Ranking EVERY SoulsBorne Game From Worst To Best

Despite the impressive polish of Dark Souls 3, it was obvious that if Miyazaki were ever to return to the Soulsborne realm, he would need to radically reinvent the genre for it to be fresh again.

With Sekiro, he's done just that... kind of.

Sekiro is a blatant evolution of the formula started with Demon Souls, whilst also breaking free from the well-worn shackles that eventually weighed on the series.

Set in Feudal Japan, Shadows Die Twice's lore is part real-world history, part batsh*t fantasy madness, taking part of its inspiration from the dev's forgotten Tenchu series. That brings with it new additions of resurrection, stealth, a grapple hook and a singular protagonist (plus a coherent campaign told through cutscenes and actual dialogue). One might think this was an attempt to make Soulsborne more accessible, but they'd be dead wrong.

The campaign is packed with rock-hard duels that will test even franchise veteran's grit as it rewrites the rulebook. There is no RPG flexibility, no armour and no chance of summoning. Plus, you better make the parry function your best friend.

Sekiro didn't water things down, but instead trimmed the fat, resulting in an exhilarating experience that's pure muscle and plenty tough to boot. It made the genre new and unpredictable once again - even if it just narrowly misses the high bar of its forebears.