FromSoftware Explains Why SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE Won't Have Online Multiplayer

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will feature a lot of changes to the old and well-known FromSoftware formula. For example, the title won't feature any professions or classes to choose from, you should also forget about leveling up the protagonist's stats or equipment – there are no weapons of choice either. Even the Dark Souls series' trademark, collecting actual souls after dying, has been ultimately scrapped.

In Shadows Die Twice, you're the only hero and brining your friends to the party is not an option, as the title won't feature any online multiplayer gameplay. In an interview with Game Informer, Yasuhiro Kitao, manager of marketing and communications at the studio said "We love to create our own characters just as much as everyone else. We hope players are looking forward to something in the future where we might go back to that, but for now, Sekiro is very much its own thing."

Although you will definitely feel more lonely without the optional help of other players, the lack of multiplayer has its upsides. For one, FromSoftware is bringing back the pause button that will give you a chance to rethink your strategy and next moves during battles and the fact that you won't be invaded by gamers during these encounters will definitely help you to focus on your main quest.

It also allows From to let loose their creativity when creating Sekiro’s map. “When creating these playspaces, we don’t have to take into consideration how players will operate with one another in these maps, or how they may exploit the playspace by cooperating [...],” Kitao said. “So it allows us, again, to hone in on the player experience, and really capitalize on that lack of restriction that comes with creating a multiplayer-based game, and let our imagination run wild in these places.”

Sekiro is helmed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the acclaimed director of Bloodborne and Dark Souls III. At its core, Shadow Die Twice is a third-person, action-adventure single-player-only game that puts players in the role of a hard-hearted warrior (dubbed Sekiro), who is on the mission to rescue his master and exact revenge on his arch nemesis using his battle-hardened katana and useful prosthetic arm.

Carve your own clever path to vengeance in an all-new adventure from developer FromSoftware, creators of the Dark Souls series. In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice you are the "one-armed wolf", a disgraced and disfigured warrior rescued from the brink of death. Bound to protect a young lord who is the descendant of an ancient bloodline, you become the target of many vicious enemies, including the dangerous Ashina clan. When the young lord is captured, nothing will stop you on a perilous quest to regain your honor, not even death itself.