In my recent hands-on with Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, I was surprised to find that the game included time travel. Whilst what I experienced takes place at the very beginning of the game if you’d rather not have any spoilers, don’t read any further.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
After I’d received the Shinobi Arm and was free to explore, I noticed that where the sculptor is located is a Buddha Statue. You can interact with the statue, but without an offering, the Sculptor tells you that nothing will happen.
Leaving it behind, I made my way through the opening level, fighting enemies, giant roosters (yep), trolls and more. Eventually, after fighting a mini-boss of sorts, I found myself in an area with some derelict buildings, plenty of enemies and an injured NPC.
The NPC is a soldier who recognises The Wolf and asks him to help his mother. She’s blind and wants her son to help her pray to Buddha with her special bell. The connection was obvious to me, so I talked to the woman, collected the bell and headed back to the Buddha Statue.
Great Scott!
There, I interacted with it and used the prayer bells. After a short cutscene, I was presented with the words “Three Years Earlier” on-screen. Coming across another injured NPC who also recognises the Wolf. However, being confused as to where and when he is, The Wolf asks what year it is.
Continuing on, I fought my way through the grounds and outbuildings of a castle that appeared to be under siege.
Clearly, this time travelling section will be important to the plot, but at this stage, I’m not sure exactly how it fits in. Nor do I know if there are multiple time travelling sections or whether they will cross multiple time periods.
I do know that players are able to use the Sculptor’s Idol (Sekiro’s Bonfires) to fast-travel and that the Sculptor’s Idols I found “Three Years Earlier” could be used to travel back to the present.
What all of this means will have to wait until Sekiro Shadows Die Twice is released on March 22. But time travel is pretty freaking cool right?
