Why Sekiro is TOO HARD ¦ Examining the “Skill Issue”

Sekiro is a true "Git Gut" game. Kinda similar to Doom Eternal. You do not upgrade your character, you upgrade yourself, which is immensely satisfying.

The Genichiro fight on top of Ashina Castle is probably one of the greatest skill checks in all of video gaming. The amount of times I grappled up to that arena my first playthrough is absurd 🙃

I think a big reason Sekiro’s combat is more fun when people get the hang of it is because defense and offense are both tied so closely together. This makes it feel more like a back and forth battle than elden rings endless boss combos where you just have to dodge and wait for an opening.

A lot of people ignore Hanbei, but he's pretty good to learn the game fundamentals. And to perfect it, fight genichiro again in memories.

As someone who's quit 3 years ago after dying to genichiro over 40 times and coming back yesterday and finishing half the game with less than 10 deaths total, I can confirm that it was indeed skill issue.

For someone who practiced marshal arts, I appreciate sekiro, it gives a virtual feeling of fighting/sparring and being in a meditative focus during action.

I dropped Sekiro for months, I’m glad I cameback to it and was patient enough to really get the combat down, a beautiful experience

Played this game after Elden ring. I was instantly hooked, didn’t even care that much for the story the gameplay was just so satisfying idk how to explain it. It’s like a dance between two people while fighting and you want that dance to be as flawless as possible.

I've beaten almost all of the FromSoft games and I agree with the general consensus. Sekiro was by a wide margin the steepest learning curve, but once mastered it ruins the combat system of every other game.

The lightning reversal is actually taught to you I think in the room right before the fight, after you beat the ashina elite, there's a banner that talks about the technique in the lore, and then the game gives you a prompt explaining how it works, which it repeats the first time you get hit by lightning in the Genichiro fight, as well as occasionally in the fountainhead palace I think

14:20 I almost quit Sekiro at the 1st "Drunk Guy" as well, I actually asked steam to refund the game, but thankfully I had already played it for 7 hours, so the refund was not an option anymore, then I was left with the option of leaving the game at my library oooor keep trying. Once I beat the drunk guy, I was unstoppable, and got the platinum of the game in just 2 weeks after that. Sekiro is now my 2nd favorite game of all and I love it to heart.

Bought this game two days ago!!I have INVOLUNTARILY unlocked levels of frustrations and emotions i never knew human beings had.

“The first game you can’t weasel your way through” That’s spot on

Sekiro was my first fromsoft game. Little to no thought went into my choice regarding difficulty or differences in gameplay between their games. I just liked the Shinobi aesthetic and setting way more. I’ve never been more determined to “git gud” at a game because hot damn that is one satisfying combat system. I downloaded it on thanksgiving and beat it on Christmas. And now, every game I play no matter how challenging I go into it with the mantra, “I ain’t scared. I beat Sekiro”

I just watched this right after I beat isshin and finished the game and I still keep thinking about his attacks and how I would react to them, after I beat the game I replayed some bosses and the difference in skill level really made me proud definitely one of the best souls games ever hope that they would make a sequel

That's the beauty of Sekiro. Your Shinobi prosthetics are completely different than mine, granted I used those, but my go-to was, fire crackers, umbrella, & shuriken.

The lightning reversal skill is indicated before your fight with Genichiro. you have to defeat the Elite Ashina and just read the room after.

In the arena for the miniboss before Genichiro, there's a tapestry that will tell you how to lightning deflect. In addition, Divine Confetti will let you destroy terror orbs with your sword rather than twirling the shield a bunch of times. Also for anyone wanting to do a second playthrough, I highly recommend "no charm, bell demon." Refusing Kuro's charm at the start of the game makes imperfect deflections deal you chip damage, and of course the bell demon makes the game harder on top of that. You need to be playing at your peak to get through the game this way

I often play video games on easy mode, when I'm only interested in the content, the lore and the story (e.g. God of War 4 & Horizon), but I beat both Sekiro and Cuphead nevertheless just to prove two things: 1. Anyone can beat difficult games given enough practice. 2. When I say I don't like Souls-like games, it's not because I'm scared of the difficulty - I just truly, honestly don't like them - it's not me somehow...

When I first started playing Sekiro, it was extremely difficult. I knew it would be hard since I’d played the souls series, but not that hard. I was stuck on Lady Butterfly and just couldn’t grasp how to play. Then, when I played it at my friends house, he told me to listen to Lady Butterfly and what she says, learn the dance…. And EVERYTHING clicked into place. I realized I was not playing right at all, the game is much like a rhythm game, timing blocks perfectly and attacking inbetween blocks. Figuring the best time to do a weapon art or utility…. It all made sense when I learned ‘the dance’. Since that point on, Sekiro enemies became easy (most of the time at least), there was still a challenge to the game, but i could handle all of it In all, Sekiro has one of the most complex and rewarding combat systems in the game once you understand it. It is not for everyone, but i encourage anyone to play it if you haven’t.