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"A brutal, beautiful journey through feudal Japan that rewards patience, skill, and perseverance."

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is not your typical FromSoftware game, even though it shares the studio's signature difficulty and atmospheric storytelling. Unlike the Soulsborne titles, Sekiro leans heavily into action and precise combat rather than RPG elements. There are no stats to grind—just your own skill to sharpen.

The swordplay is incredibly tight and satisfying. Every encounter feels like a deadly duel where posture, timing, and reflexes matter more than raw damage. Boss fights are intense and memorable, and the learning curve is steep but fair. Death is part of the process—each failure teaches something new.

The game world is stunningly crafted, with gorgeous, varied environments inspired by late 1500s Japan. The level design encourages exploration, and the verticality introduced by the grappling hook adds a fresh dynamic to movement and combat.

Narratively, Sekiro tells a more direct story than previous FromSoftware games, but still leaves room for interpretation and mystery. The voice acting and music are excellent, further immersing you in its unique world.

It’s not a game for everyone. The lack of difficulty options, limited character customization, and punishing learning curve can be off-putting. But for players looking for a challenging and rewarding experience, Sekiro stands as one of the finest action games of its generation.

Exceeded everyone's expectations. This game is triple A standard, excelling every element that makes a game good.

Excellent gameplay, soundtrack, acting, story, graphics. No controversy or drama, just a clean good game with minimal bugs (if any) at launch. No predatory micro-transactions, no significant content locked behind a paywall, no battlepasses. Playable offline, controller and keyboard friendly.

This game is only a few features from being a perfect game. Still Game of the Year for me.

I have never written a review on Steam before, but I feel compelled to do so for this game.

In 2008, seventeen years ago, my mom took me to a GameStop after a rather grueling orthodontist appointment. I was allowed to pick out a game to buy. I wasn’t sure what to get, but the associate working there gave me a recommendation: a relatively recent game packed full of fantastical adventure — a game where you could go anywhere and do anything. I wish I could thank that associate for what he gave me, because, of course, that game was Oblivion.

It’s hard to put into words just how important Oblivion is to me. It was my first "real" game as a kid and truly what made me fall in love with video games as an art form. Beyond that, I credit it for sparking my lifelong love of fantasy and medieval settings. Maybe it sounds weird or a little cringe, but Oblivion is foundational to who I am today.

As time marched on and gaming standards evolved, Oblivion aged — and not gracefully (even worse than Morrowind, in my opinion). I found it harder and harder to go back to it. I tried to replay it several times but kept bouncing off. The years had worn heavily on this beloved game from my childhood. At times, I even wondered if I could still confidently say I liked Oblivion, since I found it so difficult to revisit. Was it all just nostalgia?

This remaster has given Oblivion back to me.
It fixes all the issues that made me bounce off the game so many times before. It's no longer an early-2000s 3D bloomfest — it looks gorgeous. It no longer feels like you’re floating through the world, smacking enemies with a pool noodle — now, you feel present, tangibly part of the world. The punishing min-maxing system is gone; you can actually play the builds you want to play.
And the incredible part is: it fixes all of this without changing what the game fundamentally is.
If you played this version without ever touching the 2006 original, I wouldn't consider your experience "less than." This is Oblivion, through and through.

This remaster has validated my feelings about Oblivion. I do still love this game to death. It had just aged so poorly that I struggled to enjoy it. That’s no longer an issue, because this remaster has brought all of that magic back to me.

2025 hasn’t been a great year for me so far. I've been in a pretty unhappy place for most of it.
As corny as it might sound, this game has honestly given me a lot of happiness. Beyond just playing it, I’ve had so much fun talking about it with other people. The whole rollout — the leaks, the reveal stream, the shadowdrop — is something I think will go down as one of my favorite memories ever.

It’s clear this game was made by people who loved Oblivion as much as I did, and that love shines through in every facet. To me, this remaster is more than just a fresh coat of paint on a 20-year-old RPG. It's a reminder — at least in part — of how I became who I am today.

Oblivion Remastered really does mean the world to me, and I’m so excited to spend several hundred more hours in Cyrodiil.