Sekiro: An Insight of Feudal Japanese Era in Video Games

Sekiro: An Insight of Feudal Japanese Era in Video Games

'Hesitation is defeat' The words still flow through my head like the swift water fountains from Fountainhead Palace. 'Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice', A game that won many awards including the Game of the Year Award of 2019,  was not just a simple video game, but an experience.

Sekiro played it differently when it comes to 'Soulsborne' games which usually refers to Miyazaki's some of the popular yet difficult games. Many people complain how hard it gets to adapt just to beat some of the first areas in his game. While the games are somewhat difficult, beating the games feels refreshing and rewarding. Miyazaki, the director of 'Soulsborne' games, started with 'Demons Soul' and slowly his creativity evolved within each game he made. Sekiro, however, has a less in-depth combat and accessory system, there is an actual protagonist now because past titles did not have and finally, the theme is set in Feudal Japan.

The game starts with a vivid vision of a war, lots of bloodshed and dead soldiers. Among them, there was a lone boy waiting to be slaughtered. However, a shinobi picks him up to give him proper training to become one of them so he can protect himself. After a huge time gap, we see the protagonist, who is called 'Wolf', has a mission to save his loyal master Kuro. It turns out Kuro has divine blood with him which gives the rejuvenation to normal people and prevents death. Which means the soldiers using the blood can finally have an eternal life and can continue war as much as they can. Kuro realizes that he is a target even in his own land, so he decides to escape with his loyal servant Wolf. However, someone stops their way and cuts out Wolf's left hand. losing too much blood, Wolf loses consciousness and wakes up somewhere unknown. Someone saves him and tells him that Kuro has to be saved and in order to do that, he has to pass many obstacles.

With many hardships and patience, also with lots of in-game deaths, the player has to save Kuro. But the best part is that's up to the player's decision as they can decide to stop obeying Kuro at one point and turn against everyone to become Shura which means Devil. That is called the bad ending. There are also 4 other endings, each with a different perspective of how a player thinks. The Visuals, sound design, level design, Music and boss designs are top notch. For that I can't stop Miyazaki enough for this. My only sadness grows because I will never be able to experience it for the first time again.

Written by

Fardin Noor (22301189)

Md Shamsuddoha Sium (22301120)