Welp, fell into this game hard. I just reached Ashina Castle and have opened up the paths to a few locations and some optional bosses I'm not ready to deal with. I have also done almost everything I think I can in Hirata Estates except fight the boss whom I am avoiding as well as I spend more time exploring and honing my skills.

This game is a very different beast from previous Souls games. In fact, outside of keeping the whole "die and try" core game mechanics, which itself isn't anything new, it's safe to say Sekiro is it's own thing. Way more of a pure action game than the Action RPG of the spiritual predecessors. The stealth and platforming aspects are also nice as well though some stealth elements could be a bit better like guards being more cognizant of their comrades and having more diverse walking patterns. Probably doesn't help I was playing MGS not too long ago so that is still fresh in my mind.

Combat is good but my Souls experience is certainly hurting me. I had to remap the controls because I am too used to having the item button be the square. Likewise, my years of being a dodge fiend are coming back to haunt me because Sekiro wants you to know this is all about the parry, so I'm certainly getting wasted by bosses and strong enemies that require it since I prefer dodging and hit and run tactics. Getting the Mercuri Counter down was a bit of a struggle at first but I'm getting better. Overall I do love the combat, but it will still be sometime before I get good enough to not struggle. Dragonrot epidemic here I come!

The plot has also been interesting, and I find it interesting how with the exception of the immortality power, the game starts off fairly grounded in its storytelling before it slowly starts to introduce all the more fantastical elements to it. Hell, I would argue the game hits a nice balance of being more forthcoming with its plot with a named main hero and actual dialogue cutscenes as not to scare off the people who prefer more direct storytelling, and yet it holds onto a lot of the lore based elements of the Souls series as well. Nice compromise.

Overall I am having a blast.