Any soulslike game—usually characterised by a rigid checkpoint system, weighty combat, punishing deaths, and deep RPG customisation—is going to be compared to Dark Souls. It is what it is.
Yet in 2023, something interesting happened. Four big soulslikes—Lords of the Fallen, Lies of P, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty—borrowed far more from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a FromSoftware game that lot of my fellow masochistic mates bounced right off back in 2019.
Sekiro did a lot of things differently. You played as one specific character with a specific weapon. You had a limited (though appreciable) choice of gadgets and abilities, and—most importantly—Sekiro let you time your blocks.
In games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, parrying is a risky endeavour. The reward is huge, but players will rarely chance it, since it leaves you completely open. Sekiro’s timed block is far easier to execute and far safer to attempt, it just rewards you less. Unfortunately,…