Month: March 2019

After encountering and killing your first Headless in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you’ll likely have felt a wave of exhilaration. But like all great threats, it doesn’t stop at once. That’s right, there’s actually multiple Headless in the game. And if you’ve taken it upon yourself to eliminate every single one, you’re likely going to need help finding them all.

Below we detail the locations of each of the Headless, but if you’d like more a visual reference, refer to our guide video above (coming soon). We also highlight the rewards you get upon successfully vanquishing them. However, if you need help defeating Headless of any kind, be sure to check out our guide on how to take one down. We’ve also got plenty more guides for Sekiro, including a rundown of where to find every Shinobi Prosthetic, 14 tips to stop dying so much, and how to beat the Chained Ogre, Jozou the Drunkard, and the Blazing Bull.

Ashina Outskirts

This is probably the first Headless you’ll meet; there are two ways to get to it. The Ashina Outskirts Stairway Sculptor’s Idol will take you down one of these paths, past the Chained Ogre, and into the Pit area where you can normally press onward towards the Underbridge Valley. Instead of going this direction, take a right where you’ll notice the cryptic sign pinned to a wall. Grapple ahead onto a few tree branches overlooking the cliff and you’ll see an area with markings indicating there is a ledge you can grip onto. Jump down from your branch and land on the ledge and shimmy your way over to solid ground. You’ll find a tunnel that you need to crouch through, and the tunnel will grow suspiciously dark where a lone light can be seen that upon closer inspection is the blade of the Headless.

The other route to the same exact Headless starts from the Shugendo Sculptor’s Idol near the Demon Bell in Senpou Temple, which will have you journey past a small tunnel into a building with a burnt outline of a person against the wall. This is actually a secret trap door that you can access by hugging the wall and fitting your character into the outline which will grant you passage into a dark tunnel into the Ashina Outskirts. If you have this idol unlocked, this path may be the quicker option if you need to attempt the mini-boss multiple times.

Reward: Ako’s Spiritfall – “Fallen headless spirit of Ako that increases Vitality and Posture Damage for a time, Consume Spirit Emblems to use repeatedly. Headless are the ruined form of corrupted heroes who once fought for their country. Seize the power of an inhuman spirit by laying it to rest, but risk going quite mad unless something is offered in return.”

Ashina Depths

This Headless is located in the Ashina Depths and is hidden by the mist. We suggest taking this one on after you’ve defeated the Mist Noble boss, which clears the area of any spirits and mist, allowing you to focus solely on the Headless. To get to it, simply grapple from the buddha statue and drop below to the Hidden Forest.

Reward: Gachiin’s Spiritfall – “Fallen, headless spirit of Gachiin. Suppresses sound and presence, making the user harder to detect, Consume Spirit Emblems for use repeatedly. Headless are ruined form of corrupted heroes who once fought for their country. “I’m falling to pieces,” said the man to himself, drifting deep into the forest.”

Ashina Castle Tower Lookout

First and foremost, this Headless requires the Mibu Breathing Technique Latent Skill to reach. You can find this one by going near a pool of water close to a bridge by the Old Grave Idol. Dive underwater and you’ll be lead right to it.

Reward: Ungo’s Spiritfall – “Fallen headless spirit of Ungo that reduces Vitality damage taken from physical attacks. Consume Spirit Emblems for use repeatedly. Headless are ruined form of corrupted heroes who once fought for their country. This warrior lost his mind in defense of the state. His attempted mutiny was met with a swift beheading, and the lifeless body sunk to the bottom of the moat.”

Sunken Valley

From the Under-Shrine Valley Sculptor’s Idol you will want to grapple across a chasm that you will see, and continue through some platforming before needing to hug a wall and gradually make your way across the corresponding ledge. Next to that you’ll find a small pool of water that you can dive into that’ll lead you to a cave to a Headless. It should be noted that to fight this particular Headless also requires the Mibu Breathing Technique Latent Skill.

Reward: Gokan’s Spiritfall – “Fallen, headless spirit of Gokan. Reduces posture damage taken for a time. Consume Spirit Emblems for use repeatedly. Headless are ruined form of corrupted heroes who once fought for their country. Dedicated burial mounds quietly appease the spirits with several heads, though none call upon them for long.”

Fountainhead Palace

This last Headless location is in the Fountainhead Palace, and there’s actually two. You can find them them near the big pool of water past the Flowerhead Sculptor’s Idol. One may even appear to be a bit more non ethereal, and in our experience, killing the non-ethereal Headless first caused the second to disappear, so we suggest prioritizing that one.

Reward: Yashariku’s Spirtfall – “Fallen Headless spirit of Yashariku. Briefly sacrifice max Vitality and Posture while gaining a large Attack Power Boost. Consume Spirit Emblems to use repeatedly. Headless are ruined form of corrupted heroes who once fought for their country. This brave soul’s twin was lost in utero. He may not have fallen to the palace nobles had his sibling been at his side…”

To those who did not heed the cryptic warning near the Underbridge Valley of the Ashina Outskirts in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you probably found yourself in for quite the surprise. The notorious and enigmatic mini-boss known as the Headless makes its home in a nearby cave and the first time you clash swords with him might have left you feeling dejected and possibly outright confused.

If you’re eager to test your mettle against this mini-boss, we’ve got all the tips you need in this handy guide. We’ve also got plenty more guides for Sekiro, including a rundown of where to find every Shinobi Prosthetic, 14 tips to stop dying so much, and how to beat the Chained Ogre, Jozou the Drunkard, and the Blazing Bull.

How To Beat A Headless

The hardest yet most satisfying way to defeat a Headless is to parry all his attacks. However, he’s a bit more tricky because some of his moves are slower than most enemies, and it’s difficult to dodge or maneuver to run around with the fog that manifests around him.

The best way to defeat a Headless is to use Divine Confetti, which greatly stacks their posture. It can even break the fog spell if you hit him enough times; though, it will recast fog after a time. Of course, Divine Confetti is somewhat of a limited commodity, so make sure to use them wisely. We recommend taking out the Headless’ first life bar normally and then using Divine Confetti to easily destroy their second life bar.

Understanding a Headless’ various attacks is key to dispatching them, but its surprise attack after performing a big sweeping attack can be a nuisance. The best advice we can give is to try not to get trapped in a corner after the Headless performs a sweep or it’ll be tough to escape its devastating rear attack; as long as you’re facing in the direction it’s coming from, it won’t be able to grab you. Another method to deal with this is jumping away after its sweep in order to give yourself some distance and time to reorient and prepare.

One final tip would be to have Pacifying Agents on hand or to make sure to buy the Mottled Purple Gourd, which helps reduce terror build up and also helps remove terror–a status ailment that likely killed you the first time you tried doing this all by yourself. These items can be purchased from the merchant near the Mibu Village Sculptor’s Idol.

How To Defeat Underwater Headless

This might sound ridiculous, but there are Headless you can fight underwater too. Don’t be intimidated by them, as they’re actually quite easy to defeat compared to their landlocked brethren. Simply watch out for its two ranged attacks–one being a wave projectile and the other homing missile-like projectiles. When you see these coming at you, sprint swim to get in close to do some damage. Again, Mottled Purple Gourd or Pacifying Agents are helpful in preventing Terror.

Watch out for the one big sweeping attack it does, which is followed up by a big vacuum vortex it charges up that can wreck you pretty bad. But won’t worry, this attack is pretty easy to avoid and it’s actually a great opening for you to inflict a good three to four swings. With only one life bar to deplete, the underwater Headless should be no problem for you, especially if you’ve already mastered defeating normal Headless.

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1. So What’s The Twist?

So let’s start from the end, with that doozy of a twist. At the beginning of the movie, the audience learns that when she was a little girl, Adelaide went into a house of mirrors at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Inside, she met her Tethered doppelganger–an experience that apparently left her traumatized and unable to speak.

What we learn at the end of the film is that Adelaide actually switched places with her doppelganger that evening in 1986. The doppelganger, named Red, choked Adelaide until she was unconscious, dragged her down to the underground, and handcuffed her to a bed. She then switched clothes and took her place above ground.

That means that for the entire film, the woman we thought was Adelaide was actually Red, and vice versa. It complicates our sympathies of both women, and deepens the film’s theme of “us versus them.” It turns out there was nothing inherently inferior about the Tethered. The proof is that once someone from below ground was given chances, artistic outlets, and language to express herself, she blended in perfectly on the surface. The only thing that separates those who have a lot from those who have little is opportunity.

Bearing that twist in mind, what follows are several moments from the movie that are now loaded with double meaning.

Despite the gaming industry’s growth, we’ve seen numerous companies lay off employees of late, including significant ones at Activision Blizzard. Electronic Arts is the next company to confirm layoffs of its own, announcing today that about 350 people are losing their jobs.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson delivered the news via the company’s official website. “Today we took some important steps as a company to address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead,” Wilson said. Of the company’s roughly 9,000 employees, 350 people across the company’s marketing, publishing, and operations teams will lose their jobs. This also includes operations in Japan and Russia, where the company is “ramping down our current presence [to] focus on different ways to serve our players in those markets.”

You can read his full statement below:

“Today we took some important steps as a company to address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead. As we look across a changing world around us, it’s clear that we must change with it. We’re making deliberate moves to better deliver on our commitments, refine our organization and meet the needs of our players. As part of this, we have made changes to our marketing and publishing organization, our operations teams, and we are ramping down our current presence in Japan and Russia as we focus on different ways to serve our players in those markets. In addition to organizational changes, we are deeply focused on increasing quality in our games and services. Great games will continue to be at the core of everything we do, and we are thinking differently about how to amaze and inspire our players.

“This is a difficult day. The changes we’re making today will impact about 350 roles in our 9,000-person company. These are important but very hard decisions, and we do not take them lightly. We are friends and colleagues at EA, we appreciate and value everyone’s contributions, and we are doing everything we can to ensure we are looking after our people to help them through this period to find their next opportunity. This is our top priority.”

Rockstar has rolled out another new batch of content for Red Dead Redemption 2‘s multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online. Ahead of the major update that’s coming later this spring, the developer has added an assortment of new clothing options to the game, along with a new competitive mode: Target Races.

Rockstar describes Target Races as “a fast-paced mix of marksmanship, strategy, and horse-riding skills.” Players begin each race equipped with a bow and arrow, with the object being to shoot targets as you dash through the track. Along the way, you’ll also be able to pick up guns with limited ammo and other power-ups, which you can use to shoot the targets or other players.

In addition to standard Target Races, PS4 players now have early access to Open Target Races. This variation has you racing about an open environment shooting targets. These can be picked off in any order, and once you’ve hit all of them, you’ll race against the other players in a mad dash to the finish. Thanks to Rockstar’s timed exclusivity agreement with Sony, Open Target Races are only available on PS4 right now, but they’ll come to the Xbox One version next month.

On top of the new modes, Rockstar is giving players 20% more XP in all activities this week, while all horse care items are 25% off. The developer has also added a new selection of clothes to purchase. The full list includes:

• Morning Tail Coat
• Strickland Boots
• Bowyer Boots (Female only)
• Furred Gloves

Rockstar has more new content in the pipeline for Red Dead Online this year, including two more Showdown modes called Up in Smoke and Plunder. On top of that, the developer will add a hostility system to help combat griefing this spring, as well as new Land of Opportunities missions, more Free Roam missions, dynamic events such as ambushes and rescues, and more

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Bethesda has rolled out the second big update of Fallout 76‘s Wild Appalachia expansion. Patch 7.5 is now live across PS4, Xbox One, and PC, bringing the long-awaited Survival PvP mode–along with some other gameplay changes–to the online RPG.

As previously detailed, Survival is a more competitive PvP experience, removing all the restrictions that typically govern PvP encounters in Fallout 76. Now when you boot up the game, you’ll be presented with the option to dive into either it or Adventure mode (the standard Fallout 76 experience). Regardless of which you choose, the story and content will remain the same, and your progress will carry over between modes, but the stakes in Survival will be much higher.

In particular, PvP encounters have a lot more on the line in Survival mode. You’ll be able to attack other players freely, and you’ll earn twice as many Caps for killing someone else as you would in Adventure. If you’re on the receiving end, however, you’ll drop all of your junk and a random assortment of the aid items you were carrying. Bethesda has also removed the “Seek Revenge” respawn option, although you will be able to spend your Caps to place a bounty on your killer, which will make them appear as “wanted” to other players.

To go along with this increased emphasis on PvP, Bethesda has tweaked some gameplay elements. Most notably, you’ll only be able to respawn at your CAMP, or at Fallout 76 or train stations. The developer says it has also adjusted PvP damage “to make weapons feel even more deadly in your hands, while also limiting the likelihood that another dweller can drop you in one hit.”

You can read the full patch notes for the 7.5 update on Bethesda’s website. The developer has many more updates planned for Fallout 76. Next month, it will introduce player vending and the Shear Terror questline, while May will bring the Legendary vendor. You can read more about Fallout 76’s roadmap here.

If you’re excited about the new upcoming games and updates announced yesterday during Sony’s State of Play livestream, we feel you; luckily, the PlayStation Store has a ton of great deals available to keep you busy in the meantime. The Great Indoors Sale went live on March 15 and features huge discounts on critically acclaimed games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as well as literally hundreds of other titles. And if you’re a PS Plus member, the discounts will be even greater. The Great Indoors Sale comes to an end this Friday, March 29 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, so be sure to pick up anything you’ve been eyeing before then.

It’s also a special week for Elder Scrolls fans–the series is celebrating its 25th anniversary since the release of its first title, Arena, in 1994. Bethesda is honoring the date with major discounts on Elder Scrolls games this week, and both the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store are participating. In PSN, the offerings include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Special Edition ($24) and its VR version ($39), along with The Elder Scrolls Online ($10) and two DLC options: the Summerset Upgrade ($12) and Summerset Collector’s Edition Upgrade ($21). And FYI, you can also download The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for free on PC this week through Sunday, March 31.

Aside from these two particular sales, there are plenty of other worthwhile game deals in PSN right now, including Battlefield V, which is 50% off to celebrate the release of its battle royale mode, Firestorm. Its standard edition is selling for just $30 until April 3 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is marked down 85%; instead of $30, you’ll pay just $4.49. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20-Year Celebration, which has been enhanced for the PS4 Pro and includes VR content, is 80% off; you can get it for $12. These regular weekly deals will end April 2 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET.

Shop PSN’s weekly game deals (ends Tuesday, April 2) »

See more of our picks below.

Great Indoors Sale (ends Friday, March 29) »