只狼概述，优缺点

Game Narrative Review

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Your name: Denghao Liu

Your school:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Your email: [e-mail]

Month/Year you submitted this review: November 2020

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Game Title: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Platform: PC, Play Station 4, Xbox One

Genre:  3^rd Person Action-adventure game

Release Date:  March 22, 2019

Developer: FromSoftware

Publisher:  FromSoftware, Activision

Game Writer/Creative Director/Narrative Designer: Hidetaka Miyazaki

Overview

Sekiro:Shadows Die Twice is a third-person action game set in the land of Ashina, a fictional remote area in Japan, during the late 16^th century Sengoku period.A warlord, Isshin Ashina, master swordsman, staged a coup, and successfully gained the control of the land from the interior ministry.However, two decades after the establish of the country called Ashina, the interior minister is no longer afraid of an old man, so a war inevitably breaks out.

Wolf is a ninja, but he was killed and revived by his lord, Kuro the Divine Heir three years ago. Current leader of the Ashina country, Genichiro Ashina seized the power of immortality to protect the country, so he separated Wolf and Kuro, then imprisoned both of them. However, on the eve of the war, Wolf was released by Isshin, so he tried to run away with his lord, but Genichiro stopped Wolf and cut off his left arm. A sculptor rescued Wolf, and gave him a prosthetic which can equip different weapons. Once again, following the principle of ninja, “the lord is absolute, protect with your life”, Wolf begins his journey.

Characters

· Sekiro, the Wolf – The player avatar in Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice. The young Wolf, referred to as “Starving Wolf”, is adopted by a ninja known as “The Owl,” and soon Owl became his father and mentor. During training, Wolf is guided by three iron code rules established by Owl:”the parent is absolute, and their will must be obeyed”,”the master is absolute; A ninja should give his life to keep him alive”, and “fear is absolute; there’s no shame of losing a battle, but a ninja must take revenge by any means necessary.” After being trained by his father and another ninja, Lady Butterfly, Sekiro became Kuro’s guard and ninja. Three years before the start of the game, Sekiro successfully defeated the invasion of bandits, and assassinated their leader and his teacher, Lady Butterfly, but his father betrayed him by stabbing him in his back.However, Kuro revived Sekiro, but Sekiro lost his memory. Leader of the Ashina, Genichiro Ashina, understood the importance of the power of immortality, so he put Sekiro in jail and Kuro house arrest. In the night before the invasion of the interior ministry, Sekiro was release by Isshin Ashina, and Wolf began to protect his lord again.

· Kuro, the Divine Heir - Kuro is the main drive, behind the game’s plot. Kuro is the only descendant of an ancient clan. He was raised in seclusion as the adoptive son of Ashina’s minister Hirata. Though he is young, he’s calm and mentally strong for his age. As the Divine Heir, his blood has a mysterious power that can bring back life; however, a side effect of the ability is that people who are familiar with the immortal person will suffer from an illness. Normal weapons can not hurt immortal people, therefore, Kuro cannot be ignored in this violent and chaotic time. However, with the invincible ability, Kuro doesn’t choose to seize power or wealth like most people will do, instead, he is looking for a way to terminate the immortality. He believes that immortal life will only bring endless conflicts and numberless sadness to human being.While reading some books in Ashina castles, he finds some clues about the immortal power, and sends his ninja, Sekiro, to investigate the land of Ashina.

· Genichiro Ashina- Genichiro represents the desire to protect the Ashina with immortal power, so he is an opponent of Kuro. Unlike leaders in other countries who are from noble families, Genichiro was born to a peasant family during the rebellion led by Isshin Ashina. After the death of his mother, Genichiro was adopted into the Ashina clan. As a member of the clan, he became the greatest swordmen and a respectful leader, but he became obsessed with pursuing “heretical power” in order to save the country and his people. At the beginning of the game, Genichiro cut off Sekiro’s left arm to stop Kuro escaping. He knew he could not stop the interior ministry with his armies, thus the ability of immortal was a crucial key to defend the country of Ashina.Focusing on ancient books, Genichiro discovered that a special sword called Open Gate which can bring a dead person alive, and he eventually found it. After a short fight with Sekiro, he sacrificed himself. When a middle age Isshin Ashina crawled out of Genichiro ‘s blood, Genichiro fell down on the reed field.

· Great Shinobi Owl- Owl is an experienced ninja belonged to Ashina, but he tried to use the immortal power to control the Ashina with the interior ministry.After a fight between the Ashina and the interior ministry, he adopted an orphan called Wolf, and trained him to a ninja, but he treated Sekiro as a tool instead of his son.As time passes by, Owl’s ambition grew even stronger, and he did not want to hide behind the scenes.Therefore, he attacked the Hirata estate, and tried to kidnap Kuro.He faked his death, which led to a fight between Lady Butterfly and Sekiro.After Sekiro killed Lady Butterfly, Owl attacked his son to prove Kuro’s ability.Surely, Sekiro was saved by Kuro, but neither of them saw what Owl did, Three years later,when Genichiro went out to find Open Gate, and Isshin was disabled, Owl collaborated with interior ministry, attacked the Ashina castle.At the top of the castle, he put Sekiro in a moral dilemma. Should Sekiro followed the iron code rules,or his heart?

Breakdown

The story of Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice is about a group of fighters who attempt to restore the natural cycle of life and death, breaking the curse of immortality. Players will be attacked, poisoned and ambushed by different enemies who seize the power of immortality to satisfy their desires in any way, but players will eventually reach their goals,and witness the falling of a great country, Ashina.

Though Wolf, the player, began his journey on the day that interior minister decided to invade Ashina, the story of immortality started long before the foundation of Ashina.

In ancient times, the gods liked Ashina because of its beautiful environment, so they settled down, and blessed the local people. However, a wounded dragon from the west of the Japan defeated local gods and absorbed them. Like other gods, the dragon blessed local people in his way, sharing its immortality, but the essence of the immortality was stealing other creatures’ vitality by spreading disease. Local people began to pray to the divine dragon and researched the power of immortality.

It had been found that the divine dragon has two ways to share immortality. There would be one person called the divine heir who can only voluntarily share the immortality to other people. Both the divine heir and the contractor of immortality will nibble the life around them, and absorbed vitality will be continuously transmitted back to divine dragon. Another way is passively accepted. Divine dragon will slowly lose energy, affecting the surrounding organisms. The affected creature will have a part of immortality, but its effect is weak, and morbid. The farther away from the dragon, the smaller the impact will be. After knowing the information, people built a huge palace in the place where dragon took root, letting the power of the divine dragon pour into the lake of the palace, and make themselves immortal by drinking the water from the lake. The lake flows down the waterfall to every corner of the Ashina, which has a profound impact on all aspects of the country. People are proud to call the palace of the source, which means the source of the gift. Hundreds years later, because of the immortality, people invaded the city of Ashina for more living creatures, but soon are defeated. Ashina people won the battle of protecting the country.

Soon people are divided into two sides when facing immortality. Most of the monks went to the palace of source, and found out the power of immortality is from a parasite influenced by the dragon. People who eat or interact with material polluted by the parasite can be immortal, but their body would be eroded by the parasites and become a haggard corpse with consciousness. Monks couldn’t accept the side effect to become immortal, so they turned to investigate the water from the palace.Though the water couldn’t bring immortality to creatures, after certain procedures, it could make human’s body stronger.

Unlike other monks who were addicted to the power of immortality, the founder of the temple, Master of SenPou wasn’t progressive like other monks. He found the divine heir at that time, a women called Takeru, but the divine heir wanted to terminate the immortality. As the spreading of the disease, the divine heir believed the immortality was dreadful.To stop the spreading of the disease, she sacrifice herself. Though she become a normal human being, another divine heir appeared in Ashina. Master of SenPou didn’t agree with her, because he believed the only way to terminate the immortality was to send the power back to its place.A few years later, the interior minister ruled the Ashina country.

However, Ashina belongs to the Ashina’s people. Isshin Ashina, the master of sword, defeated the interior minister with four companion, Owl, Lady Butterfly, the sculptor,  Dogen, but the seed of chaos was planted. Isshin was a warrior and had no enthusiasm for governing the Ashina country.In addition, Ashina is located in a remote area with poor production, and the divine dragon was in the territory. In a foreseeable future, Ashina would be invaded by interior minister again, and, at that time, Isshin could no longer protect the country. More further, Isshin’s four companions had their own thoughts. Owl became an ambitious schemer, seeking for power by immortality. The sculptor’s was about to succumb to his own bloodlust after losing his dear friend. Dogen was obsessed by the research of the water from the palace of source. The current governor of Ashina, Genichiro Ashina, knew that normal strategies couldn’t stop the interior ministry, so he wanted the power of immortality.

Sekiro’s story officially began from the invasion of bandits. The house of the minister of Ashina, Hirata, was invaded by bandits and monks. Owl and Kuro were stuck in that house. Following the ninja’s iron code, Sekiro entered the house, ignoring danger and fear. When looking for Kuro, Sekiro discovered that Owl was seriously injured. Before he passes away, Owl told Sekiro that Lady Butterfly betrayed him and the Ashina. After meeting with Lady Butterfly, Sekiro didn’t ask any questions and attacked her. Though she was a great ninja, Lady Butterfly couldn’t resist the corruption of time, and she was defeated by Sekiro. Before Sekiro and Kuro leaved the house, Owl successfully killed Sekiro by stabbing him in his back. All in all, the invasion of bandits was a conspiracy against Kuro. Owl and the interior ministry bought the bandits and drove a wedge between Sekiro and Lady Butterfly, so he could be the last winner. However, Owl underestimated Kuro, and Kuro shared his immortality to Sekiro for the very last moment. Genichiro and his armies arrived at the same time, so Owl had to leave before people discovered him.

When Sekiro woke up, he could only remember Kuro was his master, but he didn’t know he was undefeated and immortal. After losing his lord and his parent, Sekiro lost the power of life until Isshin sent his adopted daughter, Emma, to tell Sekiro his lord was alive.Sekiro found Kuro, and decided to run away, but Genichiro stopped them for the power of immortality. Sekiro was defeated and his left arm was cut off, but the sculptor saved him. In a ruined shrine, Emma told Sekiro that Kuro saved him. Sekiro was no longer constrained by ninja iron codes in his heart; instead, he trusted and followed Kuro out of gratitude.

At the top of the Ashina castle, Sekiro finally realized that Genichiro would do anything to protect the Ashina. Few days before, Ashina’s armies had a fight with interior ministry, though Genichiro used the water from the palace of source, it was a tough fight.Genichiro believed Kuro’s immortal power could save the country and local people. However, like previous divine heir, Kuro knew that immortality could save the Ashina, but it would bring more damage to the world. In order to protect his lord, Sekiro fought with Genichiro, and Genichiro ran away.

Kuro read books in the castle, and asked Sekiro to collect important mediums, stone, wood, flowers, tears, and mortal blade. In SunKen valley, Sekiro met a giant ape. The lover of the ape passed away decades ago, but, because of the parasite, the giant ape became immortal, and the flower that giant ape was looking after was dead. After a long fight, Sekiro used a giant sword cut off the ape’s head, and killed the parasite with the mortal blade. Then Sekiro went to the MiBu village. Because the village was the only entrance to the Palace of the Source, local people are seduced into drinking the polluted water and become some walking dead. Also, at the entrance of the palace, Sekiro met the corrupted monk who was guarding the entrance.After defeated the shadow of the monk, Sekiro couldn’t enter the palace to get the tears of the dragon, because the wood was stolen.

When Sekiro went back to the castle, the interior ministry was attacking the Ashina. At the top of the castle, Sekiro met Owl. Owl asked Kuro to share his immortality, but Kuro walked away without looking at him, and Owl asked Sekiro to give up his lord, but Sekiro was no longer following the iron codes. Again, Owl attacked Sekiro when he turned his back on his father, but Sekiro successfully defended his attack, and killed him. Sekiro searched the wood from Owl’s and began his journey to the palace of source.

In the palace, Sekiro met the dragon. It looked like a snake on a tree. Though it couldn’t be killed, Sekiro stabbed its eye with the mortal blade, and got the tear of the dragon. When Sekiro returned to the Ashina, the interior ministry controlled half of the city, and Isshin was assassinated. Sekiro and Kuro escaped, but Genichiro blocked them. Genichiro had another sword called open gate, which could bring death back to human being’s world. After a short fight with Sekiro, Genichiro knew he was too weak. Without any hesitation, Genichiro sacrificed himself and brought Isshin back to life. Isshin was strong as he was during the rebellion, but Sekiro defeated him. Though Isshin was immortal, he knew the time belonging to him was gone, so he knelt on the ground and Sekiro drew the mortal blade. Finally, the tale of a sword man ended.

At the end of the game, Sekiro knew sacrifice couldn’t stop the appearance of other divine heirs, so, following the book wrote by SenPou , Sekiro and Kuro began their journey to send the immortality back to its origin.

Strongest Element

The strongest narrative part of  Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice is the use of what I called decentralized storytelling. Instead of telling the whole story by playing some long and tedious CGs, Hidetaka Miyazaki likes to chop the story into tiny pieces and hide them in the description of items, without hurting the basic structure of the story. There are some benefits of decentralized storytelling.

The first benefit is the stability of the story’s structure.For example, in Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice, the story can be simplified into a sentence, Sekiro saved his lord and helped Kuro to reach his goal, which is the basic structure of the story. Because the structure is fixed, problems like wasting time on an inessential NPC’s story or the player losing track of the story can be avoided. Also, players who don’t want to spend their time on the story of the game can purely enjoy the happiness of fighting by skipping every cut scene and dialogue. Decentralized storytelling gives choice to players, which can attractive hard-core players and normal players.

The second benefit is the extension of the story. If players finish the whole game without seeing any description of items, they can understand the story though some mysteries remained. If they read the description of some items, their confusion can be reduced, but other puzzles will appear, like a matryoshka doll. A great example is the description of a poison blade called Sabimaru. Players know there was a war between normal people and immortal people, but, according to the current situation, normal people became the major part of the Ashina’s population, which doesn’t make sense. No NPCs mention the ancient war in game, so the question is how normal people defeated invincible people. The answer is in the description of Sabimaru, “wielded in wars of old, the blade's blue rust was used to drive off inhuman Okami warrior women.” The decentralized storytelling allows normal players go through the basic story, but, at the same time, it remains deep for hard core players to investigate. Also, decentralized information allows writers to add details easily.

The third benefit is foreshadowing, which works excellently in decentralized storytelling. Because players’ movement can be manipulated, information collected by players can also be controlled, which means writers can foreshadow the trend of the story. Take Sabimaru as an example again. When players collect new a item, normally, they will read the description because it will tell the usage of the item. When players read about the inhuman Okami warrior women before they meet, their curiosity will be attracted, and, in order to satisfy their heart, players will keep going until they find the answer. In Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice, information become a motivation for players, and decentralized storytelling can only work in games.

Unsuccessful Element

The fighting between Sekiro and enemies is fascinating. Most of the time players are defending enemies’ attack and looking for opportunities to attack with Sekiro’s sword, but Sekiro only has one combat system. Though the existence of prosthetic arm allows players to try different strategies, players normally interact with enemies by simplly defending and attacking. Also, though players can upgrade their skill and prosthetics, Sekiro’s damage and health must upgrade by defeating bosses, which is a endless loop. If players can’t defeat a boss, they need to upgrade, but upgrading requires players to defeat the boss.

Highlight

The meeting with the Lady Butterfly is the best moment in the story. There is less information about Lady Butterfly in the game; therefore, most players believe Lady Butterfly is a traitor because she kidnapped Kuro. However, when Sekiro met the Lady Butterfly, she said, “Son of Owl,” instead of explaining or arguing. It looked like she found out the answer of the question in players’ mind. At that time, after meeting with Owl, players are thinking about who is the traitor, because they met some of the interior ministry’s soldiers. When players opened the gate of the hidden shrine, and saw the Lady Butterfly, they believed she was the traitor, which means Owl’s strategy works. However, if players were Lady Butterfly, what she did seems reasonable. Lady Butterfly used to work with Isshin in the rebellion, so when she met interior ministry’s enemies, she realized there was a traitor. Therefore, instead of killing people around her like a real traitor would, Lady Butterfly used illusion to stop them and hide in the hidden shrine. Also, she knew this might be her last fight, so she controlled Kuro to avoid an accident if she was murdered. At the same time, the gate of the hidden shrine was opened, and whoever opened the gate must be the traitor, but she didn’t know Owl gave his key to Sekiro. When she met Sekiro, she thought the answer for her question is Sekiro, the son of Owl, her student. In order to protect Kuro, Lady Butterfly battled with Sekiro, and was killed as Owl wanted.

Critical Reception

The critical reception of Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice is focused on battle instead of the story, so most reviews spend words on battle experience; however, the story of the game is attractive.

IGN - Brandin Tyrrel - 9.5/10- “While Sekiro starts out like a work of historical fiction it quickly takes a hard turn into the mystical and supernatural.” Tyrrel thinks that though the components of the story is complex, they are united, “Moments of traipsing through divine gardens, reliving memories from the past, and tangling with fantastical beasts all deliver a unified vision of a world that straddles this plane and the next, and I loved it.”

Gamespot - Tamoor Hussain - 9/10- “It invites you to try and then shows you how little you're actually capable of. Sekiro is affirmation that From Software hasn't lost its bite; that its games can make you feel vulnerable and strike fear in a way few others can.” Hussain talks more about the battle system in the game and general Japanese culture instead of the story, though it’s less approving of the main point.

Lessons

· Lesson 1:Don’t waste players’ time on dialog, instead, players should discover information actively.Information should be an award for players.

· Lesson 2:Things should happen unexpectedly, but reasonably.

· Lesson 3:Don’t define a character easily, because human being is ambivalent.Even a good person will do bad things to achieve the goal.

Summation

All in all, though Sekiro:Shadow Die Twice is a game based on action, thanks to Hidetaka Miyazaki, it has a great story. Its narrative structure is delicate. NPCs are vivid like human beings. Though most of them are hostile to Sekiro, players can understand the reasons for their actions and respect them in some ways. Also, multiple endings complement the story, and repeating the game loop is worthy. Though some people criticize for its difficulty, most of the players enjoy the game, and more than fifty percents players finish the whole game.It is an artifact like Chinese painting, pursuing a rule that less is more. The depth and moral dilemma in the story can’t be ignored.