Sekiro: Shadows Die Twiceis the most recent original game from theDark SoulsandBloodbornedeveloper From Software, and while it’s completely different from those two games, it does take inspiration from them. Two ways the lauded stealth game is similar to its predecessors are in its length and its difficulty.
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Most games from Triple-A studios will take the average gamer around 20 hours to complete, and oftentimes there are multiple side objectives to engage dedicated players for even longer.Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicefollows this standard but in its distinct fashion.
Updated on April 19th, 2022, by Michael Llewellyn:Thanks to the huge success ofFromSoft’s recent Souls-like title Elden Ringnew fans are looking to the studio’s back catalog of amazing titles. One of their best is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and it’s also one of the most distinctive. Of course, it has Soulsborne’s distinct style, world-building, difficulty, and the moreish gameplay that fans love. However, Sekiro feels original thanks to its combat, stealth, and environment. These features were so well-received that many were implemented inElden Ring. It remains one of the studio’s best and original twists on the genre that they popularized. This list has been updated to outline what makes Sekiro different from Dark Souls and indeed Elden Ring.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Is About 30 Hours Long…
The main campaign forSekiro: Shadows Die Twicewill take the average player about 30 hours to complete, according to the average user-polled times on howlongtobeat.com. Some factors to consider here, though, are the skill of the players who responded to the poll, and your level of comfort with difficult RPGs.
For someone new to theSoulsbornegenre,Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicewill prove to be one of the most difficult games, and most challenging experiences, of all time. For those who have playedDark SoulsorBloodborneand have a basic background in quick-response combat in games, the 30-hour estimate for the campaign is probably closer to accurate.
…But About 70 Hours Long For Completionists
It takes about 30 hours to beatSekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but that doesn’t mean the game iscompletelyover. Players whowant to finish the gameto 100% completion can expect to take an average of about another 40 hours on top of the 30 required to beat the game, for a total of 70 hours in-game.
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To get 100% completion, the player must collect every Gourd Seed and Prosthetic attachment, beat every boss, explore every area, and complete a huge variety of other side missions inSekiro: Shadows Die Twice.Technically, the game’s Platinum Trophy requires even more of an investment, but at that point, one has probably stopped worrying about time spent in-game completely.
The Game Is Not More Difficult Than Dark Souls Or Bloodborne…
Upon release, many gamers thoughtSekiro: Shadows Die Twicewas one of the most difficult games ever made, even more so than From Software’s other notoriously challenging titles. As time has gone on, though, opinions on the game’s difficulty have changed and it is now generally thought of as being on thesame level asDark SoulsandBloodborne.
Part of this was because the game’s mechanics were similar in some ways but wildly different in other ways. For example, the healing system and parry mechanics are just about the same as in otherSoulsbornegames, but the game has almost rhythmic combat and deadly precise timings to constantly learn as well.
…But It Has Very, Very Different Gameplay
The gameplay mechanics ofDark SoulsandBloodborneare, for the most part, the same. Both games feature dodge-rolling with invincibility frames (meaning one can roll literally through a boss’s attack and take no damage) as well as a focus on exploration tofind and upgrade new equipmentthroughout the adventure.
Related:Sekiro: Things You Need To Know About The Gauntlet Of Strength
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, on the other hand, has no dodge-roll invincibility frames, the player uses the same sword and armor throughout the entire game, and poke-hide strategies so prevalent in theDark Soulsseries do not work nearly as effectively. Plus, just about every enemy requires the player to have near-instantaneous reactions for parries and effective combat.
Dying Matters For Different Reasons In Sekiro
Dying inBloodborneand every game in theDark Soulsseries has immediate consequences that can eventually be reversed with a bit of effort and the right items. However,when the One-Armed Wolf diesinSekiro: Shadows Die Twice,the consequences are nearly permanent, if not immediately apparent.
While the player will drop half of their collected Sen upon death, they also have a chance to respawn with a Rot Essence at the Sculptor’s Idol. The Rot Essence is inscribed with an NPC’s name, and they become sick and unable to progress the story. With enough death, every NPC is afflicted with Dragonrot, a disease caused by the One-Armed Wolf’s constant theft of life when he resurrects both on the battlefield and back at the Sculptor’s Idol. It’s not permanent, but curing it is quite a tribulation.
You’ll Only Ever Use One Sword In Combat
Whereas theDark Soulsseries andBloodbornefeature a huge variety of weapons, armor, and builds that combine the benefits of found gear,Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicefeatures no such system. For the entire game, the player will use the same sword in combat, with the same level of armor. Instead, the player canlevel up their resistancesand defense with Prayer Beads.
However, while there is only one weapon to use in the entire game, the player eventually learns how to wield a variety of other tools available to the shinobi. The grappling hook is perhaps the most used, but the Prosthetic enhancements, Gourd, and other items found in the game do the job of providing the variety that has a large number of armor and weapon choices. You won’t be able to customize the One-Armed Wolf’s appearance much, but that’s OK because he already looks pretty B.A. in the default game.
There’s No Multiplayer Feature
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twiceis a completely single-player experience. This means that there are no multiplayer options in the game at all. This is also one of main the reasons why many gamers feel that it’s a harder game than theSoulsseries and the more recentElden Ring.
If one is struggling with a particularly difficult boss fight inSekirothen they have to overcome that challenge on their own. There is no way to summon any outside help from other -often over-leveled - players like they can inElden RingandDark Souls. Perhaps more than any other FromSoft titleSekirorequires the player to learn their opponent’s attack patterns to succeed. In addition to no co-op gameplay features, there are no official PVP features for one to participate in either.
There Are No AI Summons
Throughout the worlds ofElden RingandDark Soulsplayers will encounter several NPCs that can be summoned to help their character with the boss fights.Elden Ringeven goes as far as allowing the player to summon the spirits of defeated mini-bosses to help them in the game.
There is no such mechanic available inSekiro,and in many ways, this makes sense as the game puts a heavy focus on one-on-one duels to the death like a classic martial arts movie. There is also something extremely satisfying when it comes to defeating a difficult samurai with deflections and parries like the supernatural ninjaSekirois supposed to be.
Using Stealth Is Very Important
An important mechanic inSekirois the use of stealth to be successful in missions. This shouldn’t come as a surprise when one is playing as a ninja but forSoulsfans, it may be a difficult feature to adapt to at first.
The stealth mechanic was so well implemented that it’s now a feature in FromSoft’s most recent titleElden Ring. It allows players to use the environment to slip past enemies and take them down with ease. Using it successfully inSekirois like trying to figure out a puzzle and replaying each level to become an efficient assassin.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twiceis available now for the PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.Sekirois compatible with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
