8 Video Game Bosses Who Were Dead When You Arrived

Just before the end of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, your wise old friend and fellow swordsman, Isshin Ashina, will pass away due to illness. It's not exactly surprising, given that he's extremely old by the time you meet him, but it does set a foreboding kind of tone for the final fight ahead of you.

In the field where the game began, Lord Genichiro, Isshin's grandson, challenges you to one last showdown. Once you gain the upper hand, he does the unthinkable, and slits his throat with the black Mortal Blade, a sword able to open the gate to the underworld.

After this, a much younger version of Isshin forces his way out of Genichiro's wound, which kills the latter and subsequently offers the former up to you as the game's true final boss.

Technically, the isn't the same Isshin we knew back in Ashina Castle. But at the same time, it is, because old Isshin is dead, and the version we're faced with here is simply Isshin's spirit reincarnated in his prime fighting age.

After being told what a great swordfighter the man is for the whole game, it was probably somewhat expected that you'd duel with him at some point. But still...who was expecting this?!