Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is truly a From Software masterpiece, especially since it features a handful of brutal death penalties. But instead of just setting players back to the previous Sculptor’s Idol, dying also opens up some rough consequences.
The death penalty in Sekiro means players lose half of their in-game currency (sen) and experience obtained towards the next skill point. Unlike Bloodborne and Dark Souls, two titles the studio previously developed, lost items are not necessarily dropped on the ground; hence, players have the opportunity to bounce back and collect them. This means once a player dies, they only lose sen and experience.
Dying is really a difficult feat to overcome in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This is most noticable when players start fighting bosses like Lady Butterfly. Unlike other titles from the studio, the game’s death penalty is rather steep and challenging, although it can be avoided by resurrecting.
Once players resurrect, they will be unable to do so again for a short period of time until they successfully kill low-tier monsters and/or perform a deathblow on a boss or sub-boss. In other words, players must learn to retreat and take refuge at a Sculptor’s Idol to avoid death and its consequences.
Unfortunately, death penalties come in a variety of surprises. Basically, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has another major consequence when players die. For instance, players experience a true death, which is dying after using resurrect with no resurrect available, they run the chance of spreading Dragonrot to any NPC they have met.
Draognrot is not only capable of reducing a player’s Unseen Aid by a certain percentage, but it also prevents them from progressing NPC quest lines. Considering how brutal this penalty is, it only makes sense for players to rest at a Sculptor’s Idol after resurrecting.
