Hot take: Sekiro isn't nearly as challenging as other FROM games and it is all due to enemy design

[zeitgeist]

I think Sekiro feels like the most fair FROM game.

It is harder to cheese bosses but once you get the rhythm of their attacks down, the fights are pretty amazing.

I have 3 bosses left and just wiped out the last of the mini bosses (who were some of the hardest fights) and I am going to feel genuine relief when it is over.

 

[MCD]

Different type of challenge IMO.

Sekiro is about 1v1. All about perfecting your reflexes and mastering the art of the sword.

Dark Souls is how to survive with all the tools you have against the horde of demons.

 

[DWarriorSN]

Easily From Software's hardest game, there's no stats, summons or long range magic for people to crutch on.

I do think that when you DO get it becomes waaaay easier and you feel like a god.

 

[NoUse4AName]

Enemies in Sekiro are..... Totally Brain Dead

 

[Firmament1]

Not a very hard game. Since it forces you to parry from the outset, you learn it quickly, and then from then on, it's not too challenging.

Of course, this is just personal experience.

 

[PrismStar]

I find it's much harder than any Soulborne games though. The bosses are much more difficult than Soulbourne main game (exlude DLC) bosses imo

 

[luffie]

are you kidding me? Finish the game and return here, and for your info, you are playing Sekiro at EASY mode in default.
On hard mode, blocking will cause chip damage, plus Sekiro is nightmare when you are dealing with multiple enemies.
Fight some of the endgame bosses and then return. I am pretty sure Sekiro's last few bosses are tougher than Soulsborne ones.

 

[Reedirect]

I beat all previous Souls-like From games with only minor issues, aside from the first Dark Souls, which was my first Souls game.

In Sekiro, I managed to beat Lady Butterfly, and I don't think I'm getting much further than that.

So yeah.

 

[Kazuhira]

It's harder for most players because they play it like a souls game,they forget that it's mainly a stealth game imho.

 

[QisTopTier]

Sekiro is just punchout, really fun tho

Honestly my no healing inferno run of Ys 8 was way harder.

 

[HiLife]

It was a lot easier than Souls games imo. Probably the quickest I ever beat a From game as well (one week).

 

[DmckPower]

The revives you get are excessive on the long run.(three is really forgiving) but you dont realize that until you've mastered the game.

Its ,once again, fun ,challenging and fairly designed.

 

[Deleted member 37739]

Beat most of the Souls series and found them very challenging at times, but never got kerb-stomped harder than in Sekiro. I saw glimmers of the old magic, but it never clicked with me and nothing about the loops gave the will to persevere. Horses for courses.

 

[Fizz]

I've only just picked it up this weekend and these are my initial thoughts. Sekiro reminds me a lot of Dark Souls II. There's a more methodical slowness to the game where taking your time and being measured in how you approach enemies matters. In some other 'Souls-like' games, you can brute force your way through, but Sekiro doesn't allow that. At least in my opinion. I look forward to digging a bit further into this game.

 

[Mugen X]

This game has a perfect level of challenge to me, so I don't understand how ppl can get enjoyment outta dying repeatedly lol. However I did cheese the fuck out of the boss fights so I wasn't exactly playing how the devs intended...

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

I disagree personally. I love From games but Sekiro was so goddamn hard that I dreaded the bosses and minibosses especially. It's sad because I wanted to love the game and everything apart of those dreadful bosses and minibosses was 11/10 but God, this gut feeling when you see that it is time for another painful painful painful bossfight. The game clicked way too late for me, only at the last boss and then it was too late.

Makes me sad considering the world and level design where a dream come true, I still have wet dreams about the senpou temple.

I will replay it after a couple of years. Hopefully with stable 60fps on ps5.

I hope their next game plays more like Bloodborne...

 

[sn00zer]

It's a different type of difficulty. It requires way more memorization like "classic" game difficulties. If you are good at there won't be issue, if you aren't good at that you will. I personally didn't like Sekiros difficulty at all as it was just straight memorization and timing.

 

[Yossarian]

I personally didn't like Sekiros difficulty at all as it was just straight memorization and timing.

Click to shrink...

Isn't that the case with most Souls games? Hell, most games?

 

[Rommaz]

The challenge is getting used to the battle system imo. Once you've got it down, it's much easier imo, because you're way more capable. The BS gank scenarios aren't as bad because of stealth and your speed with no stamina bar.

 

[ABK281]

The only boss I had any real difficulty with was the final boss. I also died about 5 times to GA which was more than any other boss besides the last, but once I noticed how easy it is to cheese him he wasn't an issue. And in general I'd say that most the areas are pretty easy to clear, like most of the Souls games.

Sekiro combat probably stuck with me better than the average Souls players due to the other kind of games that I play, and even then I'd say the difficulty was similar to Dark Souls 1 which I consider the most difficult Souls game. 3 and Bloodborne are easy peasy, and 2 is either incredibly easy or artificially difficult depending on what you're fighting.

 

[sn00zer]

Isn't that the case with most Souls games? Hell, most games?

Click to shrink...

Not really. You can't Dodge in Sekiro in any meaningful way. Every enemy attack needs to be countered with the exact same parry pattern for that given enemy. You can't really cancel enemy attacks either. There is little to no room for doing anything other than doing the combo patterns. The fact that your sword is also fairly weak forces you further into the parry mechanic. There is just no other option other than to parry and parrying is just straight up pattern memorization.

 

[Deleted member 45414]

Not really. You can't Dodge in Sekiro in any meaningful way. Every enemy attack needs to be countered with the exact same parry pattern for that given enemy. You can't really cancel enemy attacks either. There is little to no room for doing anything other than doing the combo patterns. The fact that your sword is also fairly weak forces you further into the parry mechanic. There is just no other option other than to parry and parrying is just straight up pattern memorization.

Click to shrink...

Hm... this seems like a gross oversimplification.

There is short dashes and jumping which i would consider dodging in this game. I've used it to great affect against bosses like owl.

there are enemy attacks that can be canceled by the player, even on bosses.

Shinobi tools also breaks up the combat and gives you additional options to use instead of just focusing on blocking and perfect blocking.

also I'd say the sword is on par with most other souls games in terms of strength, if not above, if you compare it to similar weapons.

 

[Haze]

The challenge is getting used to the battle system imo. Once you've got it down, it's much easier imo, because you're way more capable. The BS gank scenarios aren't as bad because of stealth and your speed with no stamina bar.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much. And a lot of the Shinobi tools are straight cheese.

 

[Yossarian]

Not really. You can't Dodge in Sekiro in any meaningful way.

Click to shrink...

What do you mean by "meaningful"? You can jump out of the way of pretty much any attack.

Every enemy attack needs to be countered with the exact same parry pattern for that given enemy. You can't really cancel enemy attacks either. There is little to no room for doing anything other than doing the combo patterns. The fact that your sword is also fairly weak forces you further into the parry mechanic. There is just no other option other than to parry and parrying is just straight up pattern memorization.

Click to shrink...

Literally all games require players to exploit patterns. Souls enemies have certain attack patterns. Attacks are telegraphed so you know when to strike and when to back away. If you attack before their openings present themselves, you get pegged. You either block the pattern with a shield, parry or move out of the way until its finished, then attack.

Am I missing something here because, obvious differences aside, that doesn't seem that far removed from Sekiro...?

Not being obtuse here; I just don't understand the criticism.

Hm... this seems like a gross oversimplification.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that's what I thought. Memorising patterns is literally the bread and butter of gaming, so I'm not sure how that can be levelled as a criticism.

 

[Unkindled]

Agreed, after learning mechanics there are many skill's you can just use to cheese bosses.

 

[Augemitbutter]

it's designed as a stealthy assasin game, which means you can just puzzle your way through the stages, as it should be. Until a boss forces you out to do open battle. Love it, a nice change of pace from souls.

 

[Deleted member 10612]

I casually finished BB, but put Sekiro down for good after not even wanting to put in the work to beat the first boss. Its hard in a way thats not fun to me.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Tell that to my death counter and broken Xbox controller!

 

[Mentalist]

Sekiro was my first FROM game, so my opinio's probably not that valid.

But, as an outsider to the genre, despite needing about 90 hours for my first run, I never felt the game was particularly unfair, once I killed the first Seven Spears miniboss. It's difficult, sure. But most of the time I could see that I died because I pressed the wrong thing. Which drove me to try again and do better.

What's funny is that after spending about 5 hours failing to kill him (most of the time was spent doing repeat stealth kills of everyone around him in the Reservoir), when I decided to try someone else, I ended up killing a different minions, getting another necklace, then killing Lady B in 5 tries, and then wrecking that boss in a few tries the next time. After that, my next serious challenge didn't come until the Monk.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

I died a lot more in Sekiro than Bloodborne or Dark Souls 2/3.

All the games prior to Sekiro play pretty much the same. Even with Bloodborne's changes in aggression, it still felt like Dark Souls with different scenery to me. Sekiro is a completely different direction, and one I'm glad they made. It's their best game since Dark Souls, IMO.

I think it's worth pointing out the lack of invasions. I died more to invasions than enemies or bosses in Dark Souls 3. Thank god they took out that garbage PvP for at least one game.

 

[N.47H.4N]

Not really. You can't Dodge in Sekiro in any meaningful way. Every enemy attack needs to be countered with the exact same parry pattern for that given enemy. You can't really cancel enemy attacks either. There is little to no room for doing anything other than doing the combo patterns. The fact that your sword is also fairly weak forces you further into the parry mechanic. There is just no other option other than to parry and parrying is just straight up pattern memorization.

Click to shrink...

Couldn't disagree more,in my first (and only so far) playthrough,I dodged a lot,especially in boss fights,I think even more than parry,the only one I felt forced parring was essential was Long Arm Centipede Sen-Un,this shit is all about spamming L1.Of course parry makes the fight a lot of easy if you get the right pattern,because decreases a lot faster the boss posture,but I have no problem with dodge,making mix of parry when I haven't have a safe dodge and don't trivialized the fight.

 

[Baphomet]

Sekiro is probably one of the easiest FromSoft games, you can make more mistakes in combat and not get as punished as you do in Souls.

 

[Deleted member 34169]

Sekiro never clicked for me and I find the bosses extremely difficult - can't beat most of them. Whereas platinuming Bloodborne wasn't too hard for me.

Click to shrink...

Yea same. I couldn't even beat lady butterfly and she's supposed to be an "easier" boss, right? Just wasn't for me. I did enjoy what I played but got to a point where I couldn't move forward and traded it in. Maybe I'll give it another look in a future sale.

 

[Kard8p3]

I will that that it is the only FROM game I've beaten. I DID have to cheese a certain (optional) boss to make him kill himself though. I will say that in Sekiro the best way to beat the bosses are find out what attacks leave them most open, and then figure out how to bait said attack over and over.

 

[Fizz]

I always find the From games to be difficult but fair. And there's no doubt that this is frustrating but, the tools to persevere are given to all of us. It's just a matter of whether you use it or not.

 

[jett]

You have a ridiculous invincibly window when you roll in Souls so it doesn't really matter how many tentacles monsters have. You can also grind for levels to make it easier.

For me Sekiro was by far the most challenging game From has made solely due to its timing requirements and by extension intense memorization it asks of the player. A lot of bosses I wasn't able to beat until I simply developed the necessary muscle memory for them (especially the final boss jesuschrist).

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

Sekiro is the first From game I found unpleasant in its approach to difficulty. I've always thoroughly loved the challenge and always went for "just one more try" in Souls and Bloodborne. Almost all bosses, including mini-bosses, made me massively rage-quit after like three tries. I still am not sure why because I eventually did get the parrying down and all but it just never felt like a fun challenge and sense of achievement to me but rather just a sense of relief that I don't have to do that shit again.

Also dropped it on the last boss and can't say I regret not bullying myself through that miserable experience in hindsight haha...