The flames of war lick once again at Ashina Castle, the region corrupted by immortality’s lure. At your lowest point, a mysterious letter persuades you to climb up from the depths and rediscover what you fight for. From Software's Japantastic get-beaten-up-'em-up presents most of the Soulslike staples in a leaner, twitchier game, with an addictive new combat system, and is one of the rare games I've replayed straight after finishing.

Probably the biggest such staple is their level design, and especially with so few poison swamps I have no complaints here. FromSoft have easily turned their perverse, beautiful fantasy stylings from gorgeous gothic to superb sakurapunk. Everywhere you look is an iconic bridge, looming cliff, striking Buddha statue, ornate pagoda or slightly nauseating cave where that giant freak nearly turned you inside out. Every locale’s distinct identity sticks crystal-clear in your mind, and though it shouldn't be, it's easy to accept how they interlink with each other and the castle. Levels are full of verticality, which you can enjoy via jumping (!) and a grappling hook. Hook points are annoyingly easy to miss sometimes, but make exploration joyously fluid, and From Software are brilliant as usual at hiding little secrets and shortcuts for you. Exploration emphasises stealth and use of the environment; you can kill unaware enemies instantly and goriously, but combat with multiple enemies tends to be a losing game. I would have liked to see combat skills integrate more with the hook, as well as more vertical boss encounters, though those are tough enough already.

Sekiro’s battles test your reflexes above all else. Each awesome, intimidating new boss, several of which are now infamous classics, had me genuinely wondering if it was beyond my ability (these are blessedly quick to restart). Deflecting an attack (guarding just as it lands) negates all damage and helps to break the enemy’s posture. The timing window is quite forgiving and it's much more intuitive than Dark Souls’ parry - but there will be a lot of attacks so you’ll need to deflect a lot. Once the enemy’s posture is broken, you can perform an ultra-satisfying deathblow, which wipes out their health regardless of how much is left. I think the intended combat style is to stay close, focus on deflecting and strike when you spot openings, but this is only lightly incentivised. Many enemies can be button-mashed into submission. Mashing the guard button against an unfamiliar attack gives you a good chance of a deflection, whatever the game tells you. Many bosses will let you run around well out of range, pop back to poke them occasionally and slowly claim a very dull victory. Hitting a balance of patience and aggression is by far the most interesting way to play, though.

Building your character is very, very straightforward. You are committed to an agile, glass-cannon-ish build with a katana as the primary weapon. You can equip up to three prosthetic tools which help against different enemies, and two active skills that help you in combat. Killing awards "XP" for purchasing active and passive skills, as well as money. You need skill far more than big numbers to beat enemies (damage numbers aren't mentioned anywhere), and rather than traditionally levelling up you're given fixed power upgrades after certain milestones. As a result, this is a tough game, with the final boss taking me far more attempts than anything in Dark Souls 3, but you won't take as long as me if you utilise everything Sekiro gives you.
Certain items cut the difficulty of fights significantly, and you are told very bluntly what counters what. Sometimes an item will completely defang a miniboss, which is disappointing. Most of the game can reasonably be beaten with just "a katana and a dream", which is exceedingly satisfying but not intended, and some fights are just not practical to beat without items. Sekiro's worst minibosses are 2v1s: a significant difficulty increase in general, but the minibosses are practically impossible. A certain item lets you effortlessly remove one enemy, but the remaining enemy then becomes a pushover. Some kind of middle ground approach to these fights would have been good. Pre-fight pop-ups, and the many loading screens you'll see when you die, contain useful advice that might tip the scales for you - not as satisfying as learning through gameplay, but it gets the job done. The lore happens to be mostly comprehensible too - though it has its moments. Overall information is conveyed very clearly, apart from two crucial things I don't remember being told: talk to all NPCs until they repeat themselves, and you can deflect damn near anything you want. You're welcome…

I have enough praise for this game to fill a second review but I’ve hit my character limit. This beautiful, punishing tale certainly isn't for everyone but I would easily recommend it for lovers of fast-paced action, and anyone who didn't think Dark Souls was hard enough.