Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a unique action-adventure game, where players can explore a fictionalized version of Japan during the Sengoku period and challenge difficult bosses in order to progress the story. It’s one of the so-called soulsborne games – a specific kind of third-person action RPG titles developed by FromSoftware.
Today we’d like to show you some of the best games like Sekiro, but keep in mind that it’s surprisingly hard to find similar games that are not soulsbornes. That’s because the original developers know their niche best, so don’t be surprised to find other FromSoftware games, such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne, down below.
Game | Release | Genre | Developer | |
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Nioh: Complete Edition | 2017-11-07 | RPG | Team NINJA | |
Elden Ring | 2022-02-25 | Action RPG | FromSoftware | |
Nioh 2: The Complete Edition | 2021-02-05 | Action RPG | Koei Tecmo Games | |
Dark Souls: Remastered | 2018-05-24 | Action | QLOC | |
Dark Souls Ii Scholar Of The First Sin | 2015-04-01 | RPG | FromSoftware | |
Dark Souls Iii | 2016-04-11 | Adventure | FromSoftware | |
Dark Souls Iii Deluxe Edition | 2016-04-11 | RPG | FromSoftware | |
Shadow Tactics Blades Of The Shogun | 2016-12-06 | Indie | Mimimi Games | |
For Honor Starter Edition | 2017-02-13 | Action & Shooter | Ubisoft Montreal | |
Blasphemous | 2019-09-10 | Adventure | The Game Kitchen |
Nioh
Release: | 2017-11-07 |
Genre: | RPG |
Developer: | Team NINJA |
The first game that naturally comes to mind, when one is looking for a game like Sekiro, is Nioh – an action RPG that shares the setting with the aforementioned title.
Nioh, just like Sekiro, takes place during the Sengoku period, where you will be able to play as a samurai who’s got all kinds of traditional weapons at his disposal, from swords and axes to bows and guns. Both games focus on defeating powerful bosses, but Nioh is a slightly faster and more dynamic game.
Nioh also gives more variety when it comes to combat, but puts emphasis on different aspects of the fight – Sekiro favors defense and patience, while Nioh favors going all in. It’s simpler and easier to learn, but still challenging enough to not bore players to death. If you loved Sekiro, you definitely must try Nioh.
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Dark Souls
Release: | 2016-04-11 |
Genre: | Adventure |
Developer: | FromSoftware |
Dark Souls is also an obvious choice here, due to the fact that it’s one of the soulsborne games we mentioned at the beginning.
Dark Souls follows the story of a cursed undead who travels the lands in order to acquire the Lord Souls and fulfill the prophecy. Due to the nature of the playable character, he can’t die, but every time he is defeated, he returns as a weaker version of his former self. He turns hollow, but consuming humanity can reverse this process – it’s a rare resource that should be saved for an emergency.
That’s an important gameplay mechanic that makes the game extremely challenging – each defeat punishes players for being bad at the game, and it’s not hard to die in Dark Souls, especially if you’re a newcomer. It’s just designed to make you suffer. If you don’t feel the need to learn the entire Dark Souls lore, then you can also go straight for Dark Souls III instead, which is considered by many players the most appealing and successful installment in the Dark Souls franchise.
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Bloodborne
Release: | 2015-03-24 |
Genre: | Action role-playing, survival horror |
Developer: | FromSoftware |
Bloodborne is a fabulous game, but the bad news is that you can’t play without the PlayStation console – it’s one of the PS-exclusive games, but this could change in the nearest future. Fingers crossed.
Bloodborne is a game full of dark locations, that are home to terrifying creatures that will haunt you even in your nightmares, long after you logged out of the game. Bloodborne’s setting is largely influenced by the Gothic, Victorian-era theme, and just like the other soulsborne games, it puts emphasis on boss fights – defeating the bosses is mandatory to unlock new parts of the game world and progress the story.
The game looks amazing, but the tense atmosphere and the fact that danger can lurk behind every corner won’t let you enjoy the views for too long. Lower your guard for a brief moment and your adventure may be quickly finished by some wandering horror.
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Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Release: | 2016-12-06 |
Genre: | Indie |
Developer: | Mimimi Games |
If you’re looking for a game like Sekiro, but not necessarily from the same action RPG genre, then maybe Shadow Tactics will suit your taste.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a one-of-a-kind real-time tactics game, where you will need to carefully command a squad of special agents, including samurai and ninjas, during the beginning of the Edo period in Japan. There are five characters in total, and each has its own abilities and roles to fill during the mission. To succeed in the game, you will have to find clever ways of making all of your characters work as a team and cooperate during missions.
The game consists of a series of single-player missions, and each mission can be considered a type of puzzle, where you need to silently eliminate the targets, gather necessary intel, and avoid detection.
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For Honor
Release: | 2017-02-13 |
Genre: | Action & Shooter |
Developer: | Ubisoft Montreal |
If you’re looking specifically for samurai games, For Honor is also an interesting choice, although it also features vikings, knights, and Chinese ancient warriors Wu Lin as well.
For Honor is a third-person action game that focuses on conflicts between four factions. Because you’re looking for games similar to Sekiro, you will most likely be interested in checking out samurai – honorable warriors from medieval Japan. Each faction has several character classes to choose from, and it’s the same for samurai, where you can find shinobi, orochi, kensei, shugoki, kyoshin, hitokiri, aramusha, and nobushi.
Gameplay revolves around skill-based duels, where teamwork is crucial – each character has its own strengths and weaknesses, and only by working together, you can stand a chance against more organized teams. Although the game has single-player campaigns for lone wolves who prefer to play alone, it is multiplayer that provides virtually endless entertainment. For a Sekiro-like competitive online game, there’s hardly a better alternative than For Honor.
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Blasphemous
Release: | 2019-09-10 |
Genre: | Adventure |
Developer: | The Game Kitchen |
As far as the setting is concerned, this one is more like Dark Souls than it is Sekiro, but since we already included Dark Souls on the list, why not put this one here as well? They all share some similarities, after all.
Blasphemous is a surprisingly good and maybe slightly overlooked game that is sometimes described as a soulslike title, and not without a reason. It’s a metroidvania game that features a dark world full of obscurities and a very specific atmosphere with elements of grotesque. Add exploration, character progression, and a quite unforgiving difficulty level and you get something that can be, maybe in a slightly oversimplified way, called Dark Souls 2D.
There are no samurai and no influence of Japanese culture can be seen, so why would one recommend Blasphemous to a fan of Sekiro? Somehow the gameplay just feels oddly similar and we’re sure that you’ll come to the same conclusions once you give this grim platformer a try.
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Sekiro is a game that doesn’t have too much direct competition. It combines a number of different elements, including the Sengoku Jidai setting, relatively high difficulty level, and skill-based combat that requires perfect timing and utilizing defense mechanics like parry, in such a way, that it’s a new and fresh experience that can be hardly found anywhere else. Some games, however, share certain similarities with Sekiro, making them potential alternatives if one wishes to find a Sekiro-like title.
If you’re interested in trying some other games that are similar to Sekiro, you can check several possible options on our list – we did our research to save you some time.