Sekiro is possibly the most well-made game I’ve ever played. I know that’s a bit of a high praise, and I’d like to point out that I’m going to be going through the Dark Souls trilogy again soon, and getting 100% completion on all of them for the first time, so my opinion may change in the future, but for now, Sekiro remains the best game I’ve played. It’s also the closest thing to perfect I’ve ever played as well.
I’ll be honest, when I first played Sekiro, I thought it looked awesome but was just too frustrating to play. Being a Souls veteran, I found the deflection mechanic too difficult to figure out and my dodge instincts were too strong to undo. I quit it for a while. But eventually I was drawn back to it, and I gave it a real chance. I’m glad I did. Once it finally clicked, it quickly became an obsession. 100 hours later and I had all achievements, played through a number of NG+ and did almost everything I could do in the game other than challenge runs or modding. I’ve played it more since then and it’s never gotten boring, despite not being an RPG which is the only genre I’d usually replay. The combat is immensely satisfying, and the rush I felt after killing bosses is unlike anything I’ve felt in another game, Souls or otherwise. I think that’s largely due to the combat really requiring you to be good at the game. With Souls games you can sort of get away with dodging away and only attacking when you’re ready and then backing off. If you’re patient you can beat the game without needing to become tuned into the game. With Sekiro it demands you to git gud or you’re not getting anywhere. What this means is that once you finally do beat a tough boss, you know it’s because you’re good at the game. There’s no over-leveling or upgrading your sword or anything like that. The only way you’re beating the boss is by getting better at the game.
Another point to touch on that I’ve only briefly mentioned so far is the visuals. Man, this game is stunning. It’s only 4 years old so the graphics are obviously still holding up, but the art style is also just so good (though, that’s no surprise, FromSoft are masters of art design). I won’t spoil anything but assuming you do the good ending, the last area of the game has one of the most breathtakingly beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen. The colour palate is just incredible. If you’ve ever played Elden Ring and can remember that first time seeing the royal capital, when the music kicks in and the area message pops up, it’s like that, but somehow sustains that feeling all the while you’re exploring. Truly incredible.
I could count the flaws of this game on one hand, and none are very big, which I think is the only time I could ever say that about a video game. As I already mentioned, the closest to perfect I’ve ever experienced.
I could go on but at some point people would probably stop reading, so I’ll wrap things up here, but if you’re reading this just after I’ve posted it, the game is currently on sale on Steam for half price and I’d highly highly highly suggest picking it up. I’d also be more than happy to help out anyone with this game if you’re stuck, I’ve got a good amount of experience playing it. I’d also be happy to answer any questions anyone has. I’m making the poor decision to post this shortly before going to bed so I might take a few hours to respond but I suppose that isn’t too bad for a patient community, eh?
That’s a great idea. I’m definitely going to look into doing that essential games list.
As for the recently patient games, I just made a post about that last night! It seems to be well received.