When Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was first teased at The Game Awards in 2017, many thought that the brief new video that was shown was teasing either Bloodborne 2 or a new Tenchu game, a series that FromSoftware had worked on in the past. Heck, we thought it was for sure Tenchu ourselves when we first saw it as well. Months later at E3 2018, From revealed that the game was instead an entirely new IP called Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and while it surprised some that it didn’t belong to any previously existing franchises, this wasn’t always what was planned.
In a new conversation with Variety, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki said that they initially thought about making Sekiro part of the Techu franchise. “A lot of influence came from Tenchu,” Miyazaki said of the early stages of Sekiro’s development. “We even pondered upon making Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice a part of the Tenchu series at first.”
Miyazaki went on to say though that after more time, they decided it would be better if Sekiro was its own property, though he still acknowledged that Tenchu as a whole was one of the primary inspirations behind the game. “Of course, after that we researched and referenced many other games as well; however, I think the largest influence was from Tenchu,” Miyazaki said. This lines up with what From told us as well last year about how Sekiro evolved over time to be a completely different game.
As of now, it has been 10 years since the release of the last Tenchu game–Tenchu: Shadow Assassins–and while fans of the series are surely hoping that it will one day see a revival, it’s good to know that FromSoftware still looks back on the series fondly. If a spiritual successor of sorts in Sekiro isn’t good enough for you, then maybe one day From or someone else will finally bring it back.
In the meantime, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is slated to launch next Friday, March 22, for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The post Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Was Almost Part of the Tenchu Series by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.