GAMES

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action-adventure game developed by FromSoftware and published in 2019 that won several awards, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019. The game follows a shinobi known as Wolf, who attempts to take revenge on a samurai clan that imprisoned him and kidnapped his lord. As a gamer unfamiliar with the Souls series, saying this game was hard to play is probably an understatement. The gameplay focuses on exploring, ninja movements, and combat but especially emphasizes extremely difficult boss battles. But its greatest achievement possibly lies in its aesthetics; it takes place in a fictionalized Japan during the Sengoku period and strongly references Buddhist mythology and philosophy. Likely due to these strong cultural references, the game presented many challenging aspects to be adapted to different languages, and players had many different opinions on its localization. This article will explore the dynamic localization challenges presented in Sekiro from the perspective of both a player and a localization professional.

What’s in a name?

The first interesting fact about the localization of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the game’s title. The name Sekiro (隻狼) is comprised of two kanji. The first kanji, Seki (隻), refers to one part of a pair and is likely a shortening of Sekiwan (隻腕), meaning one arm or a one-armed person. The second kanji, Rō (狼), means wolf. So, the name of the main character, Sekiro, means “one-armed wolf,” which mirrors his traits: He lost an arm and is like a wolf. As for the subtitle “Shadows Die Twice,” “Shadows” is a metaphor for the essence of the ninja, and “Die Twice” signifies both the unique revival system in this game, as well as a warning to the player that they will likely die often (being on the other side of the controller, I can confirm this). Unfortunately, many of the intentions behind these names are lost to international players, and we are left with adaptations that either don’t carry any meaning or that carry some meaning, but information is omitted.

One of the most talked about name adaptations was for the boss “The Guardian Ape,” which I learned in Japanese is called 獅子猿 [shishizaru] and means Lion-Monkey. Fans have shared some disappointment at the fact that the name doesn’t follow the original’s meaning, as the term “Guardian” in the English name might give the wrong impression that the boss was actually placed there to guard the Lotus. The version in Spanish is a literal translation of the English: “Simio guardián.”

This is just one example of several that are addressed online by players, who felt some of the name adaptations fell short. There can be many reasons why the adaptations were done the way they were, but one factor to consider is space limitations, which can be a challenge for some languages where the target text will often need more space than what’s available in the UI.

Using English as a source language

Like many games originally developed in Japanese, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is not exempt from the typical localization challenges seen throughout gameplay, many of which are linked to cultural aspects relevant to different markets. Although in this case, the challenges seem to multiply due to the large number of references to historical periods and mythological characters. Given that, in many cases, the localizations into different languages are made using the English translation version as source text, it is to be expected that these issues are replicated in other languages. Although to a Spanish-speaking player like me, these details might not be immediately obvious — even if some of the names sound a bit intriguing — the best evidence of these possible localization issues is that players who understand both English and Japanese developed their own mod (currently available at Nexus Mods). The mod’s developers argue that the reason many Western players report that the story doesn’t make sense (despite how much they appreciate the game’s aesthetics and mechanics) is due to these details.

Providing a different localized version

Among the examples the mod developers worked on, there are fixes to mistranslations. One that stood out to players is the example below, where a dying character talks about being attacked by a giant monster. The English version is mistranslated here: The translation reads “my neck” instead of “its head.”

Additionally, the mod includes grammar changes; the mod’s creators feature dialogue with a completely different meaning. This leads one to suspect that some issues go beyond cultural factors. Given the fanaticism surrounding a very successful IP and the discussion presented by the mod developers, this could be a case of actual issues in the localization stage mixed with many subjective preferences of the players.

Nevertheless, there are more cultural, historical, or mythological details to consider. Among the examples, the mod developers mention that although all shinobi have animal names, in one case the developers decided to use “Lady Butterfly” when in fact, it refers to a species of real butterfly (phantom butterfly). In another case, the translation refers to a dragon as “Divine Dragon,” when in the story, there is a relationship between the dragon and the sakura tree (the famous Japanese cherry tree); that relationship, according to the creators of the mod, should not be lost in translation.

In what is perhaps the best example, the mention of a palace in which they use a character that refers to both a water fountain and a powerful clan in Japanese history, the original version uses “Fountainhead Palace.” The reference to this clan is largely reflected in the architecture of the palace, so the historical reference, the period, and the relation to the architectural aspects are lost by ignoring the explicit reference to the clan in the name of the palace.

Communication and collaboration as key ingredients to localization

Something worth highlighting about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is that the game has received praise for its English dubbing. I personally played the game in Japanese with Spanish subtitles, which were done in European Spanish. As a Latin American player, I would have loved to see a version for the Latin American market, as the European Spanish version seems disruptive and hindered my gaming immersion.

Overall, I believe the localization work of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was a massive endeavor for the localization team and one to be celebrated, given the large number of archaic words and cultural and historical references. The mixed reviews surrounding the localization could be due to how different factors in the development phase can be affected by the lack of involvement of the localization team. The developers took great care in portraying aspects of Japanese history and culture in beautiful detail, but unfortunately, this immersive experience was sometimes lost in other languages. While some details may be idiosyncratic, their interaction with story elements could lead to the story not making sense to Western players.

Localization as an after-thought

When localizing a game that is rich in culturally specific references and details, it is imperative that language experts be involved from the very beginning. From the perspective of a localization professional, being involved in the design and production phase avoids rushing the process and produces a more impactful result. In one interview done by one of the localization team members who worked on the Japanese-to-English adaptation, he mentioned that the project was done in a very short time span, which I believe deserves extra kudos. However, by getting localization involved earlier, these mixed reviews in the Western market would have been avoided in a game that, unlike others developed in Japan for which the global market is their secondary market, was primarily aimed at global players.

And since Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s theme is ninjas, I believe a quote by Etgar Keret is a fitting ending: “Translators are like ninjas. If you notice them, they’re no good.” Perhaps noticing translators more is actually just the ingredient that game developers might need to continue to succeed in different markets and win over international players.