Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's Hub Connects To Multiple Areas

From Software has revealed additional details concerning the hub area in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Like the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne, Sekiro features an enclosed area, titled the Dilapidated Temple, that's safe from enemies where you can buy items and upgrade your abilities.

According to Game Informer, the Dilapidated Temple shares a lot of elements with the hubs seen in past Soulsborne games, including the area's expansion as you recruit other characters. "If you're familiar with the Souls games, you know how you can find NPCs in the world," From Software marketing and communications manager Yasuhiro Kitao said. "Maybe they're vendors, maybe they do something with you, maybe they head back to the hub, where you can speak to them and progress their quests."

Like other Soulsborne games, you'll be able to fast travel to Sekiro's hub too. You can either rest at the bonfire-like sculptor's idols or use items that immediately send you to the temple if an idol isn't nearby. While in the Dilapidated Temple, you'll have the opportunity to increase the number of healing items you can carry at a time as well.

The Dilapidated Temple does differ in a few ways from recent Soulsborne hubs though. For one, there's a character in the Dilapidated Temple, called The Immortal Soldier, who teaches you combat moves and how to use items, and willingly offers himself as a test dummy for you to practice different attacks. Also, unlike Dark Souls III and Bloodborne's hub areas--both of which you must teleport from to explore the world--Sekiro's Dilapidated Temple connects to multiple areas. In turn, several of these areas are also interconnected with each other.

"We feel like Sekiro's probably on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of the freedom the player has to explore the world if we're to compare it to our previous games," From Software director Hidetaka Miyazaki said. "Particularly from the mid-game onward, the world really opens up, and you have a great deal of choice and freedom about which order and way you choose to explore." Miyazaki did not reveal just how often Sekiro's many areas would connect with one another, but with the game on the near horizon, we'll find out soon enough.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice releases for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on March 22. The standard version of the game releases alongside a Collector's Edition, both of which are available for pre-order.