During this year’s Tokyo Game Show, FromSoftware was on hand with a playable build of its upcoming action-adventure game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. After whetting fans’ appetites with a pre-TGS teaser trailer, From and publisher Activision later shared an in-depth gameplay video which shows off Sekiro’s unique traversal and combat mechanics while also featuring multiple boss fights and a very, very large snake.
The gameplay preview video, which comes courtesy of Sony’s PlayStation Underground video series, features 12 minutes of direct gameplay footage, allowing viewers to get a strong sense of just how much Sekiro will both honor From’s Dark Souls/Bloodborne past while also very much doing its own thing.
Unlike the Dark Souls series, Sekiro will have a prevalent sense of fast-paced verticality as players are able to leap and grapple around the game’s environments. Since Sekiro’s protagonist is a ninja, players will also be able to use that same verticality in combat, outmaneuvering their foes with acrobatic dodges and dispatching them with vicious counterattacks. Some of the enemies that players encounter though, such as the Samurai General the demo player crosses paths with, will have their own tricks and tactics at their disposal, ensuring that Sekiro will always keep even the most stalwart players on their toes.
Later on in the video, viewers can see a unique sort of stealth sequence where the player has to grapple around the sides of a cliff while avoiding the watchful gaze of a giant snake. Then, to close the video out, the demo player challenges a tough-looking boss enemy called the Corrupted Monk whose somewhat bulky frame belays a mastery of speedy attacks and deception-based special maneuvers. In short, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will give players a lot of fun tools to master, but it will also make sure to challenge that mastery to the extreme at every possible turn.
For more on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is set to launch for PC and consoles on March 22, 2019, be sure to read about why FromSoftware chose Activision as the game’s publisher.