Like From Software's Dark Souls franchise, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is built around a series of challenging boss fights designed to push players to their limits. Whenever players successfully beat a boss in Sekiro, they know that they are one step closer to completing the game, and so knowing how many bosses there are is a good indication of how long it takes to beat the game.
Besides the main set of bosses, Sekiro also has a slew of mini-bosses that players can take on as well. These mini-bosses typically drop helpful items like Prayer Beads and Gourd Seeds that will in turn make the fights against the actual bosses a little easier. Mini-bosses can include characters like the Chained Ogre, the Shinobi Hunter, and Headless, and while they may not be quite as memorable as the main bosses in the game, they still shouldn't be taken lightly. Even so, most players will be concerned with how many bosses are in Sekiro and less concerned with the number of mini-bosses.
Some Sekiro players may feel as though revealing the number of bosses in the game is a spoiler, and so we recommend readers proceed with caution. Below the image of Lady Butterfly is a list of how many bosses are in Sekiro and who each boss is. For those who just want to know how many bosses are in the game, if we only count main boss encounters, it seems as though the answer is 13, and some bosses may be encountered more than once.
Here are all the Sekiro bosses:
- Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa
- Lady Butterfly
- Genichiro Ashina
- Folding Screen Monkeys
- Guardian Ape
- Great Shinobi Owl
- Corrupted Monk
- Emma, the Gentle Blade
- Demon of Hatred
- Divine Dragon
- Genichiro, Way of Tomoe
- Isshin, the Sword Saint
- Isshin Ashina
Some of the Sekiro bosses play an important role besides just advancing the story. For example, Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa must be defeated before players can upgrade the prosthetic. And other bosses require players to do more than just hack and slash their way through them, as is the case with the unique Folding Screen Monkeys boss fight.
As previously stated, some of the bosses are encountered more than once, as is the case with Genichiro Ashina. Genichiro Ashina is arguably the first boss in the game, but the first time players encounter him, they are meant to lose. That's because Genichiro cutting off the Wolf's arm is necessary to continue the plot, though it is technically possible to beat him for a slightly different cut-scene.
At this point, it's too early to say which of the Sekiro bosses will stand out as the hardest or most memorable, but From Software fans will no doubt have their favorites by the time they finish the game.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Wiki