The first boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an interesting iteration on a long-running FromSoftware design concept, with an encounter that sets the stage for difficulty early and reinforces player skill later on. In Sekiro's case, th FromSoftware formula comes in the form of Genichiro Ashina, who opens the game by cutting Wolf's arm off and prepares him for the Shinobi Prosthetic.
This concept of having the first boss return after initially crushing the player is something that the Soulsborne games have dabbled with before, even going as far back as Demon's Souls. However, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is unique with Genichiro not only taking a major role in the story, but returning late enough in the game to act as a barrier to the final boss.
Genichiro's Introduction as a Tutorial
Most Soulsborne tutorial bosses appear as the initial way for FromSoftware to show players how the death and revive mechanic works, often having bloated heath bars or dealing massive damage that a starting character just can't match. In the case of Genichiro in Sekiro, this is somewhat subverted, as players who pick up on the combat quickly can hold their own against the boss for some time. It is still one of FromSoftware's more difficult encounters, but it is more achievable than beating Demon's Souls' Vanguard or Dark Souls' Asylum Demon on the first try.
Regardless of how well players perform, however, Genichiro will always come out on top in the cutscene that follows, cutting Wolf's arm clean off and setting him on the long path towards the rest of the game. This not only sets up the difficulty present right away, but also establishes the more traditionally told story that helps to elevate Sekiro's narrative above other Soulsborne titles. The result is an enemy that players can feel invested in hunting down, and eventually toppling several times over throughout the runtime of the game.
The Recurring Bosses of JRPGs
After the first encounter, Genichiro will reappear a handful of times, either trying to separate Wolf from his master Kuro, or acting as the guardian that keeps the player trapped in Ashina territory. This is a common trope in JRPGs, where a rival character will appear to goad the protagonist into a fight, only to run away after losing, so they can come back again later. Fans of the Final Fantasy series might recognize this from characters like Seifer, Kuja, and Seymour.
In Soulsborne games, these recurring bosses don't usually return after being defeated, instead utilizing reskins of early bosses with a handful of new mechanics that throws a new challenge at players expecting the same fight over. There are also a few cases where bosses like Dark Souls' Taurus Demon will later become a regular enemy that players have to fight multiple of on their way through late-game areas. However, Genichiro is unique in Sekiro, due to his relationship to the game's story and specifically how the encounter elevates every time the player fights him.
The second encounter establishes the rising stakes of fighting Genichiro, with his final phase transitioning him into his Way of Tomoe form that starts throwing lightning bolts at the player. It takes the defensive damage sponge bosses from Sekiro and makes the encounter much more aggressive, as Genichiro becomes a glass cannon that can quickly kill players if they aren't able to react quick enough to the lightning. Then, the final fight takes this concept a step further, giving Genichiro a new weapon that comes straight out of Wolf's toolkit that can slash at great distances and deal heavy damage. As a result, each fight shows how much the player's skill has improved as even these new challenges become trivial to overcome before Sekiro's actual final boss.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
