There's been a raging conversation between Souls-like purists and media lately over whether or not FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice should have an easier mode, and while I sit firmly on the side of the game we were given, that hasn't stopped some of this noise prompting a new update to 'balance' the game.

One of the biggest changes, VG247 notes, is the adjustment to one of the game's earlier bosses in Blazing Bull. The official patch notes note that the team has "Slightly reduced Posture and Vitality of Blazing Bull in order to improve game pacing and balance time in combat".

Other parts of the game's update address "the efficiency and Spirit Emblem cost... to encourage usage and diversity of approach", which includes a number of prosthetic tools, combat arts and the item Spiritfall. If you haven't played the game, much of this might sound like gibberish, but some of this stuff does sound like it will be good for the game, if making some of the more challenging parts a bit easier for newcomers to the 'genre'.

Here's the full patch notes"

Improvements to Strategic Approaches

• Adjusted the efficiency and Spirit Emblem cost of the following to encourage usage and diversity of approach:
  • Prosthetic Tools: ‘Lazulite Sacred Flame,’ ‘Loaded Axe’ series, ‘Sparking Axe,’ ‘Lazulite Axe’
    
  • Combat Arts: ‘Ashina Cross,’ ‘Dragon Flash,’ ‘One Mind,’ ‘Floating Passage,’ ‘Spiral Cloud Passage,’ ‘Mortal Draw,’ ‘Empowered Mortal Draw’
    
  • Items: ‘Spiritfall’ series
• Reduced the Posture damage dealt by the first hit of the Combat Arts ‘Senpou Leaping Kicks’ and ‘High Monk’ as it was causing more damage than intended in certain cases. Posture damage dealt in the latter-half of the combo has been increased.
  
• Increased the Poison build-up dealt by the Prosthetic Tool “Sabimaru” against enemies that were intended to be weak against it.
  
• Increased the drop rate of ‘Divine Confetti’ for Fencers in Ashina Castle.
  
• Adjusted loading screen tips and tutorial text, as well as adding new text.

Other Fixes

• Slightly reduced Posture and Vitality of Blazing Bull in order to improve game pacing and balance time in combat.
  
• Lowered the price of information sold by Anayama the Peddler.
  
• The Chained Ogre inside Ashina Castle is now Red Eyed.
  
• Fixed a bug where “Gokan’s Sugar” and “Gokan’s Spiritfall” were not mitigating player Posture damage taken while guarding or deflecting enemy attacks.
  
• Fixed a bug where system crashes could cause save data to become corrupted on PC.
  
• Fixed a bug where certain enemies would sometimes stop attacking the player.
  
• Fixed a bug where certain actions could not be performed after reconfiguring the controls.
  
• Fixed certain bugs that were allowing the player to access unexpected areas, which could result in becoming unable to obtain items or make further progress.
  
• Fixed cases of certain text being displayed incorrectly.
  
• Improved stability.
  
• Improved performance.
  
• Other various bug fixes.

Have you jumped into the game yet? And does any of this excite you, or worry you?

There was a period of time when the big publishers in the industry took risks. Big risks. EA with the likes of Dead Space (stay seriously tuned here), Mirror's Edge and skate., and Activision the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series and then their GTA-like True Crime open-world series (now known as Watch Dogs with Square Enix). These are just a few examples, of course, there were many others.

But it's been Activision who maybe made the best decision for new IP of late, given Anthem's rocky start for EA (Apex Legends aside), with the publisher announcing that the critically-acclaimed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice from FromSoftware has sold more than two million copies globally.

And that's in its first 10 days. Quite a feat for the publisher, who has more recently shied from new IP (Blizzard business aside), over fostering its Call of Duty series.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has shinobi-death-blowed its way into fans hearts and the top of the charts! With a “Must-Play” status on Metacritic that only one percent of all games achieve each year1 and 90+ rated review score across all platforms on Metacritic, the highly-anticipated game sold more than 2 million copies worldwide2 across PlayStation, Xbox and PC in less than 10 days.

“Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has brought something very special and unique to Activision’s portfolio of games. It’s been an honour to work with FromSoftware to help introduce a brand-new franchise to gamers around the world,” said Michelle Fonseca, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Activision, via press release. “The fans have made Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice one of the most incredible game launches of 2019 thus far. The game has performed well on all platforms including PC and we’re excited by the continued support from gamers and critics alike. It has been gratifying to see the enjoyment from fans when they overcome each challenge.”

On launch day, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was the #1 viewed game on Twitch3. With more than 631 million minutes watched on Twitch3 during launch weekend, players could not get enough of the intense combat and thrilling opportunity to escape death. The game also had 1.1 billion minutes watched on Twitch within one week3.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice introduces players to a beautifully-dark world filled with brutal enemies, intense sword combat, and engrossing vertical exploration. Fans of FromSoftware will find familiarity in the gritty gameplay found in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice where combat reigns supreme. Players will enjoy combining new features, such as prosthetic arm tools, with visceral head-to-head battle to fulfill their destiny in a vast world filled with beautiful vistas, unique weaponry, and larger-than-life foes.

Hopefully we see these bigger companies looking at more risks moving forward. The single-player game and experience is no longer a thing of the past, and we couldn't be happier to see that.

Despite being the sort of person who plays most games on the hardest setting, the Miyazaki Souls-like games have been the bane of my game playing -- and reviewing -- existence. Then along comes Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a game I've finally managed to get around, and review in good measure.

Here's a snippet:

Still, with the grappling hook, its myriad upgrades and a faster approach to player-movement and combat, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a glorious departure to the laborious nature of the Souls games and Bloodborne. This doesn’t mean it’s not as demanding or brutal, but the speedier nature of things at least gives you a false sense of progressive proprietary. As false as it actually is.

If, like me, you’ve always just shied from games that punish for the sake of punishing, but thoroughly enjoy a story with mystery, excellent dialogue and unique fantastical components, Sekiro will punish, but it will also deliver in damascus folds.

Click here for our full Sekiro review.

The game is almost upon us, but ahead of its release, and our subsequent review, Adam "Griz" Mathew, our resident Souls-like expert and punterrific wordsmith, went hands-on with Miyazaki's potential next masterpiece.

Though questions do abound around its size, its structure, some gameplay mechanics and a number of departures from previous Miyazaki outings.

Here's a snippet:

"Getting your chop on is a very different experience to both Dark Souls and Bloodborne. I've played the crotch out of everything Miyazaki has ever made, and rocking in with the old tactics had me hitting walls (and death screens) aplenty. For starters, I don't think veterans will find too much success with getting their excessive Dark Souls roll on (Sekiro uses a quick-step instead of a commando tumble, and it somehow feels slightly less controllable and effective).

Also worth noting: your new ability to ceaselessly leap like a jackrabbit isn't much of an escape option, either. Enemy attacks will track you, snip off your ankles and put you on your back for some follow-up pruning. You'd best save it for the obviously telegraphed “unstoppable” enemy attacks designed to sweep your leg harder than a Kobra Kai alumni."

Click here for our full hands-on preview of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.