Live and die by the sword, many times

FromSoftware¡¯s Hidetaka Miyazaki has made a name for himself designing brutally hard games with moody European settings. Now he¡¯s created another difficult sword-swinging game, but this time set in a mythical version of Japan¡¯s Sengoku period (Warring States, 1482-1573).

¡°Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice,¡± released late last month priced at ?8,208 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, follows a one-armed ninja out for revenge. Protagonist Sekiro, which means ¡°one-armed wolf,¡± carries one sword throughout the game, but he also has an upgradable prosthetic arm that can be outfitted with things like a grappling hook and even a flamethrower.