Sekiro is a difficult game, if you come in believing you will blitz it in 20 hours you won't, I got the game after a friend told me to and had this thought, and for that I was mauled. the largest part of Sekiro's difficulty is the learning curve, this is because there is not one. even in the opening it is fairly easy to die because it takes time to realise how to and how important parrying is. beyond that opening there is little opportunity where you can take opponents one at a time, you will often be jumped and just have to hope that your parries are on time. however there comes a point in the game where everything finally clicks; the parries are on time, you are slashing people and not immediately getting hit by an unlockable, mikiri counters finally work. I don't really know when this point is, I guess somewhere around the third boss.
on the topic of bosses. most of them are good, and that's what you are here for.
mini boss 1: all the big general samurai guys
they are all basically just regular enemies with improved movesets and 2 health bars instead of just 1. they're not easy when you don't know what you are doing but most of them can be sneak attacked to put them at half health.
5/10 dead average for bosses
mini-boss 2: yujiro hanma: the ogre
genuinely one of the worst bosses in the game. it isn't a bad shout just to jump passed him, even on subsequent playthroughs of the game, I have never beaten this boss without dying at least once. loads of unlockables and attacks that are worthless for parrying. if you take note of which bosses are good and bad you may notice a common theme.
1/10 genuine ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
mini-boss 3: the snake, my biggest hater
the snake is pretty fun, its the only stealth boss. its a fantastic way of conveying the setting of the game, a typical dark souls version of Japanese mythology. pretty spooky.
8/10 spooked me the first time
Real Boss 1: big horse
gyobu is fairly easy compared with what is to come, it is very possible to defeat him without truly learning to parry and can be done by just blocking and waiting for posture to fix itself. this is because he spends half the time running away, but if he didn't do that he wouldn't really be any different from regular enemies.
also this guy is a fraud you don't attack him, only his horse.
7/10 I feel bad for the horse
at this point to get every boss you have to go and find some random lady in a house that is very missable to receive a bell from her as she says 'It's a charm made with the young master in mind. Please, offer it to Buddha for his sake.' now if you play the game you may notice that there are lots and lots of buddha statues, which one do you offer it to? why one of the several hundred in the dilapidated temple of course! this is so bizarre and is something that I nearly missed when I first played, try not to miss it as the area is important. but anywho this takes you back into wolfs memory (why?) and to the Hirata estate
mini-boss 4: the first one with the spear.
pretty forgettable mini-boss, outdone by a similar one that comes later, however its quite important as it is a good opportunity to use the only useful skill, mikiri counters.
5/10 important but not too important
mini-boss 5: the man determined to drive himself home.
one of three mini-bosses that just are: big guy, likes to drink. much of the difficulty of the boss comes from having to deal with the basic enemies that he surrounds himself with whilst still running away from him. once they're all dead he's pretty fun. real parries and only a few unblockables none of which are massively unfair.
6/10 too many goons
real boss 2: granny
the butterfly lady is a make or break point for some people, if you don't get how to parry by here you're cooked and you're in for a bad time. but once you do get it, it is a good challenge that incorporates parries dodges and prosthetic tools, one of the only times you ever need to use one. Granny has a good fake-out moment where its shown she really has 2 health-bars, however it is kind of to be expected. one of the only downsides I can see with this fight being that she spawns a whole load of goons about halfway through then turns them into butterflies that hone in on you but cannot be parried, not great.
8/10 the butterflies really do just come out of nowhere.
back to the real world and ashina castle, the next zone
mini-boss 6: the bull.
again, not a boss I am a fan of, parrying doesn't do enough. it feels more like a boss that you have to parry to defend rather than to just increase your attack. not as offensive as the Ogre though. what I will say is that its VERY VERY VERY annoying when you get a random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ infographic in the middle of the fight trying to say what a status condition is.
4/10 don't break up the fight with a infographic.
mini-boss 7: the man in the purple pyjamas
literally just a regular enemy from later in the game but with two health-bars and can be sneak attacked to make it one. you mikiri counter his kick by just stamping on his calf, this feels more painful than any sneak attack or slash wolf ever does.
3/10 poor leg
mini-boss 8: the cooler spear guy
this is a mini-boss that teaches you something, parries Mikiri counters, about 2/3 of his attacks are really slow and can be parried pretty easily, the other 1/3 of his attacks are unblockable thrusts which can be mikiri countered. really teaches you the bread and butter of the game.
9/10 only problem is that it's not earlier.
mini-boss 9: quick draw.
this guy just throws out his sword so fast that fromsoftware had to add a flash to let you know to parry, if you don't notice that you'll get 2 shot and wouldn't you know, he does two hits per attack. once you finally do realise it though it feels great.
6/10 too fast
real boss 3: Genichiro: the fraud of tomoe.
Genichiro is the one you fight at the start and lose to. in any normal story Genichiro here would be the end of the game and a culmination of all the things you have learned throughout the game. and thats what he feels like. Genichiro phase contains everything, regular attacks, mikiri counters, unblockables, annoying bow attacks. everything you have done is shown here.
phase 2 however introduces lightning. why can genichiro control lighting? I don't know mate, ask miyazaki. but knowing how to deflect the lightning requires you to read a paining, its never stated you can read the painting. its fine, the rest of phase 2 is easier than phase one.
10/10 needed a cutscene to beat wolf at the start.
at this point the game splits off, you can go and do whatever you like but the little boy Kuro tells you to go get the mortal blade, then a flower and then a rock. but this is around a third of the game and easily the weakest part, most of the bosses beyond this are great. with the exception of the apes and the demon of hatered.
overall game is about an 8/10
