Summary
Although most bosses in FromSoftware’s core titles are defined by their intense difficulty, the Divine Dragon inSekiro: Shadows Die Twiceis a rare case where the developer breaks expectations to deliver something incredible. This is a fight that dives intoFromSoftware’s obscured, but deep, loreacross the themes of many of the developer’s games, with a fan-favorite weapon appearing in a unique form.
Highlighting the positives of the Divine Dragon might seem difficult toSekiro: Shadows Die Twicefans since it is easily one of the easier fights across the runtime of the game. However, what the Divine Dragon brings to the table might be a better showcase for an even more imaginative part of FromSoftware’s development skill set.
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Simple and Thematic Combat
The actual fight against the Divine Dragon might fit better inDemon’s Souls, rather thanSekiro, as the entire encounter is more akin to a puzzle than it is a test of skill. Across the two phases, the player must work out the secret to actually hurting the Divine Dragon, with the actual execution of these being much less difficult than simply figuring out the trick. In this case, the Divine Dragon is more aligned withFromSoftware’s many gimmick bosses, with the first phase being entirely built around using deathblows as a basic attack and the second phase involving a handful of dodges and some easily timed lightning reversals.
While it’s just as likely that a player will die on this boss at least once on their initial playthrough, it is a fight that becomes much more predictable in New Game Plus or faster and more challenging runs. That being said, if every fight inSekirowas a continuous ramp-up in difficulty, then the game would just be a single note and wouldn’t have made the impact that it did to spawn its own twist on the Soul-like formula. Instead, the Divine Dragon is a better flex of FromSoftware’s themesfromDemon’s SoulstoElden Ring, as well as diving into real-world inspirations for in-game lore.
The Fleeing Divine Dragon Grounds Sekiro’s Japanese Setting
One thing that separatesSekirofrom other FromSoftware titles is the choice to place the game in a fictional province of theotherwise real-world Japan, rather than a wholly fictional world that is completely on its own. In that case, the Divine Dragon works well to show not only a connection to Japanese myth but also to the historical connections between Japan and other East Asian countries, most notably Korea.
This Korean origin of the Divine Dragon is something that is hinted at in dialogue and descriptions of the entity throughoutSekiro, but the strongest evidence for this comes from its choice of weapon. Although protagonist Wolf doesn’t actually change his weapon throughoutSekiro, only swapping and equipping a second katana for specific deathblows and special attacks, an iconic FromSoftware weapon still manages to make an appearance.
Wielded by the Divine Dragon in a unique form, theMoonlight Greatsword makes itsSekiroappearanceas a glowing variant of the Seven-Branched Sword, an iconic sword from Japanese history said to have been gifted to a Yamato lord in Japan from the king of Baekje. While the Moonlight Greatsword’s appearance is important for the combat of the fight, firing beams from the blade that the player has to dodge between damage phases, it is this Seven-Branched Sword motif that says more about the Divine Dragon.
Another noticeable design detail in the Divine Dragon fight is the use of trees and corrupted bark that represents the current state of the boss after having been cast out from its native land and then harvested for tears before players ever find it. Tree motifs are a common thread for FromSoftware, long before theErdtree dominated the map ofElden Ring, with bark and roots being the first places where rot can be found plaguing many worlds. So, even thoughSekiro’s Japan is separate from other FromSoftware games, the Divine Dragon helps to connect it to earlier Soulsborne titles, likeDark Souls' mushroom-infested Great Hollow with the themes of rotting trees.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twiceis available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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