Jan 17, 2019

Podcast: What games are we looking forward to in 2019?

Metro Exodus - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (RPS)

New year, old friends. The boys and girls of the RPS podcast have not been reborn, they have no resolutions, no ambitious goal to learn German or eat more spinach. They just want to play more videogames. Unbelievable. So let s listen to them chat about the shooters and RPGs that have them most excited. That s what they do on these podcasts, you know, they just talk nonsense. And they get PAID for it. It s outrageous, if you ask me, a nameless publication byline.

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Jan 8, 2019

From sheds light on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's mysterious progression system

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition

With From Software's hugely anticipated ninja action title Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice rapidly nearing its March 22nd launch, the developer is starting to shed some light on the game's more mysterious systems - and this time it's the turn of player progression.

According to Game Informer, in conversation with Yasuhiro Kitao, From's manager of marketing and communications, player progression is yet another area of Sekiro in which the studio is actively moving away from the (perhaps overly) familiar template of Dark Souls and Bloodborne. While those games, with their heavy RPG stylings, offered enormous breadth in the way that a character's abilities could be personalised - by piling Souls or Blood Echoes into a wide variety of stats - Sekiro is far more concerned with focussed depth.

The first major departure from Dark Souls and Bloodborne is that currency (used to purchase new equipment) and XP (used to expand your abilities) are now distinct elements - and, notably, neither is dropped on death, meaning that corpse runs are also a thing of the past. XP, as you might imagine, is earned by defeating enemies and gradually fills a bar which, when maxed, will grant players one skill point. Points can then be spend to unlock more abilities in a skill tree.

Dec 12, 2018

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice release date, trailers, collector s edition

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Dave Irwin)

With the chapter officially closed on the Dark Souls series, it seems FromSoftware are ready to move onto their next project. As Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s latest project, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the company’s return to feudal Japan, after years of not making another Tenchu game. It’s different from anything FromSoftware have developed since Demon’s Souls. So here’s everything we know so far on Sekiro, including snippets from what others have seen behind closed doors and clues from the shown footage.

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Aug 28, 2018

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice seeks to make nimble ninjas out of old knights

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Brendan Caldwell)

I’ve changed, man. In Dark Souls‘ kingdom of Lordran I was a shield-up, spear-ready warrior. By Dark Souls 3 I was happy to run around in my loincloth. And in Bloodborne, I embraced the aggressive pest control of the quicksilver pistol. But throughout all of these die em ups I have remained cautious in spirit. Slow, methodical and wary of corners. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the next difficult death simulator by From Software, set in a demonic vision of feudal Japan. And in this world of samurai (or a short demo of it at Gamescom) I finally abandoned all that ponderous hiking . Partly because I only had 25 minutes with it, but also because when you re armed with a hookshot, everything looks like a rooftop. (more…)

Aug 22, 2018

Watch 19 minutes of From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition

Earlier this week, From Software revealed that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, its ninja-themed revenge romp, will launch on March 22nd next year. So why not while away the minutes between now and then (19 of them to be exact) with some new gameplay footage, fresh from Gamescom?

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is, of course, the latest game to be directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the mastermind behind Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne. However, despite some obvious similarities - its third-person perspective and action focus, for instance - it's said to be a very different beast to any of those earlier games.

Its beautifully realised 16th Century Sengoku Japan setting is a clear departure from the gothic claustrophobia of Miyazaki's most recent games, and its tale of the titular Sekiro - on a quest for revenge against the man that severed his arm - is telling a very specific yarn about a very specific man, leaving no room for the heavy RPG-style customisation seen in Souls and Bloodborne.

Aug 22, 2018

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: release date, gameplay, everything we know so far

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Dave Irwin)

With the chapter officially closed on the Dark Souls series, it seems FromSoftware are ready to move onto their next project. As Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s latest project, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the company’s return to feudal Japan, after years of not making another Tenchu game. It’s became one of the most anticipated games shown at E3 2018, as well as having a good showing at Gamescom 2018. It’s different from anything FromSoftware have developed since Demon’s Souls. So here’s everything we know so far on Sekiro, including snippets from what others have seen behind closed doors and clues from the shown footage.

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Aug 20, 2018

Samurai Souls successor Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice swings onto PC on March 22nd

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Dominic Tarason)

FromSoftware’s next third-person hack n’ slasher – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – now has a release date for PC. Due to launch on March 22nd, 2019, Sekiro looks like a blend of some of the long-running Japanese studio’s greatest hits. It’s hard not to see equal inspiration taken from both Bloodborne and the Tenchu series in there, complete with grappling hooks, rooftop navigation and lots of very sharp swords. Plus a few giant monsters, of course – can’t have a proper ninja game without them.

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Aug 20, 2018

From Software's ninja-themed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice gets a release date

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition

From Software has revealed that its upcoming ninja-themed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on March 22nd next year.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is, of course, the latest third-person action-adventure from Dark Souls and Bloodborne developer From Software - and is especially notable for the fact that it's being helmed by the mastermind behind both those series (as well as the likes of Demon's Souls), Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Shadows Die Twice loses the gothic spires and medieval bleakness of From's most famous series, however - unfolding in a comparatively colourful 16th Century Sengoku Japan - and gives the studio's distinctive third-person action a more aggressive, faster pace. It casts you as Sekiro, a shinobi on a quest of revenge against the samurai that severed his arm.