Backing off usually preserves your life but doesn’t help you kill your enemy - pushing forward puts you in range to cut them down, but makes you vulnerable.
The lethality of your foes combined with the power of your parry creates a brilliant tension between safety and success. 'You’ll die hundreds and hundreds of times, including to regular swordsmen' Every time I died, I know I could’ve survived if I was less tentative, or if I’d studied my enemy’s attack patterns closer. It took me more than 20 attempts to best some bosses, and yet it rarely feels unfair. Most enemies in Sekiro can kill you with a couple of hits, and you’ll die hundreds and hundreds of times, including to regular swordsmen. To kill bosses you’ll therefore need to apply constant pressure, dealing damage, parrying attacks and forcing them to block. Enemies recover posture if you let up, but the lower their health, the more posture damage they take, and the slower it recovers.
