History VideoGame / SekiroShadowsDieTwice

** [[spoiler:'''Genichiro Ashina''']]: “Behold. The second [[spoiler: Mortal Blade]].

* WhamLine: During the boss fight against the Demon of Hatred, Wolf recognizes who it was...[[note]]Only if Wolf has given several types of sake to Sculptor and Emma, eavesdropped on them when Emma visited the Sculptor during the Interior Ministry's first invasion, and talked to the Sculptor afterwards.[[/note]]

** If Wolf falls from mortal heights, he will just respawn from where he fell from with some damage instead of being instantly killed, ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]''-style. Wolf is also incapable of falling off ledges unless you jump, allowing you to walk along precarious branches with a surprising amount of ease, and limiting how often you'll fall into pits.

* TheReveal: Very intriguing information regarding lore and story dynamics is revealed to the players the further they progress, explore, and interact with other characters.

* ObviousRulesPatch: The boss rush, added quite a while after the game released, nips many AI exploits and cheating strategies in the bud to make sure you fight them fair and square. One of the most obvious being the boss rush version of Lady Butterfly; normally, you can trap her in a stun loop that lets you simply chip her health away in both lifebars, try that in the boss rush and she'll counterattack with a new attack that will kill you no matter your health ''and'' disables resurrecting so you fail the boss rush set.

** The first "real" boss of the game (as in, it gives a Memory rather than a Prayer Bead) has the RedBaron nickname of "Gyoubu the Demon". At the end of the game, an optional BonusBoss can be fought in the same place you fought Gyoubu... and it's an ''actual'' demon.

** The BonusBoss fight against the [[spoiler:Demon of Hatred]] also has three deathblow markers. Unlike most bosses, [[spoiler:the Demon]] has an utterly absurd amount of posture, meaning that you'll have to drain his vitality to land a deathblow.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Sen being used as currency in-game which takes place in the tail-end of the Sengoku Period. Historically, Sen was first minted in the Meiji period some 300 years after this game takes place.

** To a lesser extent, the Interior Ministry, who are heavily implied to be the Tokugawa Shogunate that conquered Japan at the end of the Sengoku Period. [[spoiler:When they invade, they mercilessly slaughter the people of Ashina, including surrendering soldiers trying to surrender and ''children''.]] However, considering the greater historical context, they're on the cusp of ending a century-long civil war, which makes their actions understandable, if not necessarily sympathetic.

* BladeOnAStick:
** Spearmen ranging from lowly [[{{Mook}} ashigaru]] to mighty [[EliteMook samurai]] are a common sight among Wolf's foes, and pose a particular challenge due to them tending to favor unblockable thrust attacks that must be dodged or deflected. However, Wolf can nullify much of their deadliness with the anti-thrust "Mikiri Counter" skill.
** One of Wolf's Shinobi Prosthetics is the Loaded Spear. It is a blade that telescopes into a large spear, allowing him to attack enemies from further away or pull them in.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** No matter how skilled Wolf is, getting into a direct fight with more than one gun-wielding enemy will typically end with him being extremely well-ventilated.
** The unarmed Senpou monks can [[BareHandedBladeBlock deflect some blows,]] but they have incredibly low posture, and two or three blows will break through their guards and leave them open to a Deathblow; turns out taking on a Katana-wielding opponent with no weapon of your own is a losing proposition.
** As a Shinobi, Wolf's skillset is poorly-suited to fighting large groups of enemies at once, and you will usually find yourself on the losing end of any such engagement. Inversely, those same enemies are not well-equipped or well-trained to handle an infiltrator of Wolf's caliber, meaning that you can usually take them out without ever being seen, or at least even the odds before the fight starts.
** Wolf is trained well enough to fight swordsmen, riflemen, monsters, and even apparitions, but against the [[TokenWhite Armored Warrior]], a [[OutsideContextProblem European knight and explorer]] clad in [[ArmorOfInvincibility full plate mail]], his light katana and shinobi tools can't even scratch him. You'll need to find another way... like, say, [[RingOutBoss knocking him off a bridge]]...

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: This is played completely straight. The bandits raiding Hirata Estate are led by the massive Juzou the Drunkard, the Ashina Clan's generals are some of their toughest fighters, and the Sunken Valley clansmen are led by the deadly Snake Eyes. Isshin Ashina, the patriarch of the Ashina Clan, is said to be the greatest swordsman alive [[spoiler:and you learn the hard way that his reputatation is NotHyperbole]].

** The most recurring theme of the game is that the very ''pursuit'' of immortality itself not only leads you to hurt other people, but also ends up defiling and twisting you in the process for something you likely won't be able to obtain anyway. This is applicable to Genichiro, but is most visible with the Senpou Temple monks and the nobles in the Fountainhead Palace. The monks have completely abandoned the teachings of the Buddha in their twisted pursuit of immortality, performing immoral experiments on dozens of children in an attempt to replicate the Divine Heir's immortal blood (leading to their deaths), but also letting themselves be consumed by wicked parasitic centipedes. The nobles have drank so much of the corrupted water that they are turning into grotesque fish monsters who steal other people's youth and deceive them with false promises. The fact the Nobles worship it and its own appearance implies the Great Colored Carp was once human as well and simply has come closer to becoming an immortal Dragon than the others. The Pot Nobles' attempts to replace it by killing it and using the carp scales fail completely, leaving them as disturbing red-eyed carps who will never be anything else.