Players love FromSoftware games, like Dark Souls, for many reasons. There’s the intricate worlds, the visceral and tactical combat, and for many there is the multiplayer. Invading other player’s world in Dark Souls can be some of the most fun in that game. But, the latest from the developer, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, will not feature multiplayer, with the developer explaining that the design would have to be altered to cater to this feature.
“This is actually a single player focused game,” said Activision producer Robert Conkey during a hands-off gameplay walkthrough which you can read more about here. “It is not multiplayer.” He then allowed FromSoftware Yasuhiro Kitao to explain more of the reasoning behind this decision.”
“When you’re designing a game, there’s different ways to design for single player games and to design for multiplayer games,” explained Kitao as interpreted by Conkey. “There’s different methods completely for designing for one or the other, and this time they decided they wanted to focus on the single player experience.”
So, no multiplayer, but that’s not a huge problem if the single player experience is as solid as expected from such a prestigious developer. My impressions so far are that this change is worth it, with the faster, more fluid combat leading to a much better single player experience for fans of that sort of gameplay.
