FromSoftware explained how their next game will differ from their Souls titles.

At E3, the game’s producer, Robert Conkey, and promoter, Yasuhiro Kitao told DualShockers how Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will be different. The combat system will have a „completely different mentality,” and the traversal is going to be different as well due to the vertical focus on the maps. The possibility to hide changes the paradigm as well, allowing the player to dictate engagements, allowing them to combat more enemies at once as well.

Previously, we wrote already about how we can combine our prosthetic arm and our real arm, wielding the weapon – for example, we could make our katana flaming with this combination (setting our enemies on fire with it). It’s going to be a new game mechanic. Kitao says the biggest change in his opinion is going to be the fully 3D movement in jumping and the grappling hook, changing the game’s mentality in the process.

Sekiro will have just one class (ninja), unlike in the Souls games. There will be no stat system either, but FromSoftware hasn’t expanded what they will use yet. The gameplay decisions will not be made at the beginning of the game but throughout the plot, changing our playstyle as we go towards the end of the story. Killing enemies still increase your power level, and you’ll still find new items, upgrade old ones, or gain new skills.

The story’s presentation will be similar to the Souls games, though: instead of cutscenes, they will go towards a more experimental approach even with our protagonist (whose name is NOT Sekiro, which means One-Handed Wolf!) having a clear, set goal at the beginning of the game, making the start easy to understand. Similarly to Dark Souls, the parts of the world will be interconnected, and you can clear them out in your order, plus the game engine will also be the same as in the Souls games.

The Shadows Die Twice subtitle wasn’t originally planned. It was Hidetaka Miyazaki’s (Bloodborne!) idea for the The Game Awards 2017 trailer. Shadows refer to ninjas; Die Twice is both referring to dying a lot, as well as the respawning game mechanic.

Conkey told DualShockers that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice‘s single-player approach was intentionally a design choice made by FromSoftware, who wanted to see how far they can go with single-player. If there were multiplayer, they’d have limitations in multiplayer, and the bosses would have to be designed with all the characters and their combinations in mind. Without this aspect, they could go „free” which opened possibilities for them not seen in Souls games.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will launch in early 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: DualShockers, DualShockers