It's a fantastic game that also has all kinds of little issues and bothers that keeps it from topping DS3 and it doesn't even come close to the holy trinity of Bloodborne, Dark Souls 1, and Demon's Souls IMO. Sekiro has an incredibly satisfying combat system that can absolutely push you to your absolute limit as a player and retains some stunning locales and has some of the best boss fights that From has ever done.
That said... It's also got the least amount of variety of any modern From game. Sure you have the Shinobi Prosthetic to use in all kinds of unique ways and a variety of neat combat arts you can choose from, but they most just supplement your one and only sword in the game and you can only ever have one of the many cool combat arts selected at a time so it's kind of rare to get a lot of usage of them unless you really experiment and swap often. The Ninjustu is cool, but there are only three options and they only come into play later in the game overall. Your only real sense of choice is whether or not you want to focus around parrying exclusively or if you wanna go completely offensive... and even then, certain bosses will not let you get away with a choice and you just have to learn which style works best on them.
Then the game reuses content a lot more than in any other From game. As fantastic as some bosses can be, a lot of them repeat albeit with different moves and even worse, they share arenas which makes the fights seem less special IMO. The arena can play a huge role in the storytelling and how memorable the fight will be, but Sekiro really does reuse just about every one save for like a couple fights near the end. They also have Ashina Castle be reused 3 times where you have to individually reactive the various Sculptor's Idols. Sure, new enemies and elements pop up and it's neat to see... But it's also already a game that feels a bit smaller and less visually memorable than other From games, so this reusage of this area really feels a bit taxing. And the enemy variety is especially where I think the game falls a bit flat. You'll fight so many of the same mini-boss it just gets super repetitive pretty quickly. A couple times they make sense, but it also just contributes to the game feeling like it's reusing existing ideas, and the variety of the game's enemies isn't exactly great to begin with. It's just the smallest feeling world they've done since Demon's Souls. Admittedly more focused, but it really could have used a couple more unique areas with more unique content IMO. There is a reason Fountainhead Palace ends up such a phenomenal part of the game.
Like don't get me wrong, I just finished my first playthrough and I'll be doing at least another. I love the game and love the way it feels to play and it has some truly fantastic moments and the traversal can be a blast compared to other From games. There's a lot to love and I applaud From for going so far out of their way to make a unique action game after focusing so heavily on RPG mechanics... but I have to admit it's rough around the edges and it doesn't quite reach the heights of the absolute best parts of other From titles. I'd say it's very close to Dark Souls 3, but I give that game the edge for just how much fantastic content is there and how much variety there can be to the game. If Sekiro had been a little more fleshed out and not been so reliant on the reuse of content, I'd easily give it to Sekiro though. But it's also still removed form reaching Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, and Dark Souls 1 (with the DLC mind you, DS1 without its DLC is a much lesser game IMO).
