Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

In the not too distant past, there was once an old game called Tenchu where players take control of the ninja assassins blending through feudal Japan with numerous weapons and ninja moves while letting players eliminate enemies with stealth and precision. It was one hell of a classic but now it's been long forgotten through the years so the folks from Activision contacted From Software to tell them "can you make a video game that is worthy of being a spiritual successor to the Tenchu games?"

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4)

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Xbox One)

And this is what they made, it's titled Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and this new action game made by the brilliant minds that brought you Dark Souls where players assume the role of a disgraced and disfigured shinobi who is bound to protect his new master in the middle of a bloody Sengoku era in Japan. Armed with a prosthetic arm and an arsenal of weapons at his disposal, The Wolf takes on numerous enemies including the Ashina Clan as he fights to reclaim his honor.

Because the main character has a prosthetic arm, the way he battles changes when equipped with numerous weapons and tools at his disposal and because different enemies need different strategies to defeat, it takes a master shinobi to master all weapons and tools to turn the table to his favor. Offense or defense, it's all about the strategy you need to overcome against approaching threats and obstacles getting your way. Apart from brutal close combats, there are times where stealth is the key, either killing them undetected or spying for useful information, stealth is the key factor for a shinobi.

As the game gets tougher, there are times that your weapons and tools can be upgraded after accumulating certain amount of items needed. You can even upgrade your prosthetic arm as well to gain new skills so before heading off for more difficult missions, it's best to upgrade whatever you had to make sure you still had the upper hand.

Having getting a taste of the ninja action Sekiro possess, it's hard to say whether if this game really is the spiritual successor to the Tenchu games that time forgot but on the positive note, it really is and with all of the brutal stealth action reminiscent of the Tenchu games, Sekiro truly lives up to its mantra and From Software did a really good job creating a game that is very challenging and very rewarding just like its past works. It truly is a balls-out action game worthy of such praise and those looking for some gory ninja action should look no further.