Activision has used the media attention Europe’s biggest gaming trade show Gamescom is getting and released a gameplay demo of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Developed by FromSoftware, famous of the Souls series of tough-as-nails action-RPGs, Sekiro has some giant shoes to fill. Check out the gameplay video!
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice had barely shown anything up until E3 this year but the little tease in December 2017 was enough for gamers to speculate and create extensive hype for over six months. After all, with a developer like FromSoftware behind the mystery project, expectations were nothing less than stellar. What would fans be getting? A sequel in one of the Souls series or an entirely new game? How much Souls DNA would still be there?
At E3, we finally got most answers to those questions when Activision unveiled Sekiro formally. Indeed, the game is a third-person action game with a hefty focus on melee combat while also having scary demon-like enemies. This led many to believe Sekiro was going to be a traditional Souls title, only with a feudal Japanese paint job.
This is not the case however, as the developer made it abundantly clear in interviews that Sekiro is its own thing. Totally unlike Souls games, Sekiro is foregoing multiplayer completely while doubling down on a story centered around a protagonist. Sekiro is aiming to tell a traditional story which is a big difference to the rather cryptic lore portrayed in the Souls series. So, no player created character either.
All this change is not a bad thing at all and led to even more anticipation because Sekiro is shaping up to become something unique while retaining a quality combat system thanks to FromSoftware’s expertise in the field.
The new gameplay video then showcases exactly that, the gameplay. We are seeing blazingly fast traversal thanks to a grappling hook but also stealth tactics while roaming roofs, crawling through bushes and creeping through buildings, doing surprise attacks on unsuspecting enemies. It’s pretty great stuff, really. Of course, we also see mini-boss fights which require quick reflexes to escape brutal attacks and try to wither down the enemy with perfectly timed strikes of our own.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice releases early next year for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
