Sekiro's free game of the year update drops this week

Much-beloved ninja action game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice gets its big, free game of the year edition update this week. The update adds a boss-rush styled boss challenge mode, unlockable character skins, and player recordings. This free update comes about a year and a half after From Software's most recent creation released, and was first announced earlier this year. The Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice game of the year update will be free to all owners, and it will release on October 29th.

The recordings are called remnants, and are up to 30 seconds of game footage that you can upload and share in order to make your friends who are not as good at video games gawp in awe. The boss rush modes are Reflections of Strength and Gauntlets of Strength. Reflections let you face any boss you've already beaten again, pretty standard. Gauntlets are a series of fights that you have to beat in a single go, no deaths. 

I expect them to be hard, like… diamond hard… or like… graphene hard. Very hard. Artificial metamaterial made in a lab hard. That's tough.

That's because Sekiro is very hard! With no RPG mechanics bolstering the player over time, just new gear, Sekiro is a tribute to the style of action game that From Software has come to be famous for. Our old editor Samuel Roberts said that Sekiro was so good it had "ruined all other singleplayer games" for him. It was also so hard that one editor of ours just went ahead and beat the final boss with cheats.

If you're still not convinced, our Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review gave it a 92: "A brutal, uncompromising action game with sensational sword combat." 92 is a very good score. You can learn more about Sekiro and/or purchase it on its official website. 

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.