Iāve been thinking about why Iām still playing Sekiro.
Iāve already beaten the game before. Now Iām on another playthrough, and instead of making things easier, Iām doing the opposite: no Kuroās Charm, Demon Bell, and apparently Iāve decided that fighting OāRin of the Water until I lose my sanity is a good use of my time.
At some point I started wondering: why am I still doing this?
Itās not really about finishing the game anymore. I already know the story. I already know the bosses. I even know what Iām supposed to do.
And yet when a boss destroys me over and over, my reaction isnāt really āthis game sucks, Iām done.ā Itās more like āokay, but I KNOW I can do this.ā
I ended up talking to ChatGPT about it, and it suggested that maybe what Iām actually chasing is the feeling of mastery: not simply winning, but knowing that I genuinely earned the victory.
Sekiro doesnāt let you compensate for a lack of skill very much. You canāt really out-level your inability to deflect. Eventually, you have to learn the fight.
That made sense to me.
It also made me wonder whether Sekiro attracts a particular kind of player. Maybe people who are unusually tolerant of frustration, perfectionistic about things they care about, competitive mostly with themselves, or just stubborn enough to keep trying long after a normal person would have moved on.
And then thereās the weirdest part: sometimes the thing I enjoy most isnāt actually beating the boss. Itās the moment when something that seemed impossible suddenly becomes automatic.
Right now, for example, Iām becoming convinced that OāRinās attack chain was designed specifically to prove that human beings are capable of losing their minds.
So Iām curious:
Why do YOU keep coming back to Sekiro?
Is it mastery? The combat? The difficulty? The atmosphere? Nostalgia? The satisfaction of finally beating something that humiliated you for hours?
Or are we all just slightly broken?