Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Diaries - Part 1

Erin began a journey

- Erin McAllister

Roughly three years ago, I picked up a copy of the then-newly released Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The game was (and is) a FromSoftware souls-like title that distanced itself somewhat from the company's beloved Souls games by shifting towards more of a focus on narrative, complete with a unique, customizable protagonist in the titular Sekiro, also known as Wolf. At the time, I had enjoyed Sekiro but was unable to get very far into it. I tend to bounce between thinking of myself as pretty good at playing video games and as rather terrible. With souls like games, I've often found myself a little too cautious to defeat many of the bosses and Sekiro was no exception. For three years, I found myself stuck in the Ashina Outskirts Chained Ogre miniboss fight, unable to get past the large enemy and also incapable of making much headway in the Hirata Estate either.

However, thanks to an excellent guide on cheesing that Ogre fight, I was finally able to make some semblance of progress. Below, I’ll recount my experience of revisiting Sekiro in an effort to see just how far I can make it. I’ll wait on revisiting the opening segments of the game until I get to any sort of New Game Plus because I do not want to fight the Chained Ogre any more times than I have to, so please accept my apologies and let’s get into it.