Sekiro's Map Layout Explained

[@katon8213]

-Can’t find a sekiro layout explanation. -Makes it himself without any experience. What a chad.

[@WeirdTroll666]

fr

[@nokar999]

"we do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy."

[@burghleyimeanberdly6513]

The Shinobi Shortcut is there to explain how Emma travels to and from Kuro's room without you noticing

[@platypipope328]

also it has the added lore of implying a closer connection between sekijo/the sculptor and isshin

[@jasonsmith6624]

@@platypipope328well the prosthetic arts are nightjar skills, so the sculptor was most likely Isshins personal guard until the whole shura incident. Plus since the sculptor is the one who found emma it’s clear they were all closely connected from the start

[@platypipope328]

@@jasonsmith6624 isshin cut sculptors arm off to prevent him becoming shura, and they were companions in the rebellion. I was moreso suggesting that the door hints that isshin and the sculptor remained close, which is attested to by the door being a direct route to both of them.

[@GrahamChapman]

In hindsight, it also explains how the Sculptor managed to get Wolf from the Silvergrass Field to the Abandoned Temple: If he had carried Wolf all the way the regular route, then he would have carried our boyo a long distance indeed. But since there was a shortcut in the Castle, one that conveniently probably allowed him to run into Emma after she had delivered the letter to Wolf at the start of the game, he only had to carry Wolf a short distance.

[@shira_yone]

@@jasonsmith6624 personally I think the timeline is more like him already going berserk in the war (possibly as a Senpou temple agent) and just before he went full Shura, Isshin defeated him and _then_ make him join his ranks like what happened to Gyoubu. Orangutan was a self taught Shinobi along with his childhood(?) friend Kingfisher, who trains in the Sunken Valley that surrounds Mt. Kongo (Senpou temple) until Isshin goes avenger team style gathering all the great warriors of the land to take back Ashina a decade or so ago. Senpou temple joins Isshin in the war effort after he took out their ace that is Orangutan; Dogen (also a Senpou monk) then made the prosthetic arm and gave it to Orangutan. He then learn Nightjar skills combining it with his prosthetic as he fight alongside Isshin who is most likely a Nightjar himself (well he's their lord, as the Tengu); what I'm trying to say is, he couldn't have developed prosthetic skills when he still have both of his hands. It makes more sense that he retired after the war ended, not after Isshin cuts off his arm; what good is there to develop skills to use the prosthetic in combat once there's no need for it.

[@ThatGuyNyan]

This is so well made, I don't know why the algorithm hasn't picked it up

[@vineethpuli5079]

for real, this was so amazing and made me appreciate the game sooo much more. its like a real, interconnected world now, not a bunch of disconnected video game platforms

[@jaggidfire]

The algorithm is unfair to people with thick accents. 😕

[@MrVisualHigh]

It brought me here, here's hoping it's on the turn

[@MrDaviiss]

it has now

[@painovoimaton]

The world design of Sekiro is one of my favourite aspects of the game. It just flows really beautifully and I cannot help but have a deep appreciation for the artistry and thoughtfulness involved. Truly a masterpiece of a game.

[@emilinhocorneta]

Open end games are overrated if the design isn't as good as this one!

[@forest8779]

Truly a game that is a game

[@painovoimaton]

@@forest8779 Indeed one of the games ever made

[@lorelim]

I was desperately searching for someone to make an in depth explanation of the Sekiro map, so I could understand certain weird connections and this video scratched my itch perfectly, so thank you for that. Also, for such a small channel this is a very well done video, so keep making these!

[@hododod246]

4:53 That door is there for lore reasons. Basically Emma is tasked by Isshin to help Wolf to escape with Kuro from Ashina. And Emma uses that door to go between Ashina Castle and our hub area. You may say "ohh in that case why didn't she smuggled Wolf from that door into Ashina Castle?" The answer is the following. If you watch the cutscene for the first Genichiro encounter, Wolf is hesitant when his hands goes to his sword. But in round 2 on top of Ashina castle, when his hand goes to Kusabimaru, there is no hesitance. Wolf have to go front door, so that he can regain his confidence get stronger so that he can beat Genichiro.

[@AnakinFury]

Oh, I thought it was because if Sekiro took the route then he’d be surrounded by Genichiro and guards + Genichiro would determine Emma a traitor sooner, vs. if sekiro goes in through the front he could take out the guards before fighting genichiro and emma’s cover is safe

[@kd0079]

Even not from the gameplay point of view it made sense. It is implied that Wolf has been living under that well like a zombie for quite some time and must have been rusty. Sending him straight into the middle of the Ashina Castle where all the higher up officers, and most importantly, Genichiro are is not going to help.

[@greenimpwtf]

Measuring depth in giant sneks is just brilliant))

[@MozzaBurger88]

- How far is the tram station ? - Only one giant snek from home. - That's not so bad.

[@BlazingGlaceon]

As an avid Sekiro fan, things like this are endlessly fascinating to me. Fantastic work man. The "great serpent as a ruler to measure depth" bit made me laugh out loud lmao

[@andrewames247]

19:17 Thank you for finally explaining that! It's something I should have figured out, but it never actually 'clicked'. I could say the same thing about Mibu Village; I always thought it was quite literally UNDERGROUND, like in a cave complex, instead of just in a REALLY deep, fog-shrouded valley. Again, even with the moon visible, something just was not connecting in my brain. As others have said, thank you for finally putting this map together and making the proper connections!

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

Well now I feel less dumb for thinking the same thing. I mean, I just thought "It's a FromSoft game for one. For another thing, there's already weird and geographically impossible stuff, like the Bottomless Pit you can just keep falling down without hitting the bottom so, eh, whatever." Or something like that. At any rate, this was a great video and I'm glad I found it.

[@nathanmadox3364]

One of the best sekiro videos ever thank you

[@onwardsumo5189]

also with the gun fort being right above sunken valley, it's also a sulfur pit which is used in making explosives as its understandable why the fort is up above it

[@addypalooza]

Now THAT'S a very good insight, well noticed

[@markusmitteregger8484]

omg this deserves so many more views, such a huge effort you took to explain everything! Thank you! I was just asking myself where that broken bridge in the beginning of the game leads to and now you uploaded this video, awesome!

[@addypalooza]

Thanks a lot for the kind words! I love game maps stuff, and if a few people learned something interesting from this, then it has been worth it!

[@lingricen8077]

@@addypaloozajust be aware that vaatividya WILL steal your content, and even if his braindead viewerbase learn of this, they will make excuses for him.

[@Yakkovski]

​@@lingricen8077so vaati just steals content from other youtubers without giving them any credit? how many times has that happened?

[@lingricen8077]

@@Yakkovski Who knows, there have been videos about it that were taken down after enough harassment. The absolute most insane instance was this lore podcast who had just released a theory early that day, later that day they just so happened to have Vaati on as a guest, and Vaati parroted that theory as if it were his own. They called him out on it and he just let his goons DDOS the podcast. The most blatant, however, was the Bloodborne theory book called ‘Paleblood Hunt’. The guy who made it clearly spent a LOT of time and effort on it. Vaati would proceed to lift from it, word for f*cking word. Even after this, people still defend him. I think in that instant, he ‘begrudgingly’ gave credit, but only in the video description at the very bottom. Dude is a vindictive twerp.

[@ARAGHOSTA]

I loved every bit of the video! You should make more (and you definetely deserve more views too)

[@NarrowSpark96]

The game does such a good job at implying how maps relate to each other. It's really nice seeing someone lay out the maps and have them aligned perfectly how I thought they were.

[@tduncan146]

Outstanding video! Great job! I thoroughly enjoyed your dissection of this layout, and the fact that Sekiro can be analyzed like this just shows that Miyazaki has a unique talent when it comes to his work. We are lucky to have him.

[@shby95]

A small detail I think a lot of people missed is that those are 2 separate serpents. The one in the poison cave has both eyes, where as the one has a bloody eye from where we stabbed it you can see it when you meet it the 2nd time.

[@skoogadoo]

i think it's supposed to be one snake with two heads; if one side swallows you, you get spat out where the other one is

[@MaxIronsThird]

@@skoogadoo you mean catdog style 2 heads?

[@kurenian]

This interconnectedness makes me wish that Sekiro at least for part of the game didn’t have fast travel, like DS1. That would have made understanding the layout more meaningful

[@elijahkeay3906]

Honestly the more I’ve played this game the more I’ve wondered if they originally meant for it to not have any fast travel like DS1 but it got scrapped due to time constraints or out of fear that people wouldn’t like it The shinobi shortcuts and the way that certain idols get cut off at points in the story in particular feel like remnants of a time in development when that might have been the case. Could have been a really cool way of making you feel the distance of your journey

[@grantharrison1715]

Giant serpents are my favorite unit of measurement.

[@sahilmaharaj5100]

Amazing video, this really cleared up some of the questions I had about the game space! I always suspected that Mt. Kongo looked like it was too far away from Ashina Castle to be accurate, so it's vindicating to know I was right. I'm really curious about the in-universe location of the Hirata Estate, the lore implies that it's quite close to Ashina Castle, and I'm guessing it's in the direction of the Sculptors Temple, just because of them both being surrounded by bamboo, but I don't know if there's any other clues about it's location.

[@addypalooza]

Thank you for the kind words! I haven't found any connections between the maps of the Hirata Estate and the rest of the world, I think that the estate is supposed to be located far away beyond the mountains, and that the Antique map only shows it closer to Ashina Castle due to convenience.

[@tffknowledgekeeper1088]

I absolutely fricking loved this video! As an all-time Sekiro fan, I always had that itch to understand the game's map better since its completely outstanding and you managed to scratch that. You truly managed to honor this underrated gem's legacy, mate!

[@HoaiThuongNguyen-kd8rb]

Thanks for the great work bro, your video has a lot of clear details about Ashina castle that I was looking for after finish game

[@redskyhk]

I love this video! Thank you very much for your great effort!!

[@AnchalagonTheBlack]

This was great. Especially the bit at the end about the connections between the Fountainhead Palace and the Sunken Valley/Mibu Village - that was rad and makes the carp's location make a lot more sense.

[@fajnu20]

I enjoyed this video a lot. Nice to see how many details devs put into map. Thanks for the vid!

[@ylstorage7085]

This deserves more views. Highly recommend author to expand to better known games

[@komlat253]

Yea as soon as i started playing this game , i noticed quickly how interconnected the world is . I absolutely love how believable the world is and how u can always where u are at or going with landmarks for other places

[@ayberk007]

I hope the views match the quality of the video. İncredible work man. It made me look at the game from a different point of view.

[@Cykaima]

This is your first video? Holy shit, immaculate stuff

[@MrSam1804]

I've been looking for this kind of video for a long time

[@megan00b8]

My favourite thing is that every feature you have mentioned in the video I can look at and think "Oh yeah, I see why they did that, that makes sense."

[@ぴき-h9p]

Very nice video! It was very interesting because it explained what I was wondering about the map structure of Sekiro! I don't understand English, but thanks to the subtitles I could understand everything👍

[@FindingFocus]

Instant sub! Fantastic job on this video, I absolutely loved it. This is my fav sekiro vid on KZbin 🎉

[@steeltarkus58]

Great job! I had my suspicions about the location of the mibu village, it's good to finally have some form of confirmation

[@kd0079]

I have spent 100 hours on Sekiro while I know where to go by heart, and that it is actually a pretty small map with different regions interconnecting with each other, I can never quite grasp the big picture, as in the locations of each area in relation to each other. Your work helped me finally understand the whole picture. Great work! And FromSoft map design is truly genius.

[@TomyGtaIV]

Omg man, awesome video. I watched it until the end and then I checked your channel expecting to see thousands of subs and I got shocked, U definitely deserve a lot more! Excelent job in editing and finding out all of that stuff

[@nuk3rboy]

Amazing work you've done with this video. It's very interesting to see the map connecting like this.

[@gorgonfreeman486]

Very well explained. Thank you!

[@bunnybag]

Thanks for all your effort. This was truly amazing and made me appreciate the game even more. Hoping you do end up making the video on Sekiro and it's architectural references.

[@pagingdoctorsideburns]

Amazing work, I loved finally getting to see this because Sekiro is by far my favorite FROM title. Turns out it deserves just as much credit for the dense interconnectivity as Dark Souls 1! I think it just gets overlooked because the couple of fog examples where they probably could have shown off a little more (not being able to see Mibu through that gap at 16:29 is insane, it's perfectly aligned to show you!) and because of how a couple of the shinobi doors are "magical' makes it easy to assume they cheated a lot more than they apparently did!

[@squigly80]

amazing work bro, thanks for this.

[@essiemmo]

Thank you soo much for making this video. Found these types of videos super interesting for the dark souls trilogy and was glad to see someone do it for Sekiro aswell. Very well executed and super entertaining!

[@roriksavant]

Great video! I know From Software but the attention to detail in the interconnectedness is crazy...

[@bigamateur9055]

This is awesome I never thought about how exactly the map looked.

[@alvabsas]

this video deserve more visits. best explanation of sekiro map avalaible.

[@phantombigboss8429]

I appreciate Sekiro for bringing back the classic action adventure experience like how it was back then with games like Legacy of Kain.

[@namebie6767]

This is my favorite sekiro video. You are so passionate about this game, and hearing your findings and all of your knowledge makes this video fire. Thank you

[@foororon4936]

this is very well made and documented and really helpful thank you for making this. Imma binge all your videos now i guess

[@addypalooza]

The binge is not going to take long, at least! Thanks for the kind words!

[@mattmurphy5190]

The awesome interconnective map and 3-d aspect of it is one of many many many reasons I love this game so much

[@Liam-bi6lm]

Bloodborne was my first true entry into the FromSoft games. There's nothing quite like the feeling of awe you get when you discover how all the landmarks fit together in all their games. I experienced this in Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring. I know a lot of people are put off by the difficulty of these games but on top of just defeating all the tough enemies and bosses, the exploring of the world around you is just so rewarding! I can't wait for all the new souls-like IPs from FromSoft!

[@theBuilder10000]

This is very professionally done. Certainly doesn't look like a first attempt.

[@thirtydaysveganandcounting]

For a first time upload, heck even if it wasn't your first video, it had a great production quality and I wasn't really interested in the content. Thanks so much for making an awesome video!

[@DeepestDankest]

Wonderful video. I always had a glancing interest in how everything connected to each other but all the visual examples really helped in piecing the entirety of Sekiro's geography together. Fantastic work.

[@dszuch1084]

Having watched both this, and your Elden Ring architecture video, I wanted to say, you’re doing terrific! The fact that you are both thorough, and focused (rather than injecting memes constantly) is very impressive. Keep it up!

[@00110000]

What a thorough and well-presented video. I can't believe it was only recommended a year late.

[@koa555kovacsandras5]

Definitely my favorite in game map and world. This video was a real treat, thanks for making it!

[@dragon28022000]

You did amazing job. Thank you so much, I was stuck a while on all these interconnections on the map.

[@GoldenWarrior35]

This is really good video, I´m surprised with how in-depth it is, keep up the good work!

[@geladaas9879]

Excellent! Thank you very much. Every time I think I appreciate Miyazaki´s games enough, a video like this comes around and makes me respect them even more.

[@neamraven]

Love this video. Most of the things shown here are things I looked at myself while I was playing the game. I love to study maps during gameplay, too see how the world connects and how different landmarks look from other landmarks. So I would stay on top of tall structures, looking at the lay of the land, travel through the world multiple times using the idols and on foot, to see how things connect and where they begin and end. I also looked at the antique map to see if it matches, and I did make sure to note where all the landmarks were in relation to one another. For instance, I would look to see if a certain landmark is visible and in the same spot when viewed from two other landmarks. And that's how I noticed the fountainhead palace looked a bit weird from Mt. Kongo. Not surprised it's a completely different model. What's new information for me, because I was only studying the map while playing the game on PS4 with no external tools, is the fact that they stretched Ashina Castle to make it taller in the distance! Did not notice that. I also failed to notice the lack of the sunken valley when you look down from Moonview Tower. Mibu Village I always figured made sense to be obscured because it's so low and it's a magical place almost in its own perpetually dark dimension. Similar case with fountainhead palace. Anyway, this is a cool video to watch after doing my own research, seeing how right or wrong I was and what I'd missed!

[@BillySYT]

I never realized the poison pool wasn't actually a cavern - Absolutely blew my mind, but it makes so much sense! Absolutely love people who are into world layouts, it's such an underrated part of video games that I adore!

[@huyhungle1205]

Very informative video. Thanks to it, I now learn about the bodies buried under the lake of the Mibu Village. Wonderful stuff. Thanks for uploading.

[@machera889]

Thanks for doing the work on this, great video

[@impromptu3155]

You've done what I've always wanted to do but haven't been able to, and couldn't find anywhere else. I loved every second of this video. Thank you!

[@BdFln_uzilya]

16:05 you get my like because of that music alone

[@Legoshilover87]

Man this is the exact video I needed to see if there was a way to see fountainhead palace from the ashina castle lookout. They must’ve blocked some stuff out of the main map for optimization or something.

[@PhilipOlesen]

Thank you for this interesting dissextion. Very impressive for a first video!

[@ludocast8514]

So precious. Thank you my friend.

[@Kaiwala]

This video is so incredibly well put together for your first! I too have been itching to see this map broken down and you managed to hit all my burning questions and then some. I even like how you brought up the day / evening / night cycle, as I have done playthroughs of Sekiro where I do each area in different orders to see what places look like at different times of day! Did you know that if you beat Genichiro and then go back to the first chasm where you hide from the giant snake, the lighting of the evening sky makes it so that the beginning of the game is noticeably visible near the palanquin as the sun creeps through the giant rocks nearby! Souls games have always had such great spatial worldbuilding and Sekiro doesn't disappoint. Seriously though, great video! I like the Zullie the witch shoutout, I like that you mention airswimming, and honestly the only thing I wished you would have shown was the view of where Mibu village *would* be from Fountainhead palace using the map editor. I'll definitely be subscribing though!

[@anegg2090]

I know the name of the door is the shinobi door, but I think the kuros room door is to explain how emma could travel from the temple to the castle. Because to get out of the temple you need to use the shinobi arm.

[@jackofallfades2656]

Great breakdown mate. Thank you for your efforts.

[@bajscast]

Amazing and underrated video. I really wish they used less fog to obscure things like the sunken valley poison pool connection. Stuff like that wouldve really evoked dark souls 1 to me in the map design, which it definitely is closest to in practice, just more visibility would make that clear

[@agxryt]

Coming back to this cuz sekiro is still as magical as ever. I had never noticed the fountainhead spiral in game before this, very grateful. I remember when I first played Sekiro, I went on a hunt to find the inspiration for the sunken valley and MIbu village. Takachiho Gorge seems very sunken Valley to me

[@hollandscottthomas]

I did see a video where it was possible to jump all the way from part of the castle map down into the depths and do an airborne strike on one of the white chimps down there. I dunno if they modded the killbox off cos I didn’t try it myself, but you can search for the highest jump in Sekiro to find the clip!

[@Mammothina]

Oh the „fuck that monkey in particular“ video

[@banukaii]

This is a really well put together analysis!

[@Dabombster342]

I can't believe that this was your first ever video, it was so well done!

[@velioona9835]

an amazing video that deserve more. good job!👍👍👍

[@Schbevenant]

Using the snake as a ruler was really smart and funny to see haha. Also, the guardian ape soothing its wound where the fountainhead's waters end was a really cool detail to learn! I always thought that it was just hanging awkwardly at that wall because it didn't have the strength to climb it, but now we know!

[@ryanrobby2]

Great video! Can't believe this was your first one, the quality is so good. Love finding out about stuff like this. It goes to show how much time and care Fromsoft put into creating their worlds.

[@liot_7]

Your videos are so well made wish they got more exposure 😇

[@authenticbaguette6673]

I just wanted to say thank you, thanks a lot. I have completed this game more times than I can count, and this was an absolute treat. If you see this, please have a nice day :D

[@adra420]

this looks so fun and detailed!! thanks for the effort!

[@shadow32j]

amazing work, I hope you're proud of this masterpiece. Also 6:00 I would love a video like that, hope you cover it in the future

[@edward__2632]

incredibly well made for a first video, deserves more view and it's a crime i haven't been reccomended this lol

[@halahanthefan1599]

I always found the world layout of Sekiro to be particularly hard to commit to memory compared to other fromsoft games. Very cool and well made video!

[@ShubhamKumar-co9lv]

Great video, bro. I was looking for this.

[@mucicafrajer]

Awesome, extremely underviewed

[@krameraad]

great video. It was very satisfiying to see the connection from the great serpent cave to the poison pool. That was a mindblowing moment when I first played

[@therandomheretek5403]

When you broke out the snake ruler I lost it. great video, thx.

[@smeerdonder]

great video especially for your first one, i couldnt contain my laughter when you used the snake for scale xD

[@thegondola9877]

Great video, and my only complaint is a minor quibble but one I feel I should mention nonetheless in the interest of providing accurate information: please consult with someone on the japanese readings before you provide a transliteration. I can forgive rendering "Mibu" as "suisei" in the case of Mibu Village, as it's highly irregular. However, the reading for 寺 as "ji" rather than "tera" in the case of Senpou Temple is bog standard, and anyone who knows the language would have picked that up. I really appreciate the initiative to make this sort of video where there wasn't one before, and I would be remiss if I didn't say that the overall the standard of quality is very high and I appreciate your effort.

[@addypalooza]

Thank you for the feedback, it is appreciated! I hate getting stuff wrong, I'll definitely try to do better in the future 😅

[@PikkelP]

I want to add something here: ("ō" is also written as "ou," which I'm doing here, since it's easier to type.) The kanji for Ashina Castle (葦名城) should be "Ashina-jou," which means "Ashina Castle," not "ashi meijou," which means something like "common reed famous castle" and doesn't make sense in context. The middle kanji 名 can be read as "na" or "mei." The crux here is if the 名 belongs to the first or second kanji, with the other one being added later. Combining the second and third kanji first would give us 名城 (meijou - famous castle), and leaves over 葦 (ashi - common reed). But in this case, it's a compound word made from the name 葦名 (Ashina) and 城 (jou - castle), which makes a lot more sense. I'm still learning Japanese, but I think with context, this should be more accurate. 城 can also be read as shiro, but I think jou is correct in this case (like real world Ōsaka-jō - Osaka Castle). Other than that, the actual content of the video is really interesting. Thank you for making this, @addypalooza!

[@Lernos1]

@@addypalooza On that note, Gyoubu is not pronounced as "djiobu". It's more like gh-yo-bu. I mean, the man says it himself. Loudly. How could you forget? :D MYYYYYYYYYYYYYY NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME--

[@guilhermemoro4706]

What?? The Ape is healing his wounds in the healing waters?? Thats such a cool detail

[@jackofallfades2656]

Although it may have been for loading purposes, entering the buddhist village before mibu, the lone remaining monk explains that mibu is shrouded by fog by the fountainhead man in the temple below which would explain why it appears invisible from above. That being said i dont believe you see mibu from upper maps even after killing that chump.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Sekiro is the game that, by far, required multiple attempts to beat bosses on my part. It is said that one's first "soulslike" (i mislike the term but it is typically well understood) is one's hardest. Mine own first was DS3 and i did struggle with it because I had never experienced a game that did so little hand holding. Once I got to Farron Keep, I had a firm grasp on my options and i adjusted to DS1, BB and DS2 pretty well. With Sekiro it was like an anime training montage, full of grinding failure until I became a warrior

[@cjr2718]

ive been waiting for this video 5 years，thank u！

[@LandLand7228]

Im always looking for obscure and unnecessary Sekiro content. This video is amazing

[@wizardsweetflips59]

This video is badass. Great work my dude.

[@buff_old_man]

Great job! That's exactly what I was looking for at 5 am because I couldn't fall asleep

[@embargovenom9948]

I love this sort of videos. Thanks for making it. : )

[@Pratanjali64]

Thank you for making this! May I suggest that you change the thumbnail to show the 3D map? Only I almost didn't click on the video because the map you currently have as the thumbnail is the "old" map that I'd already found.

[@addypalooza]

That's a great idea, I'll see what I can do about it. Thanks for the feedback!