty good for the first few stages that I played but it is just too hard. I don’t have time to be learning ‘moves’ and repeating stages a million times over anymore. I just want a moderately easy to hard game that I can enjoy while playing and where I can progress the levels and just have fun.

    This game, like all the souls games etc etc are just not for me. I hate them, which is a shame because they play so well. If you’re a kid or teenager that has heaps of time and enjoys repetition and doing this ‘impossible hardness’ stuff because ‘normal’ is for noobs or whatever they say these days then you’ll love it.

    Plenty of people rate it 10/10 but not for me. Not fun, a chore, and dead set boring. It is money for jam and really good marketing     … Expand
  15. Nerevarinho
    May 26, 2023
    5
    Tutorial was good, it was a good balance between story and fight.
    Then you are thrown into a stretched out map filled with annoying enemies. Grapple Hook feature makes no sense, since you have to explore the map on the floor for finding important items. So the Map is designed to grapple hook all over the place like in Arkham City, without sense, just to sell a feature.
    Enemies are not    Tutorial was good, it was a good balance between story and fight.
    Then you are thrown into a stretched out map filled with annoying enemies. Grapple Hook feature makes no sense, since you have to explore the map on the floor for finding important items. So the Map is designed to grapple hook all over the place like in Arkham City, without sense, just to sell a feature.
    Enemies are not fun to kill, combat makes not fun, you barely see the stun meter of the enemies, and your lifebar goes down too quickly. When multiple enemies attack, it gets hectic and escape may end on a cliff death. I have not the pacience to pull every enemy at once and do the same combat moves all over again. After monotone fight through the level until reaching a miniboss, i decided to upgrade myself somehow, after all, my experience bar had level 2. But how to become more powerful? I thought lets try at the upgrade guy at the starting zone. Due to a found amulet, the upgrade guy throws me into a new level without my permission, and the level is designed the same, a very long level with annoying enemies to chore through. It was so annoying, at some point ran through, reaching a white-invisible wall, the game forced to do this annoying combat. If the combat was at least more fluid and responsive, I may have forced me through.
    Also other stuff annoyed me, like press-and-hold-X to loot the money from enemies with a magic magnet (from enemies that may also be far away due to hectic multiple-enemies combat). Or the repetitive combat music, I could not hear it anymore.    … Expand
  16. Salt_addict
    Feb 14, 2022
    6
    Huge souls fan: great game but for me the difficulty spiked a little early. yes I understand Git Gud.

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best Xbox One Game of 2019
6
#6 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2019
5
#5 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. GameGrin
    Dec 2, 2019
    90
    It’s certainly not a game for those looking for a more relaxing trip through mythical Japanese inspired locales, but whoever decides to stick with Sekiro through its hardships are bound to experience one of the most rewarding and memorable titles of the year.
    Read full review
  2. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    May 22, 2019
    90
    The corollary of its obsessive refusal to countenance even a hint of compromise is the vast amount of satisfaction it provides when you do finally make those breakthroughs and progress to a new area. If you fancy yourself as a hardcore gamer, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the embodiment of what games are all about. [Issue#177, p.77]
  3. Cubed3
    May 3, 2019
    90
    Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the breath of fresh air the "Soulsborne" sub-genre needed. It proves that stats, levelling-up, and equipment, is not what makes this kind of games. Instead, what matters is how death is treated, what sort of consequences there are for choices the player makes, and really big doors that open dramatically slow. The verticality of the level design, grappling hook, jumping and almost Zelda-style progression makes this one stand out in an ever increasing sea of imitators. Ultimately, this is more than just a sum of its parts; it's full of mystery, jaw-dropping spectacle and intense satisfaction.
    Read full review
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