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9 tips to help you survive Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware’s new action RPG is a relentless barrage of combat arts that will leave you writhing on the floor for days on end; here are a few tips to get you started.
As much as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an example of developers reinventing a familiar set of tools for the greater good of action RPGs, it's still a FromSoftware title that uses late 1500s Sengoku-era Japan to shatter your confidence in a matter of seconds and conjure metaphysical apparitions that continue to do the same for 30-plus hours.
It’s weird, gorgeous, unforgiving and a theatrical illustration of the highs and lows that push our creative boundaries, so we put together a few essential tips to help you harness your inner shinobi.
If there’s a will, there’s a grapple point
© Activision
1. Explore everything
As the loyal Wolf, you have an array of combat arts and ninjutsu techniques to help you get your Rikimaru on. But nothing's more important than the grappling hook. Sekiro’s open areas are full of item drops, NPCs, secret passages and hidden caches of lore, and using the prosthetic tool gives you the ability to navigate its verticality with ease. It’s as simple as going from point A to B while discovering point C, D, E, F, and G, but it’s still a FromSoft game and curiosity comes with its own risks.
Some alternate paths will lead you to hidden chests and shopkeepers with unique wares. Others will pretend to do the same and toss in a surprise mini boss just to see how you’d react to some Shredder wannabe who enters the frame like a bullet from hell. It’s exploration with a casual sprinkle of anxiety, but it’s worth it as you’re bound to miss a few helpful items.
Shall we dance… to swordplay?
© Activision
2. Study your opponents
One of the more surprising aspects of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is that it’s actually a rhythm game. Every enemy type utilises a different set of attack animations and with varying weapons, tempos, and behaviours, analysing their movements is critical. Mobs will use single strikes and basic one-twos to test your patience, but mini bosses and the like will turn your encounters into an episode of Sesame Street and incorporate flurries that range from 1-2-3, 1-2-3 and 4, and even 1-2-3 and 4-5-6-7-8-9-10.
It may sound like some anime nonsense, but taking a moment to study an enemy’s cadence will help expose weaknesses and shorten fights in the long run. You’ll still come across a few underhanded tricks but you can thank Miyazaki-san for that.
Deflections are a shinobi’s best friend
© Activision
3. Parry like you mean it
Even though the traditional Soulsborne games embraced the concept of ‘swipe, swipe, dodge’, Sekiro lives by white-knuckle combat that’s too close for comfort. The biggest reason for that is posture. The system forces you to implement a balance of offence and defence, and while a quick dodge can deter ‘perilous’ attacks and other unblockable actions, getting into an enemy’s grill to deflect their strikes can be the quickest route to a ‘deathblow’. Doing so can be outright terrifying but the key is to be aggressive.
Mixing in attacks with multiple deflections can chip away at an enemy’s vitality (heath bar) and deplete their posture, and there’s no better feeling than finding a groove with combat strings and putting a boss on their tippy toes.
‘Tidying Up’ or bust
© Activision
4. Organise your inventory
In short: Marie Kondo the hell out of your items and consumables. Keeping your Healing Gourd (aka Estus Flask) and Pellets in the first two Quick Item slots can provide health in a pinch while using the other three spots for Fistful Of Ash, Oils, Snap Seeds, and buffs like Ako’s Sugar can lend a hand with encounters that feel too one-sided.
You have five item slots to work with but it also doesn’t mean you have to use all five. Hitting the game’s pause button lets you change builds on the fly, and cycling through three or four items mid-clash is easier than expected.
Zen rules everything around you
© Activision
5. Invest in coin purses
Sekiro replaces souls for ‘sen’ – a currency that can be used to purchase items and prosthetic upgrades – but in typical FromSoft fashion, there’s a catch. Because of the game’s mechanics, you’re more than likely to lose half of your sen when you die and spoiler alert: that happens way too often. The best solution to that problem is to invest in coin purses. Buying Light Coin Purses (100 sen) and Heavy Coin Purses (500 sen) comes with a Tom Nook surcharge of 10 per cent in order to keep them safe for eternity. They’re not endless as merchants tend to have a limited supply, but they’re super helpful when it comes to saving up for items that cost 2000 sen a pop.
Two words: shinobi firecrackers
© Activision
6. Work those skill trees
As a shinobi, you obtain skill points by gaining experience through combat encounters and you have two primary skill trees to work with: Shinobi Arts and Prosthetic Arts. Shinobi Arts focuses on stealth tactics and essential abilities such as Mid-Air Deflections and Mikiri Counters, while Prosthetic Arts is focused on pinning your prosthetic tools to different play styles via stealth and direct combat.
There are other Arts to discover in the world and an entirely separate tree that is designed to upgrade and modify your prosthetic tools. They’re all worth investing in because they give you more of an arsenal to work with against every enemy type in the game. Sekiro’s baddies have a way of shuffling through dirty tricks that will make you yell "What?!" at the top of your voice and skill trees can help you counter with some ninja trolling of your own.
Reliving the days of future past
© Activision
7. Use stealth as a secondary
Utilising stealth might sound like a passive crutch for players who rage-quit Bloodborne, but it might be one of the best weapons the Wolf has at his disposal. Getting your Tenchu on allows you to isolate bad guys, eliminate ranged mobs such as archers and riflemen and eavesdrop on enemies’ conversations to get clues about nearby items and boss fights.
This can also be an effective way to get a jump on a tough mini boss who cackles at your quick dodges. Taking them by surprise via gardens and rooftops can leave them vulnerable to a ‘deathblow’ – cutting the length of the encounter in half to give you more room to breathe, think and attack.
The Sculptor has a thing for “tea”
© Activision
8. Be kind to NPCs
Compared to Souls and Bloodborne, Shadows Die Twice features a more direct approach to storytelling. It uses remnants, item descriptions and visually intense environments to weave a tale of vengeance and despair, and certain NPCs are positioned around the world to spoon feed you adequate amounts of lore and backstory.
You'll stumble upon mysterious doctors, noble warriors, information brokers and overgrown monks who are only troubled by headaches, and stirring up conversation can lead to side quests and quest rewards. You can attack some NPCs, but we’d advise against it for the sake of pillow talk that can permanently alter your play style.
There’s a high price for carp scales
© Activision
9. Kill every single fish.
Seriously. All fish must die. Without spoiling the moments that come with them, you’ll stumble upon a mythical creature in Sekiro that's simply known as the Treasure Carp. Collecting their scales is important for a specific side quest that mustn't be named, but trust us: it’s worth it.
