Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has a lot of content and some of it can get quite overwhelming at times. There are so many little things hidden in the game that it is almost impossible to notice them through your first play through. As the game has multiple endings, this means that the chances of you getting a good ending on your first run are pretty low. The game does not really do a good job at telling players what to do in order to get a relatively good ending either.
Being a From Software game, Sekiro is an extremely challenging game. It can be quite heart breaking when you work so hard to finish the game only to get a bad ending. However, you don’t have to bow down to the gods of Soulsborne punishment. We have the perfect guide for you here. Just follow these steps and you’ll get the best ending Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has to offer.
The Return Ending
Arguably, the best ending you can get in Sekiro is called The Return Ending. Subsequently, this is also the hardest one to get. All of the steps required for this have to be completed before defeating the Divine Dragon as some of the things get locked out after that fight. So, let’s begin.
Start off by completing the Senpou Temple area. At the end of the area before the Genichiro fight, talk to the Temple leader in front of the large Buddha statue. Get the Holy Chapter: Infested Text from him and go to the Inner Sanctum with it. (If you’ve already defeated Genichiro, you can find the text in a pond in Temple grounds. Get the underwater diving ability by defeating the Corrupted Monk to get the text in that case).
Once you’re in the Inner Sanctum, you’ll meet the Divine Child and eat the rice she offers. You can also give it to the Old Woman. The goal here is just to tire the Divine Child out. This can be done by taking a couple of batches of rice from her. Doing this will trigger her to ask for a persimmon which you can buy from the Memorial Mob Merchant in Shugendo near Senpou. You can also get a persimmon by killing enemies in the Senpou Temple area. Talk to the Divine Child again after giving her the Persimmon and she’ll give you even more rice. If you keep talking to her, she’ll eventually give you rice for Kuro.
Give the rice to Kuro and get the rice ball in return from him. Go back to the Inner Sanctum to find out the Child has gone. After that, go to the Hall of Illusion and talk to her. She’ll tell you about another text to be retrieved from the leader of the Senpou Temple. Go inside the cave behind the temple and drop down. Turn back and swim underneath the wall from which you just dropped down. Going down the path will lead you to skeletal monks. Retrieve the text from the monk wearing brighter clothes and bring it back to the Divine Child. Rest up and talk to her now.
The Divine Child will tell you to get two fruits from the Great Serpent. You need to earn the Puppeteer Ninjutsu kill to get the fruits. Go to the entrance to the Abandoned Dungeon at Senpou Temple where Kotaro is. You’ll find a crank with a kite if you head down and turn right from the entrance. There will also be a short round hat Senpou Assassin there. Make him crank the kite by using the Puppeteer skill on him. Climb up to the mountain now with the massive tree and grapple on to the kite.
Face towards the mountain you just came from and climb down to the left side where the snake-skin is hanging from the trees. You’ll find the entrance to a cave alongside a Sculptor’s idol. Going through will lead you to a wooden beam to walk onto. Look down from the beam and deathblow the Great Serpent to get the Fresh Fruit. Now, move to the Sunken Valley to retrieve the Dried Fruit. Go to the snowy mountains from the Riven Cave Sculptor’s idol and jump down when you see the statues. Grapple on to a tree below and head towards the valley to the right.
You’ll now be at the cave entrance that leads to the merchant. Move through the cave until you reach the Giant Serpent. Hug the stone pillar and drop yourself on the left side of that place away from the serpent. After moving for a little while, you’ll encounter a monkey here that you need to backstab with the Puppeteer kill. The monkey will then distract the snake giving you a chance to grapple and enter the temple. You’ll find the Dried fruit inside this temple.
Go back to the Inner Sanctum and give the fruits to the Divine Child. Rest once or twice while checking the door in between until the Child gives you the Frozen Dragon Tear. Take the tear and complete the game normally going through the usual stuff. After the Silvergrass field fight, you’ll be prompted to use the Frozen Dragon Tear. Do it and you’ll unlock the Return Ending. This is arguably the best ending you can get in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and there is nothing more satisfying than getting this ending.
To unlock all the other endings in the game, see this handy guide!