The clang of two blades crossing, again and again, until your thumb finally understands.

On gut instinct, without thinking, the community puts Sekiro ahead of 95% of games. And this time the detail deflates nothing, it confirms and drives the point home. Fun ranks it flat out at the top, as does the feel of the controller on a still-modest number of votes. The art style brushes the summit, the soundtrack follows right up there. Desert island and attachment stay excellent. Only rediscovery dips a little, into the good middle, as if a game this demanding is less easily relived at the snap of a finger. A top-flight profile, coherent from gut instinct all the way to the pad.

Against the other FromSoftware games and sharp action titles, Sekiro is the most cutting, the most vertical, the one that turns combat into a dance of precision rather than a wall of stats.

So, for who? For you if you love a game that resists you, punishes you, then rewards you with a thrill when you break its guard. Much less so if raw difficulty pulls you out of the experience.