FromSoftware Discusses Key Differences Between 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' and 'Dark Souls' Bosses

Given that both Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadow Dies Twice fall under the FromSoftware umbrella, it's only natural that the comparisons between the two would pop up every now and then. With Dark Souls being known for its unforgiving brutality, many are wondering just how the boss fights will be set up in the studio's upcoming title.

FromSoftware Community Manager Yasuhiro Kitao recently sat down with Game Informer to clarify a few things about recent comparisons to Dark Souls and how Sekiro's bosses will differ, "We have to restrict ourselves, and how far we can take that balance and that tuning, in order to cater to all these playstyle," Kitao mentioned. "Sekiro, with a fixed protagonist, allows us to hone in on that single-player experience, and tweak the boss battles and the encounters to accommodate for all of these tools at the shinobi's disposal. So we want players to eventually use every aspect of their arsenal and really use their cunning, and use every aspect of their skillset, to take on these really challenging foes."

It makes sense then about what he mentioned regarding a fixed character. In Dark Souls, players could choose their style and they could even customize their toons to be a reflection of their IRL selves. With Sekiro, we are stepping into a pre-set narrative and into shoes of a man that has a backstory, has goals, and is very much his own person. Like many games, we will become that character during the time with the game but with that pre-set means a tailoring to FromSoftware's style seen in previous titles - and that means a tweak to the combat.

Director Hidetaka Miyazaki also stepped in during the interview to take the combat mechanics a bit further, "The traversal options allow much more dynamic movement within the boss arena, both for yourself and the boss character themselves," said Miyazaki. "Previously, you would have just had to run around a huge boss' feet and hack away at his ankles, but now you have all these movement options; you can both fully use the extent of that arena."

The director added, "There are boss fights that through design didn't fit that staple," Miyazaki says. "If we made every boss [one where] you were able to use the grappling hook to zip everywhere or stealth kill every boss, it would just get monotonous and boring." In order to keep players on their toes, Miyazaki wants to make sure players think about how to approach every boss differently. "So there may be boss fights where you're up against a huge creature and you need to use the full arena and get around very quickly and use that dynamism, but there may also be fights where you just need to go toe-to-toe and use every piece of kit in your arsenal."

Of course, the pair couldn't reveal everything and both promise a lot more surprises on the way. As for the game itself, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice debuts on March 22nd.