Sekiro is a great game. Despite my complaints with its boss fights and the elimination of the equipment system Dark Souls was known for, it was a challenging and exciting adventure through Feudal Japan.

Combat is furious and rewards skill; Good enemy variety keeps it from getting boring between bosses; Great world design; Best story in a From Software game yet

Lock-on and camera sometimes go haywire; Tags

Sekiro is a demanding and rewarding game. Harrowing to the point of emotional exhaustion, some players will bounce off after a few of the meaner boss encounters without the now-classic FromSoftware multiplayer.

Games that offer high levels of challenge and tight gameplay are sometimes a bit of an oddity- it's difficult to balance a game to the point where it's difficult, but still fair; rewarding, yet not easily cheesed.

I've been fighting this boss for about two hours now. I don't even know how many times I've died to him. I've s...

Challenging; yet rewarding; Deeply satisfying combat; Gorgeous setting

Exploration feels limited; Difficulty might be off putting to some

Though FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has relentlessly kicked my ass, I can't put it down. Hidetaka Miyazaki and company have once again succeeded at injecting their Soulsborne formula into a title that's both fresh and familiar.

Challenging and satisfying combat; Excellent traversal mechanics; Beautiful setting; Effective storytelling

Relatively dumb AI; Lackluster stealth mechanics; Minor graphical hiccups

Sekiro is From Software's purest distillation of a game design philosophy that values skill-based combat and isn't afraid to challenge the player at nearly every moment. Eschewing big weapons, flashy magic and "jolly co-operation," Sekiro is squarely focused on timing and the sometimes imperceptible...

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is unmistakably the work of FromSoftware. It tells a story about the curse of eternal life and how loyalty can break the chains of a man bound by mortality.

The makers of Dark Souls and Bloodborne return with a ninja-themed game that is exactly as difficult, and rewarding, as you'd expect.

Intense combat is as thrilling as it is punishing, with versatile stealth mechanics and an interesting array of unlockable gadgets and special abilities; Typically excellent level and art design

The punishment for death is extreme, even for a FromSoftware game; Some questionable artificial intelligence and no multiplayer

We're only at the end of first quarter 2019, but Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is pulling out all the stops as a heavy hitter. Minor issues aside, Sekiro will occupy thousands of PlayStations for a long, long time.

If you loved earning every brutal victory in Dark Souls, you'll find the same masochistic enjoyment in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.