Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action-adventure game released in 2019. It was created by FromSoftware and published by Activision in Japan and other countries. The game was available on PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in March 2019 and on Stadia in October 2020.

In the game, players control Wolf, a shinobi who tries to save his lord and becomes involved in a battle for the future of Ashina. The game focuses on stealth, exploring areas, and fighting enemies, with special attention given to challenging battles against powerful bosses. The story takes place in an imaginary version of Japan during the Sengoku period and includes ideas from Buddhist beliefs and stories. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the lead director, wanted to create a new game series different from FromSoftware’s previous Dark Souls games. He chose to focus on Japanese themes, such as shinobi and ninja, inspired by the Tenchu series, which was connected to FromSoftware and had historical themes.

Critics praised the game’s gameplay and setting, comparing it to FromSoftware’s earlier work. However, some people found the game very difficult. Sekiro won several awards, including the Game Award for Game of the Year. As of September 2023, the game has sold more than ten million copies.

Gameplay

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Compared to FromSoftware's Dark Souls series, this game has fewer features that let players customize their characters. It does not allow players to create their own characters, improve different abilities, or play with others in real-time multiplayer. However, the game includes options to upgrade equipment, use special abilities with a prosthetic arm, develop skills through a skill tree, and make limited changes to abilities. Combat in Sekiro focuses on using a katana to attack an enemy's posture and balance, as well as blocking attacks to create opportunities for a single, powerful strike that defeats the enemy.

The game also includes stealth mechanics, letting players quickly defeat or severely harm enemies if they remain undetected. Players can use tools such as a grappling hook to help with fighting and exploring. If the player's character dies, they can be revived immediately if they have resurrection power, which is earned by defeating enemies. This replaces the need to return to earlier checkpoints after dying.

Synopsis

During the late Sengoku period, the Ashina clan, led by Kensei Isshin Ashina, takes control of a land believed to have divine favor. This land includes a foreign deity called the Divine Dragon, which can grant immortality through a bloodline known as the "Dragon's Heritage" and through the Rejuvenating Waters and its sediment filled with mukade. At the same time, an unnamed orphan is adopted by a wandering shinobi named Owl, who names the boy "Wolf" and teaches him shinobi skills. As Wolf grows, Owl entrusts him with protecting Kuro, the young lord and last member of the Dragon's Heritage line.

Twenty years later, the elderly Isshin is dying, and the weakened Ashina clan is attacked by forces from the Interior Ministry, who aim to unite Japan. Desperate to save his clan, Isshin’s adoptive grandson, Genichiro, seeks Kuro’s help to create an immortal army using his blood. Disagreeing with Genichiro’s plan, Isshin sends his private physician, Emma, to warn Wolf so they can escape. However, Genichiro confronts them and defeats Wolf in a duel, cutting off his left arm and capturing Kuro. Wolf is rescued by a man named the Sculptor, who gives him a prosthetic arm. To save Kuro, Wolf attacks Ashina Castle, where he meets Isshin and is given a new name: "Sekiro."

Sekiro can revisit his past through meditation using items he finds. Three years earlier, Kuro’s home was attacked by bandits led by the shinobi Lady Butterfly, which led to Owl’s apparent death. Though Sekiro defeated Lady Butterfly, he was fatally stabbed by an unknown person and survived only after Kuro gave him his blood.

Sekiro duels Genichiro again and defeats him. However, Genichiro survives by using sediment from the Rejuvenating Waters to gain corrupted immortality and escapes. Later, Kuro refuses to flee and asks Sekiro to perform the Immortal Severance ritual, which would kill him and end the Dragon’s Heritage. Sekiro agrees and sets out to gather materials for the ritual, including a weapon called the Mortal Blade, which can kill immortals and is held by the Divine Child—the only survivor of experiments with the Rejuvenating Waters.

After collecting most of the ritual’s items, Sekiro is confronted by Owl, who faked his death to pursue the Dragon’s Heritage and was the one who stabbed Sekiro three years earlier. If Sekiro follows Owl’s orders to abandon Kuro, he fights and kills Emma and Isshin while Owl kills Genichiro. Sekiro then becomes corrupted by bloodlust, killing Owl as Kuro watches in horror, leading to the Shura ending.

If Sekiro refuses Owl’s orders, he kills Owl in combat and enters the divine realm to retrieve the final ritual item from the Divine Dragon itself. Returning to the mortal world, Sekiro finds that Isshin has died, and Ashina is under attack by Interior Ministry troops who have set fire to the castle using rockets and flamethrowers. Fighting through the burning castle, Sekiro finds Kuro under attack by Genichiro, who has obtained another Mortal Blade. After defeating Genichiro, he sacrifices himself to revive Isshin in his prime so he can restore Ashina, a wish Isshin tries to honor despite disagreeing with it. After killing Isshin, the story ends in one of three ways based on the items collected:

• In the Immortal Severance ending, Sekiro performs the ritual, killing Kuro and becoming mortal again. He then spends his remaining years carving Buddha statues, keeping his prosthetic arm to give to someone else one day.
• In the Purification ending, Sekiro performs an alternate ritual with Emma’s help, sacrificing himself to free Kuro from the Dragon’s Heritage. Kuro later prays at Sekiro’s grave with Emma before leaving Ashina.
• In the Return ending, Sekiro works with the Divine Child to make her a vessel for the Divine Dragon’s power. After defeating Isshin, Sekiro takes the dying Kuro to the Divine Child, who absorbs him. Sekiro and the Divine Child then leave to return the Dragon’s Heritage to its home in the West.

Development

The development of Sekiro started in late 2015 after the release of Bloodborne’s downloadable content, The Old Hunters. The game was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who had previously worked on the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne. Sekiro was influenced by the Tenchu series of stealth-action games created by Acquire and published by FromSoftware. At first, the team thought about making the game a sequel to Tenchu, but the idea grew into something much larger. Miyazaki wanted the combat system to feel like real sword fights, where players try to find openings to strike their opponents. He and the team also decided to make the game completely single-player, believing that multiplayer features had limits they wanted to avoid. Even though the game is set during the Sengoku period of real-world Japanese history, it does not include real people or places from that time.

The game was first shown in a teaser trailer at the Game Awards 2017 in December, with the tagline “Shadows Die Twice.” Its full title, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, was announced during Microsoft’s press conference at E3 2018. Activision published the game worldwide, while FromSoftware published it in Japan and Cube Game published it in the Asia-Pacific region. The game’s soundtrack was composed by Yuka Kitamura, with some music written by Noriyuki Asakura. Sekiro was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on March 22, 2019. A special edition was also released on the same day, including a steelbook case, a figurine of the main character, an art book, a map of the game’s world, a download code for the soundtrack, and in-game coin replicas. A version for Stadia was released later in 2020. On October 31, 2020, a free update added new content, such as new outfits for the character Wolf and a boss rush game mode.

The word “sekirō” (隻狼) is short for “sekiwan no ōkami” (隻腕の狼), which means “one-armed wolf.” The subtitle “Shadows Die Twice” was originally meant to be a slogan for the teaser trailer, but Activision asked that it be used as the game’s final title.

Reception

Sekiro received high praise from critics. According to Metacritic, a website that collects and summarizes reviews, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game were described as having "universal acclaim," while the Windows version received "generally favorable reviews." OpenCritic, another review site, reported that 96% of critics recommended the game. Many reviewers highlighted the game's combat system, which differed from the style of FromSoftware's other games. In a review for Destructoid, Chris Carter compared open combat to a "waltz" and noted that players had more choices in how to approach battles than in games like Dark Souls or Bloodborne. Brandin Tyrell from IGN praised the game's focus on precise sword fighting. While he said the timing-based combat in Sekiro felt familiar to fans of FromSoftware's games, he noted that the game's "sense of safety" made the combat feel fresh. Tom Senior from PC Gamer called the combat "beautiful" and praised the posture system, which requires players to weaken enemies by striking and parrying until an opening appears for a final attack. He said the system made defeating bosses feel emotionally rewarding. Tamoor Hussain from GameSpot wrote that the game changed how players engage with FromSoftware's games, as it demanded even faster decisions than previous titles. Reviewers also praised the resurrection mechanic, which allowed players to revive after dying, and the stealth features, which gave players freedom without causing frustration.

The game's level design was also well-received. The addition of a grappling hook and a dedicated jump button allowed players to move more freely in three dimensions. Tyrell wrote that the grappling hook changed how players explored, as it allowed for more vertical movement than previous games. Carter noted that the hook made level design more challenging and interesting for exploration. Senior said the game used large, separate areas instead of one big connected world but praised the many hidden secrets players could find using the grappling hook. Hussain wrote that the game's buildings were placed close together, making it easy to jump between them and explore from different angles, which created a satisfying sense of discovery.

Some reviewers had mixed feelings about the lack of online multiplayer. They noted that the absence of online features allowed the game to include a pause button, which was seen as a benefit. However, Tyrell said he missed the ability to see notes left by other players in the game world and the sense of danger from other players in previous FromSoftware games. He also said the lack of online battles was a missed opportunity, as the game's combat mechanics could have worked well in multiplayer settings.

Like other FromSoftware games, Sekiro's difficulty level divided opinions. Senior called the game "brutal" but "spectacular," while Hussain said it was punishing but rewarding for players who enjoyed a challenge. Tyrell said the combat was harder to master than previous games but still gave players a sense of accomplishment. However, some reviewers found the game too difficult. Don Rowe from The Spinoff called it "infuriating" and said he did not enjoy playing it after six hours. Later, modders created changes to the game that made it easier by adjusting the player's speed. James Davenport from PC Gamer said he could not beat the final boss without using these changes.

On its release day, Sekiro had more than 108,000 players playing at the same time on Steam, the highest number for a new game released between January and March 2019. It was the third most played Japanese game on Steam at the time, behind Monster Hunter: World and Dark Souls III. By March, the number of concurrent players on Steam reached over 125,000, making it one of the most played games on the platform at that time.

In its first week, Sekiro topped the UK and EMEAA (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia) charts, surpassing Tom Clancy's The Division 2. In Japan, the game sold 157,548 retail copies during its opening weekend. Within ten days of its release, over 2 million units were sold, and by July 2020, sales had reached over 5 million. As of September 2023, the game has sold more than 10 million copies.

Sekiro won several awards, including Game of the Year at the Game Awards 2019, as chosen by editors of GameSpot and by fans in the 2019 Steam Awards.

Anime adaptation

An anime version of the game Sekiro, titled Sekiro: No Defeat, was announced at Gamescom 2025. The anime is produced by Qzil.la and will premiere in 2026. Crunchyroll will stream the series in countries outside Japan. The main voice actors from the game, Daisuke Namikawa (Wolf), Miyuki Satou (Kuro), and Kenjiro Tsuda (Genichiro Ashina), will return to do the same voices. A movie version of the anime will be shown in Japanese theaters in the same year.