Sekiro has a fairly open world structure which means it’s possible to repeat the classic Dark Souls mistake spending ages trying to get through a high level area you don’t need to take on yet, or missing an item or ability that makes life so much easier. This Sekiro walkthrough outlines an optimised path through the game avoids a lot of these problems, stops you hitting too many dead ends and should ease you through a first play through. 

Sekiro tips | Sekiro Dragon rot | Sekiro Prayer Beads | Sekiro Gourd seeds | Sekiro bosses (opens in new tab)| Sekiro endings (opens in new tab)| Sekiro Snap Seeds (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Shinobi Prosthetic tools (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Treasure Carp Scales (opens in new tab)

Tutorial Area

Tutorial Area

Walk forward, and then jump up and out. Wall hug around the corner and sneak through the grass, under the house, then through more grass. Drop down and make your way across the gap under the bridge then climb up the other side and into the house. Talk to the Young Lord to get your sword, then again to get the Gourd healing item.

Open the door and go out, kill the enemies then jump onto the wall on your left. Sneak around this and drop down to kill off these guards then kill off the mini-boss and run around to the right. Jump up the wall and pull yourself up and then do the same to get under the bridge. Kill the Rat enemy then drop down the other side of the bridge and blow the whistle  by the door when prompted. Go through the corridor then die to the boss (it may be you can actually defeat him)

Ashina Outskirts (1st time)

Ashina Outskirts (1st time)

Talk to the Sculptor upon waking then go outside and grab the Dilapidated Temple idol. Go through the gate, grapple up and follow the path. Grapple across to the Ashina Outskirts idol and take the higher path here once past the two buildings look to your left and drop down to the Outskirts Wall: Gate Path idol. Grapple to the broken window and go inside to grab the Loaded Shuriken Shinobi Tool, go back to the idol and go talk to the Sculptor to get it fitted, chat to Emma while you’re here then travel back to the Gate Path idol.

Grapple above where you got the Shuriken Shinobi Too and go around the left-hand side. Sneak attack the mini-boss from above and then kill him for a Prayer Bead and a Gourd Seed. Grapple up to the gate again and kill everything in this area before you grapple onto the house and jump up to where you can see crows to find a vendor (he sells the Firecracker Shinobi Tool). Jump down to a broken house with an old woman in it and talk to her to get a bell from her.

Drop down and talk to her son just outside before you grapple across to the left of an enemy with a cannon on the ledge ahead. Assassinate said person with cannon and then grapple up to the building and go right and stay high to get to the Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol. Use this to travel back to the temple and upgrade your gourd and then give the bell to the Buddha statue.

Hirata Estate (memory)

Hirata Estate (memory)

You start at the Dragonspring – Hirata Estate Idol, grapple down the cliff and talk to the NPC before you grapple to the bridge and kill the enemies. On one side of the bridge is a Carp Scale, grab it then jump into the water and swim around to kill two other Carp for their scales. There is a vendor in a barrel on an island who exchanges scales for items in this area. Go to the other side of the bridge and clamber over the wall for the Estate Path Idol.

Make your way around the next area killing everything that moves. Once you are though the corridor there will be a small building with more bandits. Take these out and then look to a gate to the town and grapple over the tree to the next area. Once again kill everything then check in the bonfire with guards sat around it for the Flame Vent Shinobi Tool.

Follow the path up after the fire and go left over a wall at the top of the path into the little courtyard and kill the two bandits. Open the room they are next to for the Shinobi Axe of the Monkey Shinobi Tool. Go to the door under the big gate unlock it and go back to the Estate Path Idol. Use this to travel back to the Sculptor and get your tools fitted and pick up the Shinobi and Prosthetic Esoteric texts (get the Mikiri counter asap). From this point on the Memory gets incredibly tough. If you’re struggling then skip to  Ashina Outskirts (the 2nd) and come back after you’ve acquired a Memory from Gyoubu. 

Travel back to the Estate Path idol and go back through the newly opened shortcut and go to the second area on your left. Talk to the NPC then go over the small gate for a special item. Then jump back into the middle pathway and kill the two bandits. Hope over the wall on the other side and talk to the NPCs in here.

Go up the stairs on the main path and use your newly acquired axe to break the shields of the enemies you encounter. Sneak around as you move forward, taking out the normal enemies but beware the enemy in white with a spear – if you can sneak attack this Shinobi Hunter then use the Mikiri counter to take him out for a Prayer Bead.

Go through the now open gate for the Bamboo Thicket Slope Idol, then go up the path killing all that stands in your way. Go across the bridge and talk to Owl in the burning courtyard here for a key. Grapple up and out and make your way along over the wall. This path will either land you in the river or lead to a cave guarded by bandits. We’ll come back to that shortly.

Go back to the bridge just before the burning courtyard but this time jump off to the right and grapple down to the tree, just past this is a bamboo gate you can cut open. Jump from all to wall to reach the top and kill off the purple ninja you meet. Go inside the building he was guarding for the Mist Raven Shinobi Tool.

Go back to the tower just before the Bamboo Thicket Slope Idol (we are heading back to the bandits in front of the cave from earlier)  then grapple across the river. Take out the bandits here and do some more wall jumps in the cave. Grab the Hirata Estate – Main Hall Idol just around the corner from the well. Proceed around the estate and take out all the enemies in this area on this side of the little river. Cross the river where you can and talk to the NPC halfway along for a hand against the Drunkard boss. Kill him and make your way inside through some rooms to grab the Hirata Audience Chamber Idol.

Go down the stairs and kill Lady Butterfly for a Memory (this will upgrade your attack power) and a Sakura Droplet (can be used to increase your resurrection limit once you *spoiler* find your lord *end of spoiler)

Ashina Outskirts (2nd time)

Ashina Outskirts (2nd time)

Back to the Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol now. Look down and listen to the memory in the courtyard below then turn around and chat to Anayama the Peddler under the gate (he sells a Gourd Seed if you chat enough and also moves to the Dilapidated temple). Face away from the idol and grapple to the tree on your right just past the gate. Eavesdrop on the guards then kill them. Take on the Chained Ogre up the hill (not a fan of oil and fire and scared of Firecrackers) then grapple up to the area behind and above him and take an immediate left for a Gourd Seed.

Go back to the central exit in the walkway and sneak around to the right. On top of a ledge kill the enemy with the gong then go around killing everyone but the General who is a mini-boss. Sneak attack the mini-boss then kill him off for a Prayer Bead before you make your way down to the left of the broken bridge to the Underbridge Valley Idol.

Continue down the mountain side until you come to a wall hug spot, hug that wall and wait for the snake to look away. Grapple over to the grass below and wait for the snake to look away then grapple to the cave and run through. Run straight into the grass ahead and crouch walk through it then wall hug the wall and then sneak into the tiny tent. Wait for the cue then stab the snake in the eye (poor snake just wanted a cuddle). Grapple up and away from the snake as fast as you can (it is mighty irked) and exit via the cave and grapple up to Ashina Castle Gate Fortress Idol.

Gyoubu and company

Gyoubu and company

Take down everybody in the lower courtyard. Look up to the broken wall and check out the memory next to it then grapple up the tree in the back corner and jump down into the field. Fight and kill Gyoubu for a Memory and a Mechanical Barrel (allows upgrades to your prosthesis).

Activate the Ashina Castle Gate Idol that is now in the courtyard next to a large open gate but instead of going through this turnaround and go to the other side of the field. Go up the stairs on and you will find a building, before going into the building continue past it and up some more stairs and buy a Gourd Seed from this salesman.

Go inside the big building and talk to the masked gentleman a few times. You may have to go kill some Rats as he asks but he should give you the Ashina Esoteric Text, if not come back in a  bit. Climb up the inside of this building grappling where possible and go through a hole in the ceiling for a Prayer Bead.

Ashina Castle

Ashina Castle

Go through from the Ashina Castle Gate Idol and check out the memory. Keep moving forwards and try and grapple where you can if you want to avoid enemies. After a field with two trolls you will be able to eavesdrop on two enemies who talk about a beast. Kill them and then equip the Firecracker Shinobi Tool for the next fight. Move forwards and fight off the Blazing Bull for a Prayer Bead.

Kill off the guards that rush then go outside to the bridge and grab the Ashina Castle Idol. While you’re here look to the side for a tree branch you can grapple to. Grapple across to the tree and kill the guards on the bridge for a key for later. Go back to the idol and walk through the gate then grapple your way up to the right. Keep grappling up and fighting the ninjas until you reach the palace. Make your way around the left-hand side (you will get dive bombed by a weird ninja if you are going the right way) until you are overlooking a lake, there will be an enemy who blows himself up (if you revisit this lake when you can dive you can fight a Headless underwater, not sure why you would want to though). Stay on the roof and look up above where the exploding enemy came from and to the right of the lake for a grapple point framed by purple banners and then go in here and grab a Gourd Seed and the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol.

Inside Ashina Castle

Inside Ashina Castle

From the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol sneak through into the room where you can see down to a small roof. Jump down here and turn around to face the direction of the idol. There is a chest in this room that has the Sabimaru Shinobi Tool. Then go back to the Upper Tower – Antechamber idol using the Homeward Idol item. From the idol fight your way through the samurai and go into a room on your right. There is a hole in the ceiling so grapple up there. Walk through this space and drop down before you open the door here just in case you die. Turn back away from the door and go into the next room to sneak up the stairs in the next room and watch the memory, then go to the next room for the Upper Tower – Ashina Dojo Idol.

Go through and have an epic samurai battle with an Ashina Elite (one of the best fights up until this point) for a Prayer Bead. Climb out of the window and make your way up as high as you can for a cutscene. Fight and beat Genichiro Ashina (this will feel good) for another Memory and the Bloodsmoke Ninjutsu.

Grab the Castle Tower Lookout Idol and talk to the Emma, then go downstairs and grab the Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room Idol. Talk to the Young Lord, smell some incense, then talk to the Young Lord again. Open up the window and jump out and follow the smoke signals across the rooftops to your left to get to General Isshin. Have a lengthy chat with him and exhaust the dialogue.

Ashina Reservoir

Ashina Reservoir

From the Ashina Castle Idol go through the gate and immediately left through a narrow passageway then open the door in front of you and the one after it. Turn around and drop down the hole then open the door down here to find the Ashina Reservoir Idol. Welcome back to the tutorial area. 

Go ahead and then jump onto the wall and look right, you should see the building you got your sword from up on a cliff and you can grapple up here to be able to sneak attack the Ashina Seven Spears mini-boss in front of it. Kill him for a Prayer Bead. Looking out from that building and across the bridge you should see the house you snuck under in the tutorial. Go over to it and unlock it to grab the Spear Shinobi Tool.

Go back outside and stick to the right-hand wall until you can hug it, do so and walk around. Talk to the weird NPC but don’t go down the hole he is looking down. Instead, walk past him and look down the hole ahead. Drop attack this mini-boss (this is another purple ninja from the memory) kill him for a Prayer Bead. Go past this area and swim through a passageway until you can grapple up. 

Abandoned Dungeon and Ashina Depths (part 1)

Abandoned Dungeon and Ashina Depths (part 1)

Go forward though this cavern and grab the Bottomless Hole Idol. There is a creepy ghost boss if you fancy your chances but it is optional for now. So, walk forward through the cavern and have a chat to two NPCs one after the other then throw yourself off the edge after the gate. Keep an eye out for grapple points and grab the first one you can. Find and go down the well-lit hole and grab the Ashina Depths Idol. You may have ended up on the wrong one so look to grapple up if you can until you find a room with an enemy and a the well-lit hole in the floor.

Drop down to the platform below and grapple around to your left until you are on top of a Buddha statue. Drop down and grab the Poison Pools Idol (*cough* Blighttown *cough*). We will come back here but now is not the time, warp back to the Ashina Castle idol.

The Path to Senpou Temple

The Path to Senpou Temple

From the Ashina Castle Idol grapple across to the bridge (where you killed the guards for a key earlier) then grapple up the tower. Drop down and kill the Bell Ogre then run past this and grab the Abandoned Dungeon Entrance Idol.

There is another merchant here so stock up if you need to. Go through this area (it is fairly linear) and check the left-hand side for an immensely unsettling NPC. Keep going and you will have to swim to some bandits and continue on for the Underground Waterway Idol. Continue on from this until you find a lift and use it. Have a casual chat with the wall scroll and grab the Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo Idol.

Senpou Temple

Exit the temple and hang an immediate right. Jump over to the area you can see and find the NPC next to a tree and have a chat about pinwheels with him (seems like a nice dude, you can bring him a red and white one or a white one later, you can also send him to the creepy NPC in the prison). Grapple down to kill a Rat and fly a flag (not sure why just yet) then go back to the  Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo Idol.

Go forward and make your way grappling through the trees or fighting through the monks. Once you reach the big building at the top of the hill grapple into the rafters then jump up into a hole on the left-hand side above you. From here go down the stairs and grab the Gourd Seed that the monks are praying to. You can fight everything first if you want. Jump out the window here. There is an NPC who wants rice to your right. Sneak around killing enemies for the moment and go to the broken bridge. At the broken bridge look left and up to a grapple point, grapple up to this and climb up until you find the Shugendo Idol.

Ascend up via grappling hook or walking like a peasant until you come to some climbable ledges at the top of a zig-zagged wooden path. Clamber up here and before going into the walkway look around for some pinwheels, you can grab a red and white one here. Enter the walkway and fight the Armored Knight (break his stamina and kick him off of the walkway, the spear may strip his armour but haven’t tested it yet), enjoy your Prayer Bead prize then grab the Temple Grounds Idol.

Senpou Temple Grounds (part 1)

Senpou Temple Grounds (part 1)

Warp back to the Shugendo Idol then go up to where there where climbable ledges. If you look along the cliffside and down a bit you will see a grapple point. Running jump away from the cliff at roughly a 45 degree angle and towards the grapple point then grapple, then ledge grab.

Make your way around this bit of cliff and look up and grapple and ledge grab again. Do some more jumps up the walls and there is a white pinwheel here. Go up higher and open the door. Kill the weird Voldo-like Long-Arm Centipede enemy and go through to grab the Bell Demon’s Temple Idol (you can ring this bell if you want, not sure what it does, I didn’t, I am scared).

Go back inside and go into the room on your right and hug the wall with the human outline. Follow the path through until you reach a wider room then stick to the right, ignoring the Headless mini-boss (you can only deal damage using Divine Confetti). Jump up and then grapple up to the ledge above you. Take the left path once up there and grapple up lots to get to an area with some buildings and some lizards. Go into the building ahead of you and open the door to find yourself back by the Chained Ogre was. Yay, awesome world design.This is useful if you want to fight the Headless later on. 

Senpou Temple Grounds (Part 2)

Senpou Temple Grounds (Part 2)

Go back to the Temple Grounds Idol and look past the buildings below you for a pool of water. Jump in and kill the fish for a Carp Scale. Grapple up to the roofs above and head to the cliff face. Grapple up, follow a path and keep doing so until you reach a balcony to a huge building.

Run around this killing everything or dodging them and follow the wall to your right for an opening into the building. Go inside and make your way past the creepy centipede monks to an opening on your left to find the Main Hall Idol. Chat to the monk here for the information you came for. Go back outside and check to your right for a cave.

Go down through the cave until you hit a room with statues in it and check to your left for a small opening you can crouch through. Follow this path until you reach a dead-end and look up and grapple up. Follow this path to a building with a Senpou Esoteric Text. Grapple across to the Main Hall Idol location and warp back to Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room Idol.

Ashina Castle and Black Badger

Ashina Castle and Black Badger

Read the note in the room then look left and talk to the Young Lord. Leave the room and drop into the lake behind the castle. Then go right of the palace to a bridge, head back towards the palace and then turn right for a small opening and the Old Grave Idol. Clear this area of enemies as you descend then look for the pagoda with the open top and get inside to meet Black Badger. Buy the Iron Umbrella Shinobi Tool from him in case of heavy rain. If you talk to Black Badger enough he will move to Senpou Temple just before the kite. He talks about flying the kite too which is something that will becomes important later. 

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The post Sekiro walkthrough appeared first on Game News.

You’ll meet the Sekiro Ashina Elite boss in Ashina Castle after a tough enough fight across the rooftops to get the. It’s not exactly the break you might be hoping for but with our guidance you should be able to face down the Ashina Elite easily.

How to kill the Sekiro Ashina Elite boss

The fight is intense, fast-paced, and seems almost insurmountable. It is also one of the moments that really demands you learn how to parry effectively. If you can’t parry this lightning-fast swordsman than you are doomed to be cut into several small pieces and left to die on the floor. 

If you can parry, then this fight is an absolute doddle. The key to this fight is in paying close attention to the Ashina Elite’s sheath on his hip. It is at this point that the Elite will dash forward and loose to sword strikes in quick succession. If you can parry these successfully you will deal a monstrous amount of posture damage. 

If you can do this around three times then the Elite will be vulnerable to a deathblow and will fall. There are other attacks to parry as well, but this double-strike is by far and away the best chance to trash his posture and take him down. In between these attacks if you try to get in close and hit him once or twice you can literally end this fight in under a minute. 

Sekiro Blazing Bull boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Chained Ogre boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Lady Butterfly boss guide (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Genichiro Ashina boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Headless boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Juzou the Drunkard boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Guardian Ape boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Folding Screen Monkey boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Gyoubu Oniwa boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Lone Shadow Longswordsman boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Isshin Ashina boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Armored Warrior boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Isshin the Sword Saint boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Ashina Elite boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Corrupted Monk boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Genichiro Way of Tomoe boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Great Shiobi Owl boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Seven Ashina Spears boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro True Corrupted Monk boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Emma the Gentle Blade boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Demon of Hatred boss (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Divine Dragon boss (opens in new tab)

The post Sekiro Ashina Elite boss guide: How to defeat the rapid swordsman appeared first on Game News.

Sekiro walkthrough | Sekiro tips | Sekiro Dragon rot | Sekiro Prayer Beads | Sekiro Gourd seeds | Sekiro bosses (opens in new tab)| Sekiro endings (opens in new tab)| Sekiro Snap Seeds (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Shinobi Prosthetic tools (opens in new tab) | Sekiro Treasure Carp Scales (opens in new tab)

1. Ashina Outskirts – Gate Path idol Prayer Bead:  General Naomori Kawarada

From the Outskirts Wall: Gate Path idol go past the bridge where you got the Shuriken, go around to the left until you can sneak attack the mini-boss  General Naomori Kawarada – take him out then you will get a Prayer Bead.

2. Hirata Estate – Estate Path idol Prayer Bead: Shinobi Hunter

From the Hirata Estate Estate Path idol progress to the stairs with the shield-wielding enemies and get past them. The enemy in white with a spear you’ll find is a Shinobi Hunter. Use the Mikiri counter to take him out for a Prayer Bead.

3. Hirata Estate – Main Hall Idol Prayer Bead: Audience Chamber 

From the Hirata Estate – Main Hall Idol you find a prayer bead in the building Juzou the Drunkard was/is protecting. Assuming he’s dead enter the building he was guarding and head left. You should find a wall with a scroll on it. If you then hug this wall it will reveal a hidden room which contains a Prayer Bead and a few other goodies. 

4. Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol Prayer Bead: General Tenzen Yamauchi  

The Outskirts Wall will introduce to the Chained Ogre, a not insubstantial boss fight. Once he’s down. However you’ll also find the General Tenzen Yamauchi mini boss before you make your way down to the left of the broken bridge to the Underbridge Valley Idol. Kill off all the nearby minions and then end him for a Prayer Bead

5. Ashina Outskirts – Ashina Castle Gate Prayer Bead: Gyoubu Oniwa 

In the Ashina Castle Gate Idol area, where you fight Gyoubu on horseback is a large set of stairs opposite the Idol. Make your way up them and into the building. If you can grapple to the top of the building and through a hole in the ceiling a Prayer Bead will await you.

6. Ashina Outskirts – Ashina Castle Gate Prayer Bead: Blazing Bull 

Keep moving forwards from the Ashina Castle Gate Idol to where you can eventually  eavesdrop on two enemies talking about a beast. Kill them to start the boss fight and then use the Firecracker Shinobi Tool to fight off the Blazing Bull for a Prayer Bead.

7. Ashina Castle Idol Prayer Bead: General

If you go up the stairs from the Ashina Castle Idol there is another General mini-boss. Cut him down for another Bead. 

8. Ashina Elite Prayer Bead: Upper Tower – Ashina Dojo

Just after the Upper Tower – Ashina Dojo Idol is a samurai sword fight with the Ashina Elite. If you can deflect your way to victory you will get a Prayer Bead. 

9. Ashina Reservoir Idol Prayer Bead: Ashina Seven Spears mini-boss

While in the Ashina Reservoir you will come across an Ashina Seven Spears mini-boss in front of the building where the Young Lord gave you your sword. Best him in a battle for a Bead.

10. Ashina Reservoir idol Prayer Bead: Lone Shadow Longswordman 

In the Ashina Reservoir area go past the house you snuck under way back at the start of the game then stick to the wall and wall hug walk your way around. Go to the end of this path then drop attack the enemy below. Kill him off for another Prayer Bead.

11. Senpou Temple – Shugendo Idol Prayer Bead: Armored Knight 

At the top of the climb from the Shugendo Idol you will fight the Armored Knight. If you can kick him to his doom you will get a Bead. You will also hear a very satisfying thud.  

12. Temple Grounds Idol Prayer Bead: Centipede Su’un 

Across from the Temple Grounds Idol is a building with a courtyard. Make your way over to this and then look to the right and down of it. If you jump down to the roof below and check the building out you should find an opening. If you carefully make your way inside you should be able to sneak attack this Centipede in order to make killing him easier and then get another Bead.

13. Sunken Valley Idol Prayer Bead: Snake Eyes 

From the Sunken Valley Idol, and as you make your way to the Gun Fort, you will come across a Snake Eyes enemy in front of a Buddha head. Take them out for a Prayer Bead. 

14. Gun Fort Idol Prayer Bead: Centipede Giraffe

From the Gun Fort Idol you can move forwards and fight Long-arm Centipede Giraffe. Beat him in a fight using firecrackers and whatever else works for another Bead.  

15. Gun Fort Idol Prayer Bead: Canyon

In the same room as the previous fight there is a hole in the floor. If you explore this you can find an exit into the caverns again. Follow it around until you see some mini centipede giraffe enemies and the bead is on the floor.

16. Poison Pool Idol Pray Bead: Snake Eyes

In the Poison Pools area is a Snake Eyes mini-boss. If you can take them out you will get this Bead as a prize. It is well worth sneaking up on them for the first lethal hit as it is a tough fight. 

17. Hidden Forest Idol Payer Bead: Glutton

If you go from the Hidden Forest Idol you can make your way past the small Buddha Statue into a second area. On the left-hand wall of this area is a tree to grapple to. On the other side of the small path that it takes you to is a mini-boss called the Glutton who is a lot like the Drunkard fought in the memory. Take him out for a Prayer Bead.

18. Water Mill Idol Prayer Bead: Mibu Village

Go up from the Water Mill Idol and past the bridge. Go towards the building ahead of you but instead drop into the rive to your right. Go to the backside of the building and look towards it, you should be able to grapple up for another Bead.

19. Underwater Temple Grounds Idol Prayer Bead

When you have gained the ability to dive underwater warp to the Underwater Temple Grounds Idol. Jump into the pool of water below you and dive under. If you look around you should find a cave with a Bead inside. 

20. Poison Pools Idol Prayer Bead 

Warp to the Poison Pools Idol. After you have killed the Snake Eyes enemy a path opens up behind them, instead of following this down look up and to your left for a grapple point. Sneak under the first low ceiling here and then jump up. Follow this up and then grapple to the Buddha’s head for this Bead. 

21 & 22 Poison Pools Idol – Guardian Ape: Revengeance 

After you defeat the Guardian Ape in Bodhisattva Valley if you warp to the Poison Pools Idol you will notice things are a bit different. Make sure you have the Mortal Blade before doing this fight though. Go into the large cavern that opened up after you killed the Snake Eyes enemy and you will find this boss ready to rumble. Defeat it for two Prayer Beads.  

The post Where to find Sekiro Prayer Beads and max out your Vitality and Posture appeared first on Game News.

However perverted this might sound, being able to fight off bloodthirsty women as well as men makes me so god damn happy. Whether these nameless, cookie-cutter foes are being used as meatbag distractions during a boss fight or are the kind that roam across an open world and are all too happy to open fire on you, having a mixture of men and women in their ranks is one step closer to equality between the sexes in video games, and helps to get rid of the damaging notion that women aren’t aggressors. Let me explain why. 

Mixed-sex cannon-fodder

It might just sound like an aesthetic choice, a small tweak that you don’t really notice when you’re gaming. But having both men and women attack you slowly but surely erodes the idea that men are the default setting for generic enemies: that they’re nameless cannon fodder, disposable and meant to be killed without a second thought. However, great as it is to have major female NPCs, treating men and women the same when it comes to the lowest level of nameless-NPCs is just as important. This is far from a new trend, though: Skyrim (opens in new tab) has mixed-sex guards and bandits, Far Cry 5 (opens in new tab) has cultists and Highwaymen of both genders, the soldiers patrolling Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (opens in new tab)’s forts and cities are both male and female, and other games like Dishonored 2 (opens in new tab), all the Bioshock (opens in new tab) games, and Left 4 Dead (opens in new tab) have the same gender balance. Most recently Borderlands 3 (opens in new tab) joined the party by giving us female psychos (at last). 

Whichever way you look at it, it’s good to prove that like men, women can be dicks and join causes that belong to the baddies, as well as leading those hordes of evil ne’er-do-wells. Pretending otherwise is just putting women on a pedestal, implying that we’re without fault and couldn’t possibly contemplate hurting another living being. But even though most games already include lethal ladies, part of what is holding some titles back (and could have occurred to you too) might be that faint and outdated idea that you shouldn’t hit a girl, no matter what. And you shouldn’t, as a rule, but – and I hope this is so obvious that I don’t have to point it out – nor should you hit boys. But there is one big exception: if they seem thirsty for your blood, gender doesn’t really matter when it comes down to making sure your vital organs actually stay inside your body. It’s like that scene in 22 Jump Street, where Schmidt doesn’t want to hit Mercedes (opens in new tab), or Colossus’ initial reluctance to fight Angel Dust (opens in new tab) in Deadpool (opens in new tab). 

Time to point out the obvious: if some girl is trying to whack your head in with a baseball bat, it’s alright to fight back. For whatever reason, for some fighting women who are pretty ok with fighting you seems to be one of those old weird chivalry rules that hasn’t quite gone away yet. I sincerely hope that if any of us were faced with Mickey and Lou from Far Cry New Dawn (opens in new tab), Doom (opens in new tab)’s Olivia Pierce, Irene Engel from Wolfenstein 2 (opens in new tab), God of War (opens in new tab)’s Valkyries, or Lady Butterfly from Sekiro (opens in new tab): Shadows Die Twice, we’d be ok with shedding some blood in the name of survival. 

Monstrous mobs

This goes far beyond just low-level female and male mobs though, and into the depiction of monsters and the monstrous in video games. Although with some creatures it’s almost impossible to tell their gender due to their androgynous appearance – like Devil May Cry 5 (opens in new tab)’s Hell Atenora or Metro Exodus (opens in new tab)’ humanimals – other games seem to incline more towards having a majority of monsters with masculine physical qualities. Take Outlast (opens in new tab) and Outlast 2 (opens in new tab), for example. Even though the second game had horrific female enemies like Val and Marta, the Heretics that you fought near the end of the game are all men, as evidenced by their almost-naked bodies and, ahem, genitalia. Then Outlast only had male enemies, despite there being a female ward at Mount Massive Asylum. 

Helwalkers, Trolls, and Draugr in God of War all have male physical characteristics too (broad shoulders, slim hips), plus in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (opens in new tab) Lynels, as just one example, are all evidently buff lion centaur dudes. Depicting most monsters as having typically male qualities is limiting to say the least. Although they look cool as heck in a kind of horrifying way, monsters can and should have female characteristics too, like God of War’s Revenants or Left 4 Dead 2 (opens in new tab)’s Spitter and Witch special infected. By the way, those two examples also prove that women can be monstrous without using their gender as the reason for their monstrosity, which is unfortunately the category that enemies like Marguerite Baker from Resident Evil 7 (opens in new tab) fall into, with her twisted form seemingly relying on a twisted mockery of pregnancy (opens in new tab) to disgust us. 

Read more

The best upcoming new games of 2019 (opens in new tab) (and beyond)

And yeah, I know my entire argument can be simplified into ‘let me kill more women in video games, dammit’, but I’m ok with that. You want to support a tyrant? A cult leader? You can, no matter what’s between your legs! Including women among those low-level mobs undermines the idea that women can’t be aggressors, and helps to combat the sexist idea that women can’t be violent. A notion like that harms both genders, and who knows, this could just be a small step towards men being treated as women’s equals in other bits of real life too. Since we’ve started to talk more about equality between the sexes it’s no coincidence that current trends indicate men are feeling more able to open up about being the victims of violence: reports of sexual offences against men having tripled in the last 10 years (opens in new tab), and reports of men being domestically abused have risen (opens in new tab) also. Having a balanced depiction of generic, evil men and women in video games might seem like a trivial point, but it’s small things like this that end up making it easier for all of us to be treated equally. 

If you want to know what’s going on this week, here’s our pick of the week’s best TV, movies, and games (May 6-12) (opens in new tab), or look below to see it in video form!

The post Men arent cannon-fodder: the addition of low-level female enemies in video games is one of the best patterns in gaming appeared first on Game News.

After an hour of frustration, it finally clicked: I’d only win if I was aggressive. Instead of jumping back when it attacked, I pushed forward to parry its swipes and cut at its legs. Eventually, it flopped on the ground looking as exhausted as I felt, and I sliced its head off. Five seconds later it rose again, head in one hand, makeshift blade in the other. Round two.

Fast Facts: Sekiro

 Release date: March 22, 2019
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Activision
Developer: FromSoftware

In Sekiro, you play a shinobi trying to rescue your kidnapped master, a young boy called Kuro with a magical bloodline. You spend most of your time cutting down bosses and minibosses across a huge, branching world – so it’s a good thing the combat is genius.

It’s possible to kill enemies by whittling down their health bar with your katana, but the game’s defining moments are its stylish “death blows”, which you can only deliver once you’ve broken an enemy’s posture, displayed as a bar alongside their health. Every time you successfully parry an attack or force an enemy to block you, you damage their posture, and once the bar is full you can finish them off in one attack.

Posture boy

Check out our video Sekiro review above:

Enemies recover posture if you let up, but the lower their health, the more posture damage they take, and the slower it recovers. To kill bosses you’ll therefore need to apply constant pressure, dealing damage, parrying attacks and forcing them to block.

That aggression puts you in danger. Most enemies in Sekiro can kill you with a couple of hits, and you’ll die hundreds and hundreds of times, including to regular swordsmen. It took me more than 20 attempts to best some bosses, and yet it rarely feels unfair. Every time I died, I know I could’ve survived if I was less tentative, or if I’d studied my enemy’s attack patterns closer.

The lethality of your foes combined with the power of your parry creates a brilliant tension between safety and success. Backing off usually preserves your life but doesn’t help you kill your enemy – pushing forward puts you in range to cut them down, but makes you vulnerable. I’m always playing right on the edge of my abilities, and the thrill of knowing I could die from one mistimed parry makes every victory feel huge. It’s more punishing than either Dark Souls (opens in new tab) or Bloodborne (opens in new tab), but more rewarding too.

No two fights feel the same. As well as the haunted, headless ape I’ve fought a drunkard that periodically swigs poison and spits it on his sword, a charging bull with flaming horns and something named the Long-arm Centipede Giraffe. A host of gadgets for Sekiro’s prosthetic arm adds further variety, and they can help you in sticky spots. When fighting the bull, I equipped the firecracker, which stuns beast. When I battled a chained ogre, I blasted my flamethrower, because I’d heard enemies say it feared fire.

Explore all avenues 

Outside of combat, poetic writing and a vast, branching setting make Sekiro a joy to explore. Its story is more straightforward than FromSoftware’s previous games, which is a good thing. Your aims change as you progress, but each time it’s clear what you must do, and it gives you a constant sense of purpose.

Away from the main story, Sekiro’s world is a mystery that begs to be explored. You’ll meet an old woman mumbling about rice and a snake, a diminutive warrior called the Black Hat Badger who talks about flying a kite and a sad monk who’s crying because he’s lost a pure white flower. Whether or not you can work out how to help these NPCs will change your story and send you to bits of the world you might’ve otherwise missed.

Watch our Sekiro tips below:

The environments can feel samey early on, and you’ll spend hours hopping across the roofs of cut-and-paste pagodas. Later locations are more varied, if a little uninspiring—I never saw anything that made me stop and stare. But they’re still fun to poke around thanks to the secrets tucked away behind hidden doors and in tiny cave entrances. You’ll find prayer beads to upgrade your health, gourd seeds to give you more refills of your healing flask, and new attachments for your shinobi prosthetic.

It seems to keep expanding, too. Every time I exhausted one branch, two or three more would reveal themselves, each ending in bosses. I spent 40 hours with my first playthrough and there are still storylines, including another ending, that I’m planning to catch the second time around.

Stealth tax  

Unfortunately, it’s let down by its emphasis on stealth. Fighting groups of enemies head-on will get you killed, and Sekiro instead wants you to take them out one-by-one via stealth kills. Guards stand below overhanging ledges or on the edges of tall grass, just waiting to be stabbed. 

But the AI is too easy to fool, and it makes stealth segments boring. If you hide for 15 seconds, enemies will forget you just skewered their buddy and go back to their posts. It’s satisfying to plan a perfect route the first time you enter an area, but you end up running that same route over and over. 

One spearman mini-boss on some castle steps, for example, has an honour guard of six enemies, and it’s too dangerous to take them all at once. It creates a tedious cycle of jumping from the roofs, stabbing one, retreating on-high and waiting for the AI to reset. Jump, stab, and repeat. When you eventually get stomped by the boss, you have to go again.

Complete Sekiro Walkthrough

Work your way through the game with our Sekiro walkthrough (opens in new tab)

Moving in stealth can be awkward, too. You can’t, for example, hurdle silently over low objects when crouched: pressing jump will make you leap out of cover. If you’re on a tree branch, you can’t simply drop down silently – instead, you have to pick a direction and jump. It’s clunky.

My only other complaint is with the camera, which can’t deal with tight spaces. I died several times to a shadow warrior in an underground tunnel because I got too close to the walls, which meant I couldn’t see anything other than the back of Sekiro’s head. I was cut to shreds.

But as annoying as these issues are, they’re dwarfed by the excellence of Sekiro’s bosses and combat. Give it your patience and it’ll reward you with some of the best fights in any video game, poetic side stories and a world full of secrets. It’s the hardest game I’ve ever completed and yet, as soon as I beat the final boss, I booted up a new game. I’m determined to explore the side stories I missed – and stab that bloody ape in the neck just one more time.

Reviewed on PS4

The Verdict

4

4 out of 5

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro has the best swordfights in any video game. It leans too heavily on its mediocre stealth, but its satisfying combat will keep you going through hundreds of brutal deaths.

The post Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review: “Genius combat and a world that begs to be explored” appeared first on Game News.

The award was presented by two living legends in their own right: Games Workshop and Fighting Fantasy co-creators Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Their presence was no mere coincidence: the Fighting Fantasy choose-your-own-adventure RPG books that Jackson and Livingstone penned 37 years ago originally inspired a young Miyazaki. Livingstone called Miyazaki a “true genius of game design,” which must’ve felt great, as the pair are two of Miyazaki’s childhood heroes. “I’m such a huge fan of these two guys, I’ve almost forgotten what I was going to say,” Miyazaki chuckled.   

Speaking through a translator, Miyazaki expressed his gratitude to everyone who helped make these seminal games, and everyone who enjoyed playing them (you can watch a clip of his acceptance speech above; the full award takes place at the 49:15 mark in the full Golden Joystick Awards 2018 stream archive (opens in new tab)). “It’s such a surprise and an honor to receive this prestigious Golden Joystick award – I’m quite humbled,” he said. In addition to thanking his coworkers and family, Miyazaki had a message for FromSoftware fans: “More than anything, thank you to the players – to everyone who has played, enjoyed, and appreciated my games.”

Next up from Miyazaki and his team at FromSoftware is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (opens in new tab), coming in March 2019, which adds grappling hook mobility to the studio’s familiar blend of brutal challenge and righteous rewards. “I plan to carry on making games for as long as I’m able, and I will do my very best to make sure that they’re games that you will enjoy,” Miyazaki pledged. “Thank you for your continued support in advance.”

Here’s the full list of all the Golden Joystick Awards 2018 winners (opens in new tab) from the show. 

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