8 Reasons Sekiro Is BETTER Than Dark Souls

3. Enemy Variation

Woah woah woah, even I have to stop myself here. I don’t mean in terms of design, I mean that in the first 5 hours of gameplay in Sekiro, you experience so many different bosses, sub-bosses and regular enemies that nearly every new section felt like it was introducing something new and exciting.

Even the low level grunts have a menagerie of styles; some have pots and pans which they bang to alert others, some have bows, muskets, spears, shields, axes. Some are armoured, some throw rocks if you try to escape and others are just basic fodder. What this means is that the combat feels like a constant juggling act, and rewards quick-thinking alongside enemy prioritisation.

Then we have the named “sub-boss” enemies which are sometimes so challenging that it’s a real sense of achievement just beating them.

In my playtime I found shogun generals with two handed swords, spear wielding Shinobi Hunters, massive drunkards with curved blades and because of the balancing and constant introduction of fresh faces, it managed to keep the game feeling innovative even if I died multiple times.

Many fans have spoken of “Souls fatigue” in terms of tackling the same enemies en mass, and this addresses that head-on.