Mechanics in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice That Will Confuse Souls Fans
Blocking Good, Dodging Bad
Another interesting change in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the emphasis on blocking and parrying attacks. In the Souls games, if you have a shield equipped, you could block most attacks and counterattack. However, blocking would drain your stamina, and is generally regarded as kind of an inefficient way to play.
In Bloodborne, you didn’t have a shield at all (well there are two shields, but both are pretty useless), which meant that you had to solely rely on dodging attacks. In both series, dodging was by far the superior way to play, as it allowed players to react to enemy moves that little bit faster.
In Sekiro, blocking and parrying attacks is simply a key component of the game that you’ll need to get used to. Because enemies are balanced around their posture meters, and some bosses can’t be killed without deathblows, you definitely need to learn to block and parry in order to progress.
Interestingly enough, Sekiro does actually give players an indication whenever an enemy’s about to use an attack that can’t be blocked. A red kanji character will appear on-screen, signaling to you that the upcoming attack needs to be dodged.
By and large, though, Souls fans will likely need to discard the mentality that all attacks should be dodged.
