Opposite Day — The Worst Things About My Favourite Game: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Although I haven't written as many articles about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as I have about Disney Dreamlight Valley, when it comes down to it, my favourite game is the former. Maybe I don't get to play it for hours on end, and there's no decorating or customising — two of my favourite things to do — but nothing can beat the emotional and personal connection I have to Sekiro. It's a title I went into expecting to fail and give up — in fact, the only reason I ever did it was because my wife challenged me to, and I thought, why not? It'll be quick and painless… my loss, I mean.

Thankfully, it wasn't an instantaneous K.O., as I thought. Every new boss I encountered, I prepared to come to terms with the end of my run, and every time I succeeded, I got more addicted to it. There are just no words to explain how important Sekiro is to me, especially as it arrived during a particularly trying time in my life.

That being said, considering today is Opposite Day, I thought maybe today is the right day to complain about all the little nitpicks I have with this beloved favourite game of mine. After all, everything and everyone is flawed, and we must celebrate that reality. So, without further ado, let's start with…

The Terror build-up

Any game becomes immediately intimidating when you find out it's been developed by FromSoftware, so right off the bat, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is pretty terrifying! This is all especially true when you know it has even caused controversies around difficulty settings in gaming, which seems to be the root cause of the inspiration behind ELDEN RING: accessibility. Enemies will wreck you, bosses can even four-shot you, and you're not likely to finish the game with fewer than 100 deaths... but this is why we love the game so much — it challenges us! That is, until you have to fight numerous enemies who afflict you with the Terror, which straight-up instantly kills you if the bar fills up. Personally, I hate this feature, especially as a big Halloween fan, because it made a lot of cool enemies immediately fall into the "I Absolutely Hate These Guys" list. 

Headless Ape

Speaking of enemies I hate, I don't know why they had to go so hard on the disgusting factor with the Headless Ape. Now, I'm not trying to be "a total girl" about it, but it feels like FromSoftware was aiming to make me puke or cry. And the worst part is that you have to fight him and his wife, which ends up in a total of three battles where you're getting poop flung at you and watching a worm burst out of the decapitated head of a huge simian! That just ruins my mood every time.

Getting 100% Requires a Lot of Grinding

I don't usually bother aiming for 100% achievements in games; truth be told, my attention span just doesn't give for that. But when a game means a lot to me, especially in a deeper and more personal way, I do try to get them all, even if it takes me a few years because I have to go on long hiatuses from burnout. This means I am very serious about getting every achievement in Sekiro — I've actually made some decent progress! — but I am definitely not looking forward to the grindy ones that my wife chose as her least favourite ones in her Journey to 100%: Sekiro article! Don't get me wrong — I appreciate that the achievements are even achievable, but how nice it would be if I didn't have to grind to see that beautiful 100% on my favourite game. But mark my words, I'll get it... someday.

No Native Super Ultrawide Screen Support

As someone who is officially obsessed with super ultrawide monitors, I really appreciate when developers go out of their way to add the support so I don't have to mess around with files or mods in order to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, Bandai Namco is notorious for forgetting to do exactly that, which means I've had to rely on the community to be able to play, and although that's not bad, it's still a big bummer to me! What if it had not been supported through mods? I can barely fathom playing without the monitor; no, that is too painful a scenario to even imagine! 

Terrible English Voice Acting

I am not great when it comes to focus. In fact, I am notoriously bad at remembering things and being able to keep my attention when someone is talking to me about something I don't care about. This is why it's so frustrating that Sekiro's English voice acting is so terrible, as I've had to rely on my wife to tell me what is being said during battle. Thankfully, this isn't a very common occurrence, but it's still sad not to be able to understand what weird half-insult-half-advice Isshin is throwing at me at the beginning of the boss fight. Darn it, I want to feel the immersion!

Of course, all of these things pale in comparison to all the reasons I love Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. And once I've completed my journey to 100%, you'll probably see dozens of articles about it, as I do with Disney Dreamlight Valley. But for now, I gotta keep my eyes on the prize — can't be talking about it like it's over when I've just begun!