Even though it’s not technically a part of the established Soulsborne formula, FromSoftware’s upcoming title Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will still adhere to several of the studio’s core tenants, and that includes an overt focus on steep difficulty. Unlike the Soulsborne games, Sekiro will allow players to resurrect themselves right on the spot where an enemy felled them, but in a recent interview with the PlayStation Blog, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki warned that such a seemingly generous mechanic will only contribute to the game’s difficulty rather than impede it.
During the interview, Miyazaki discussed Sekiro’s unique resurrection mechanic at length, saying that it will actually tie closely into the game’s story and the plight of its central character, a ninja warrior seeking to rescue the young lord whom he serves. The resurrection mechanic will also tie into the game’s combat, helping to facilitate the more prominent “risk vs. reward” feeling that FromSoftware wants to play up:
“My idea of a ninja fighting rather than, say, a knight fighting, is that ninjas can’t take a lot of damage. They’re taking a huge risk, they’re very vulnerable while they’re fighting. It’s this idea of fighting on the edge, it’s a risky situation where if you screw up by a hair’s breadth, it’s over. With a knight, there’s more back and forth, there’s armor and all that. The idea of that type of fighting is where the idea for resurrection came from.
With that image for the combat, that it’s risky, a slight mistake and you’re dead, if you had to go back every time you die and walk back to where you were, the tempo of the game would not feel very good. The idea of resurrection is that it helps the flow of the game. Yes, you have this battle, but you don’t necessarily need to go back every time you die, this helps to balance that out and allows for that riskier “edge of the knife” type gameplay.”
As for whether or not the resurrection mechanic will make Sekiro any easier, Miyazaki had some ominous words to share:
“There’s one thing I’d like to make sure isn’t misunderstood: the resurrection system was not introduced to make the game easier. If anything, it actually can make the game harder because it allows us to push the edge of risky combat where the player can die at any moment.”
So there you have it. Sekiro’s death penalties may not be as harsh as those found in the Soulsborne games (at least in terms of immediate consequences), but that’s only because you’ll likely end up dying a lot more in Sekiro than you did in FromSoftware’s previous offerings.