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How Sekiro aims to resurrect the action RPG genre
FromSoft and Hidetaka Miyazaki’s upcoming title thrives on intense, white-knuckled combat and is one twist away from subverting the action RPG genre. Here’s how it’ll manage it.
Call it ingenuity or a calculated chess move; From Software’s decision to open 2019 with a new IP is another notch in their ability to think outside the box and origami the hell out of the material that’s left over. Instead of reinventing 2009’s ‘Demon’s Souls’ or spoon-feeding ‘Bloodborne 2’ to the masses, the Japanese video game studios opted to remodel their action RPG formula. They disassembled it; dissected its intricacies; and instead of stapling buzz words like ‘battle royale’ and ‘loot shooter’ to their chest in hopes of fitting in with the current climate, they romanticised their strengths and fundamentals to the point of creating one of the year’s most promising titles.
The end result being Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: a Tenchu-inspired, action-adventure tale that blurs the lines between Soulsborne and Stealth Assassins. In Sekiro, players inhabit a shinobi named The Wolf who is seemingly left for dead after a commander of the Ashina clan severs his arm and kidnaps a young lord he is sworn to protect. The Wolf awakens post-battle to find that his missing limb has been replaced with a mysterious prosthetic and what follows is a rescue mission slash revenge saga that’s Dororo to the core. Unlike FromSoft’s recent fixation with Victorian London, Sekiro is rooted in the Sengoku period of Japan with its tale of ‘fate and growth’ being tethered to medieval concepts and a fixed protagonist. The latter is a surprise but for FromSoft, the fun of creating something new undermined the difficulties involved.
“There were many things I feel we learned throughout the [development] process,” says director Hidetaka Miyazaki. “But the biggest thing that surprised us was just how much having a fixed protagonist influences the story’s focus. Our previous titles put this focus on the story woven by the world itself, whereas shifting it onto the protagonist allows for a completely different type of storytelling which I feel was something very fresh and appealing. We still believe those aspects of storytelling from our previous titles are present – such as putting the player’s experience first by not forcing the story on them or by giving their imagination room to work with fragmented elements. But even so, I do think our approach this time has a charm of its own.”
Part of that charm is due to FromSoftware’s new group dynamic. With Miyazaki working on the general plot and taking a director’s position, the majority of the text and dialogue for Shadows Die Twice was delegated to other staff – producing ‘many enjoyable, stimulating aspects’ and a base for ‘finding the best way of doing things’ in terms of future projects. The general change in workflow embraced a new rendering of collaborative story building, but it also persuaded other From creatives – such as composer Yuka Kitamura and lead game designer Masaru Yamamura – to explore ‘new stimulus’ and their own interpretations of how beauty contrasts with death.
It’s a nice day for a “death blow”
© Activision
“One thing we focused on in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s artistic design was the use of more vivid colour,” says Miyazaki. “During the early stages of development, I looked back on things that inspired a series of Japanese taste and was fascinated by the beauty of these colours – deciding on them as one of the concepts for Sekiro’s artistic design. We were conscious of using such colours effectively as a means of adding flair to the dynamic combat as well as painting the world around it – adding our own idiosyncrasies and dramatic fantasies in an attempt to create an original take on Sengoku, Japan, and in a way that represents us.”
“Thinking back now, I do feel that we may have gone a little overboard in some areas but this isn’t all that out of the ordinary for us,” laughs Miyazaki. “Without giving away any spoilers, I do like a certain area of the game that incorporates Buddhist motifs. It combines the vivid colour palette with a nuance of ruin, as well as other ostentatious elements to good effect.”
FromSoftware’s augmented take on colour and sound design isn’t revolutionary by any means, but the level of detail is borderline unfair. Every set piece is designed to be a moving, breathing environment as opposed to being a backdrop for the main attraction, and it shows in every way. Swords sing when they flicker off each other; Yuka Kitamura’s compositions feel intertwined with every passing leaf and ember; and even the technical prowess behind the nightmare fuel that’s known as ‘that big ol’ snake from E3’ makes the 1997 film ‘Anaconda’ look like ‘Snake Pass’. Throw in the fact the default audio for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will be set to Japanese and that all versions released in English-speaking territories will feature both Japanese and English audio (as well as English subtitles), and it’s clear: there are levels to this kind of immersion.
But what about the combat? Well, it’s a FromSoftware title. You’re going to be punished. A lot. Sekiro still stands by Miyazaki’s intent of using gameplay mechanics to create an experience that allows players to feel a sense of accomplishment by overcoming challenges. It’s just here, the Souls standard has been spiked into an alternate universe. Classes, stat systems, and the art of collecting souls have been swapped for katanas, stealth kills, grappling hooks, prosthetic tool combos, and XP and a form of currency that can be put towards skills and purchasing new items and consumables. There’s less room for customisation but with a dedicated jump button, Sekiro’s verticality and environmental traversal opens a window for more experimentation.
“Sekiro demands a unique approach to combat and tactics that is different from previous titles, which should pose a challenge for both existing fans and new players alike,” notes Miyazaki. “You can use elements such as stealth and dynamic positioning to find a good attack point or use prosthetic tools in order to overcome challenging situations effectively. Players are able to employ a great deal of cunning and because of this, I feel Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is less rooted in pure action and more in strategy than previous [From Software] titles.”
Counters are a ninja’s only friend
© Activision
The biggest change is arguably Sekiro’s new ‘posture’ system. Predicting an enemy’s patterns and aggro-ing any sudden movements will favour those who prefer to win battles using attrition. But forcing guard against heavy attacks or using more passive abilities, such as perfectly timed deflections and Mikiri-counters, will actively damage their posture. Doing so in conjunction with prosthetic tools will increase their posture meter even further and make enemies vulnerable to ‘death blows’. But as Miyazaki points out, preventing posture recovery or even slowing it down by reducing their vitality is important when it comes to Sekiro’s more powerful enemies. And in the case of the tagline Shadows Die Twice, FromSoft’s new spin on death is worth exploring.
“Resurrection is essentially a system to help avoid losing pace due to dying too often,” explains Miyazaki. “There is a demerit set after one chooses to resurrect and I imagine there aren’t many opportunities in which you will intentionally die and then make use of resurrection. The shinobi combat that we aimed to depict brings a constant risk of death and with that, the tension is always high. However, simply creating something like this leads to the protagonist dying far too often, which can ruin the game’s tempo, and resurrection is a system designed to mitigate this.”
“Though I think in some cases, resurrection can also be used to catch enemies off-guard and lead to certain decisions on the player’s part. This allows for a chance to escape and regain composure, aim for a ‘death blow’ or even use ninjutsu techniques to dramatically alter the situation. Just now I said ‘there aren’t too many opportunities’ for dying and resurrecting on purpose, but items and such do exist that allow the protagonist to choose death at will – should they wish to make use of resurrection. In the cases of using such methods, the aforementioned demerits don’t apply and could possibly lead to unexpected strategies in some cases.”
In other words, expect the unexpected. We know that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will feature a central hub area, unethical boss techniques, and a Mortal Blade which can be used to ‘sever immortality’, but its narrative and storytelling elements are being kept under wraps for the sake of creating a much more personal experience. And for good reason: some AAA titles regurgitate information to the point where their design choices start to boycott themselves, and in turn, are divorced from the concept of video games being an immersive phenomenon. They’re meant to be a form of escapism that surprises and challenges our creativity and resolve, and in the case of Sekiro and the way it uses strategy to shape ‘builds’ on the fly, Shadows Die Twice is proof that a developer can find success in challenging their own conventional values and principles.
“I would first like for players to sense the dynamism, intensity, and thrill of shinobi combat,” says Miyazaki. “With this at its core, I think Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice’s distinctive style will come through – greatly increasing the allure of the other elements of the gameplay, world, and story… We hope players enjoy our take on this lonesome bond between lord and retainer.”
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice hits PS4, Xbox One, and PC on March 22.
