Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the most recent original game from the Dark Souls and Bloodborne developer 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.
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 Twice follows this standard but in its distinct fashion.
Updated on April 19th, 2022, by Michael Llewellyn: Thanks to the huge success of FromSoft's recent Souls-like title Elden Ring new 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 in Elden 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 for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will 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 the Soulsborne genre, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will prove to be one of the most difficult games, and most challenging experiences, of all time. For those who have played Dark Souls or Bloodborne and 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 beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but that doesn't mean the game is completely over. Players who want to finish the game to 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.
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 in Sekiro: 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 thought Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was 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 the same level as Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
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 other Soulsborne games, 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 of Dark Souls and Bloodborne are, 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 to find and upgrade new equipment throughout the adventure.
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 the Dark Souls series 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 in Bloodborne and every game in the Dark Souls series has immediate consequences that can eventually be reversed with a bit of effort and the right items. However, when the One-Armed Wolf dies in Sekiro: 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 the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne feature a huge variety of weapons, armor, and builds that combine the benefits of found gear, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice features 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 can level up their resistances and 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 Twice is 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 the Souls series and the more recent Elden Ring.
If one is struggling with a particularly difficult boss fight in Sekiro then 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 in Elden Ring and Dark Souls. Perhaps more than any other FromSoft title Sekiro requires 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 of Elden Ring and Dark Souls players will encounter several NPCs that can be summoned to help their character with the boss fights. Elden Ring even 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 in Sekiro, 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 ninja Sekiro is supposed to be.
Using Stealth Is Very Important
An important mechanic in Sekiro is the use of stealth to be successful in missions. This shouldn't come as a surprise when one is playing as a ninja but for Souls fans, 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 title Elden Ring. It allows players to use the environment to slip past enemies and take them down with ease. Using it successfully in Sekiro is like trying to figure out a puzzle and replaying each level to become an efficient assassin.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is available now for the PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. Sekiro is compatible with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.