I was intrigued by the awards it's won and was debating between it and Control. But since it leaked that Control will come to GamePass, I decided to give Sekiro a whirl. Firstly, wow it's still pretty expensive. Bloodborne dropped in price quickly and can now be bought complete for like $15. But for some reason the Souls games and apparently this one keep their value.

For context, I played Demon's Soul for "free" on PS3 PS+ and made it a couple hours before I was bored. I own Bloodborne and again, only made it a couple hours. Never played a Souls title. But I will be forcing myself to complete this game. A main draw for me compared to the others is that this is more of an action game than an RPG. I think I'll be able to play it through.

It's installing now and then I'll play for a couple hours before I got to get my youngest from school. I didn't see any threads for the game when I searched so I figured I'd make one, kind of just a personal impressions thread as I play through but anyone else can feel free to jump in. Wish me luck!

One of my favorite games this gen, finished it twice.

You´ll need reflexes and patience, but I´m sure you know that already...tip:the first skill you should get is, imo, the mikiri counter.VERY useful.

Good you did not play a lot of the previous souls games,will help you get a hold on this gameplay.

I'd like to offer a different view. I've played all the souls games and souls like games for the most part. I've never beat one of them except for Sekiro. Not only that, Sekiro was the easiest Souls game I've ever played. The system and gameplay just made sense to me compared to all the other souls games. Even on bosses I was losing to I could slowly get better and better and recognize a pattern something that I had difficulty with in the other games mainly because the boss fights can be so hectic. In Sekiro the boss fights are not so hectic and wild and you get a chance to see what the enemy is doing.

This is from a person who could only beat 1 boss by himself in Bloodborne for every boss after the first one I had to summon someone to help me. This is after trying to grind levels and attempt the boss 50+ times. I never got better at the bossses and didn't even start to see a pattern that I needed to follow.

I found this game considerably more difficult than the Soulsborne games. I really think it depends on your approach. I had a hard time with the first few bosses just because I was playing it like a Souls game. This was the wrong approach. So it's a good thing that you haven't invested the hours into and build up major muscle memory from the Soulsborne games.

Every player is different, but my assumption is that you WILL find this game hard. And then once you get comfortable with it, there's always "gatekeeper" bosses that kind of hand you your ass until you "git gud". Like, you'll be going at it for 20-30 attempts sometimes (final boss, I'm looking at you!). Excellent game though!

I haven't played the game since I finished it. Might be time to fire it up again and continue my new game plus game.

You are in for a treat. Of course if you will be patient enough to get good in this game. I haven't played any soulsbourne games before Sekiro as well and it took me around 50-60 hours to get somewhat decent and finally understand the game mechanics.

I have to say that I didn't find my playthrough nearly as frustrating as you found yours. But then again, I'm one of those completionist bastards that scours the map for every single goodie. I'm sure that made me overleveled by the time I finally started fighting the late game bosses. Also, some of those techniques that use up Spirit Emblems are super OP. As are the ultra late game prothetic attachments. They both make fights way easier. 

Finally, I realized while playing that an orange spark upon a deflection, and a yellow spark meant different things. I think it was that an orange spark upon a deflection meant the enemy was going to deflect your next hit (so you had better stop attacking, and block), or that it meant that the enemy would be open to a counter attack if you swung your sword asap. I forget, but if I played the game, I'd recognize it real quick. Anyway it's a huge help in dealing with bosses, because if they counter your block you lose a lot of posture, and then take damage while being stunlocked. 

Just a humble brag :P, but the second time I played I coudn´t believe that I managed to beat the

without dying a single time, and I consider that motherfucker the hardest boss in the game...it just "clicked" perfectly, and it´s one of the main reasons I like these kind of games From makes.You´ll get angry, maybe for a second even feel tempted to throw your controller in anger, but when this shit clicks, it really clicks.

I thought he was fairly easy, once you figured out how he telegraphed his gunpowder sword slash move. Before I realized how to tell which direction he would slash in after spreading the gunpowder though, he was a BS boss. If you dodge in the direction that he slashes in you can get behind him and deal a lot of damage. 

I hate that move of his, made even more annoying because the goddamn camera sometimes goes crazy/loses track of the enemy you´re locked on to, which sadly has become typical in From´s games.