While From Software fans wait for Elden Ring to release, many fans have taken to playing From’s catalog of titles. Most know them for the Dark Souls franchise, although there is a rather large fanbase for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as well. Despite Sekiro being From Software’s newest title, many still prefer the original Dark Souls.
It isn’t hard to see why, either. Dark Souls practically spawned a subgenre for RPGs with its punishing difficulty and intricate world design. Sekiro, in contrast, strips most of the elements of an RPG to focus on action. Both titles are phenomenal in their own way, but there is a divide as to which game is better. Here are five reasons why some prefer Sekiro over the original Dark Souls and vice versa.
10 Sekiro: Consistency
For everything the original Dark Souls gets right, it fundamentally messed up the second half of the game. When players obtain the Lordvessel, the game takes a massive nosedive in quality excluding the fantastic Artorias of the Abyss DLC.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice doesn’t suffer from any consistency issues. The game has a great progression curve that encourages the player to become more skilled compared to the frequent peaks and valleys in difficulty the original Dark Souls suffered from. None of the bosses are solely frustrating gimmicks, either.
9 Dark Souls: New Player Experience
Those looking to dive into the Souls style of game can’t do much better than the original Dark Souls. The first half of the original Dark Souls is so well crafted that every game in the genre has tried to chase that same success to no avail.
Despite its reputation for being a difficult game, Dark Souls does a better job at giving players various tools to overcome challenges. Stuck on a boss? Summon phantoms for co-op, upgrade weapons, kindle a bonfire for more Estus charges, or go to another zone. Sekiro forces players to learn the game’s combat rhythm if they wish to beat it. While Sekiro’s methods of difficulty are well-executed, the number of ways players can overcome pain points in the original Dark Souls makes it a perfect entry point for the subgenre From Software has created.
8 Sekiro: Dialogue
Talking to NPCs in the Dark Souls franchise typically involves characters speaking in riddles and laughing at the futility of the situation. It fits the dreadful tone well, yet it can be frustrating for players that wish to learn about the game’s lore without reading dozens of item descriptions.
Sekiro fixes this issue by letting players give NPCs various types of sake. Giving NPCs sake will cause them to tell a story from their perspective that shines a unique perspective on the game’s lore. Of course, Sekiro still uses item description to great effect to build its world. It’s just much more accessible this time around than in previous From Software titles.
7 Dark Souls: Multiplayer
One of the most brilliant aspects of the original Dark Souls is the game’s multiplayer component. Instead of browsing lobbies to find people to fight against, players interact with items in the game world to interact with others.
Soapstones can be used to place summoning signs for jolly cooperation or PvP duels. Red Eye Orbs can also be used to forcefully invade others. These sudden invasions can enhance the tension that Dark Souls builds so well. Alternatively, helping someone defeat a boss they’ve been stuck on for ages is one of the most rewarding experiences an RPG can offer.
What is truly brilliant about the multiplayer experience, though, is how hands-off it is. Players will dynamically find messages from other players that can lead to hidden areas or death. Bloodstains dot the landscape to show how others have died. Even players that frequently lose items or Humanity will cause Vagrants to spawn in other player’s worlds. The number of obscure multiplayer systems in this title makes for one of the most mysterious yet memorable experiences in all of gaming.
6 Sekiro: Boss Fights
Boss fights in the Souls series follow a similar pattern of waiting for an opening then punishing. While fun the first few times, this pattern can get old rather quickly once players get used to it. Sekiro flips this pattern on its head by asking players to be as aggressive as possible.
Since the game encourages a player to break an enemy’s posture instead of removing their health, fights become a matter of acting instead of reacting. Constant sword clashes, perfectly-timed parries, and the use of Shinobi Tools allow boss fights to be much more dangerous and mechanically intensive. Some of the best bosses From Software have made are in Sekiro and would be impossible to replicate in the Souls series.
5 Dark Souls: Lore
The lore of the Dark Souls franchise is some of the best in any RPG franchise. Nearly every item and boss in the game offers a piece of uncovering the puzzle of Lordran’s past. Bosses in the Souls franchise focus just as much on mechanical mastery as they do on enhancing the game world.
Take Gwyn, for example. This once noble king that brought humanity into the Age of Fire is seen as nothing more than a hollow husk when players finally face him. Everything in Dark Souls exists to enhance the game’s tone and lore, a major reason why the franchise resonates with so many gamers.
4 Sekiro: Movement
It’s hard to go back to any Dark Souls title once players experience Sekiro’s movement mechanics. Players finally have a dedicated jump button in this game. More than that, players can sprint at incredible speeds with no stamina cost, hop-off walls, fling themselves towards rooftops, and slide under tight gaps in buildings. It makes players feel like a proper Shinobi that can use the environment as a springboard for their attacks.
3 Dark Souls: World Design
Calling the world design of Dark Souls fantastic would be an understatement. From Software expertly connected the world of Lordran in a way that leaves most players stunned. Right from the start of a playthrough, players can explore Undead Burg, New Londo Ruins, Blighttown, the Catacombs, return to Undead Burg, or even explore the Depths if players make a certain jump in Undead Burg. Thanks to this interconnectedness, the original Dark Souls is easily the most replayable entry in the Souls franchise.
2 Sekiro: Combat
Combat in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is miles ahead of the Dark Souls franchise. Instead of reacting to enemy attacks, players control the flow of combat by staying on the offensive. It’s a massive change of pace that is difficult for Souls fans to condition themselves to.
When it clicks, Sekiro’s combat allows for a degree of mastery that is impossible in Dark Souls. Clashing blades with an opponent multiple times before perfectly parrying all of their attacks is one of the most satisfying gameplay loops From Software has ever made. Once players get used to the combat in Sekiro, it’s hard to go back.
1 Dark Souls: Replayability
That said, Sekiro’s brilliant combat came at the sacrifice of build variety and player customization. As an RPG, Dark Souls lets players create character builds by allocating points in various stats, choosing weapons to wield, armor to wear, and potentially spells to cast. That build variety is enough for some players to try out New Game+ or a second playthrough, but Dark Souls encourages replayability with much more than that.
Thanks to how interconnected the world design is, every playthrough can take a different path. Players can rush to Blighttown and ring the second Bell of Awakening first. Alternatively, players can delve into the Catacombs to obtain the game’s best items. When all of this is paired with the game’s multiplayer features, it becomes clear that the replayability of the original Dark Souls triumphs over anything Sekiro can provide. There’s a reason fans of the Souls series still play this game nearly a decade since its release.
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