Attacking

The standard Attack is the most basic way to for a Shinobi to engage an opponent. Landing attacks, whether they're blocked or not, will increase an opponent's Posture meter. If they do not block, then the attack will inflict both Posture and Vitality damage.

Deflection and Posture

When facing an enemy, your goal is to break his Posture, or his fighting stance. The main ways to break an enemy's Posture are to attack him and deflect his attacks by pressing the guard button the moment before a blow lands. In some cases, you may need to deflect multiple attacks in a row before you can land a counterattack. If your enemy's Posture is broken, he will momentarily become exposed to a Deathblow.

Postures are indicated by a bar above the enemy or below your character. The coloration of the bar expands as Posture gets closer to breaking.

An enemy's Vitality is tied to how fast his Posture recovers – the lower the Vitality, the slower the Posture recovery. Some enemies have very fast Posture recovery. In these cases, the optimal way to defeat them is to first focus on reducing their Vitality then focus on breaking their Posture.

Guard

Players can hold down the Guard button to defend against enemy attacks, but will take more Posture damage than they would from deflecting the attacks.

Shinobi Deathblows

The Wolf's finishing moves are called Shinobi Deathblows. The opportunity to deliver a Deathblow can be achieved by continuously attacking an enemy to break his Posture or by deflecting an incoming attack that causes the enemy to stagger. You will know a Deathblow is available when you see a red marker on your opponent's body.

Press the Attack button near a Posture-broken or unaware enemy to unleash a Deathblow. Deathblows can only be performed for a limited window, so attack quickly.

Deathblow Against Strong Enemies

Some more powerful enemies require multiple Deathblows to be defeated. The number of Deathblows required to kill an enemy is indicated by red markers above the enemy's Vitality bar.

Loss upon Death

Experience toward the next skill point and current sen in hand are halved upon death. Everything lost is gone for good.

Unseen Aid

When one dies without resurrecting, it will result in the loss of experience and sen coins. However, there is a relatively low chance of receiving Unseen Aid, which allows you to keep all of your experience and sen.

If Wolf dies enough times, a sickness known as Dragonrot will begin to afflict the characters he has interacted with, affecting the Wolf's interactions with them. There may also be story consequences when Dragonrot is inflicted on certain characters.

Resurrection

If you are defeated by an enemy, you may see the option to return from the dead by selecting Resurrection. Resurrections cost one charge of Resurrective Power. One charge can only be restored when resting at a Sculptor's Idol. Additional Resurrective Power charges are restored gradually by defeating enemies.

After using Resurrection once, it cannot be used again until enough life has been taken. Performing a Deathblow on a powerful enemy (whether this kills the enemy or not) or killing several weaker enemies is usually enough to make Resurrection available once again.

Remnants

Shinobi can leave behind shadows of their past actions, known as "Remnants".

Vitality is replenished when one's Remnant is praised by another Shinobi.

Remnants can be recorded via the "Recorded Remnants" tab.

Messages can be written to accompany Remnants.