Demo Walkthrough — Every Step of the Trial Version

The trial version walks you through the opening of Kiyomizu-dera with nearly every combat tutorial in the game. This run covers all three sections: the road to the first red thread, the second gate, and the stage boss.

Opening and the Road to the First Thread

Head up the path until a villager being chased triggers the deflect tutorial — win the fight and continue. Two more lessons follow in sequence: perfect-dodge (and its chain-slash follow-up), then the parry. Each tutorial spawns a single practice enemy right ahead of you.

Next comes a mixed pack: two melee enemies and one ranged. Use the focus button to lock on, and remember you can switch targets mid-fight. Four more enemies follow; after them, grab the small guardian talisman nearby. Along the path edges you'll find hozuki lanterns — your basic healing pickups — and later, on a raised platform, the small divine-strength talisman.

At the path's end sits the save mirror: interact to heal, rearrange consumables, and save. Approach the black souls ahead for a cutscene, then take the stairs on the right to the hidden door.

The Detection tutorial fires here — sweep to reveal what's hidden. The gate is wrapped in a huge red thread; follow it and cut down the creature at its end to open the way.

The Second Red Thread

Inside, turn right and walk to the end for a small regeneration pill. Up the stone steps a new enemy type debuts alongside the blade-clash tutorial. Past it: an archer to drop, another regeneration pill, then three jar-shaped enemies and a house with one more enemy and one more pill.

At the sealed door, use Detection and follow the thread — it runs left of the gate, straight through a house. Kill the creature at its end, notice the thread continuing through the building, and double back: a few mobs, a red hand inside the side house to sever, and small Evil-Warding Medicine inside.

Follow the second thread from the hidden door — the previously blocked route is now open. Inside triggers the stealth-kill tutorial; two doors in the house hide a small soul crystal. Cut the door lock and face a crowd.

Clear them all, enter the cave, sever the thread's source — and the chest inside holds the first Oni Armament: The Two Celestials twin blades.

Exiting the cave, an elite jumps in: more aggressive than mobs, fond of two-handed combos. Block-and-attack answers it; it drops blue souls, which charge the Oni Power gauge for armament use. On the way back you'll get the grab-attack tutorial, plus a divine-strength talisman and guardian talisman.

The Stage: Sasaki Ganryu

Return to the sealed gate — open now. Activate the save mirror, heal, save, and enter the stage for the black-soul cutscene. Then the demo's final boss: Sasaki Ganryu.

He's gentle by future standards: short moveset, low damage. Use everything the tutorials taught, and spend Oni Power on the armament whenever the five-slot gauge fills. Break his posture bar for the execution tutorial. Below 50% health he changes up, gets more aggressive, and his red bar lengthens — but nothing a patient, non-greedy approach can't handle.

Win, and the demo's cleared. Keep the clear-save in its own slot — and if you want to re-challenge the boss on that file, don't overwrite it.

The retail game picks up right here — continue with the Prologue walkthrough and the full Kiyomizu-dera chapter.