Before reading; there may be errors and missing data, I will try to update this post over time. Feel free to direct any corrections or criticism in a message to me on site or at holm_gg on Discord. I encourage you to seek help on the Sekiro Speedrun Discord server if you have questions regarding speedrunning, you'll receive better help there than anywhere else.

TL;DR

Use current patch(1.06), 1.05 or 1.04 for Glitchless, Restricted and Unrestricted. 1.04, 1.05 and 1.06 are practically the same. No Airswim is played on 1.02 because the Early Monkeys Glitch was patched. Full details below.

PC vs Console

Sekiro is officially available on the following 3 platforms: PC, Xbox and Playstation. On PC the game can only be played through Steam. On Xbox or Playstation you can either buy a virtual copy in the console's built-in store or you can buy a physical disc. If the game is installed or installing and has connection to the internet, it will likely either force you or ask you if you want to update to the latest version, which is 1.06 for all versions and platforms. The game version can be seen on the main menu. On PC, you can also see the version by right clicking on the sekiro.exe in its folder and checking under properties (it should say 1.6.0.0 for current patch).

The console and PC versions are totally identical except for 2 things: Firstly, PS4 and Xbox1 are capped at 30fps, while PC and newer consoles are capped at 60fps. The FPS differences can sometimes lead to gameplay differences, a detailed section about that is available later in this post. Secondly, the old consoles have disc versions, which have an earlier "pre-load" patch than virtual copies of the game. There is no disc version for the PC.

Preload Patch

The physical disc copies of the game were shipped to shops ahead of the game's release and were pre-loaded with an earlier version of the game. This version is referred to as 1.00 and is not available outside of the PS4 and Xbox1 disc copies (they can also be played on newer consoles that have backwards compatibility). The virtual versions also had a preload patch, however these were made ready for download only a few days before release, when no new changes were needed. This preload patch is identical to the day one release patch, except for the fact that the preload doesn't have a working .exe file. A preload patch exists so that the game can be downloaded early and played on day one without having to sit and wait for a long installation. Instead only a smaller update needs to take place to make the game playable (add in the .exe).

Oldest Playable Version

The oldest playable version for PC and for virtual copies of the game on Xbox and Playstation is 1.02, since the preload patch was not playable. The earliest version for disc copies is 1.00, however this patch would for most players have automatically been overwritten by 1.02 if an internet connection was present on the console. There will be a dedicated section for the 1.00 version at the bottom of this post.

Note: there is no 1.01 patch. There likely also exists beta-test versions of the game, but we do not have access to them.

Patch Notes

Preload Patch

• On some platforms, a preload version of the game could be downloaded a couple days before release so that the game could be played immediately on the day of release. The game files are identical to 1.02, except the Sekiro.exe is replaced by an empty placeholder file, preventing you from playing the game early.

1.02 - Day One Patch

• Game is released (Sekiro.exe updated).

1.03 - April 23 2019 (UTC)

• Right-sided Bull Skip patched (Left side version still works and is faster than right side anyways).
• Added a deathplane above the Folding Screen Monkeys arena, patching the Early Monkeys Glitch.
• Added more spawn conditions for the Great Serpent to appear at the Sunken Valley Cavern, patching an old version of Snake Skip that let you go from Senpou to the Serpent's Cave earlier than intended.
• True Monk phase 1 stealth deathblow semi-patched (now requires a precise setup).
• O'rin stealth deathblow semi-patched (now requires a precise setup that involves aggroing her and then fully de-aggroing her first).
• You can no longer prevent Sword Saint Isshin from pulling out his Spear on phase 2.
• Tweaked the AI of the spear soldier near Chained Ogre to be less likely to spot you.
• Mortal Draw combat art vitality and posture damage increased.
• Dragon Flash combat art vitality and posture damage decreased.
• Spiral Cloud Passage combat art vitality and posture damage increased.
• Ashina Cross combat art vitality and posture damage increased.
• Floating Passage combat art vitality and posture damage increased.
• Senpou High Monk combat art posture damage decreased.
• Added a 20 frame lock-out period between certain inputs when menuing (does not affect up, down, left and right inputs).

1.04 - April 26 2019 (UTC)

• Nerfed Blazing Bull's Vitality and Posture.

1.05 - Game of the Year Update - October 28 2020 (UTC)

• Added Remnants and online mode.
• Added Reflections of Strength, Gauntlets of Strength and Inner bosses.
• Added outfit rewards for completing Gauntlets of Strength.
• Added new item and tutorial pop-ups that let the player know when they unlock features from the update.
• An enemy approaching you while you are sitting at an idol, will no longer stand you up from the idol.

1.06 - November 20 2020 (UTC)

• Tweaked the AI of Inner Genichiro's 3rd phase to fix an AI loop exploit.

For Speedrunning

Downpatch guide link: https://www.speedrun.com/sekiro/guides/vjhms

An important thing to note is that savefiles will only work on the same patch as they were created on or newer ones. For example, a savefile created on 1.06 won't work on 1.04, but a savefile created on 1.04 will work on 1.06. If you try to load a savefile that is incompatible with the game version, you will receive an onscreen message similar to this:

In this scenario, you will be locked out of playing the game until you either update the game or delete your save data (check downpatching guide). Reminder that you can just simply move your save data file to a different folder to save it.

Glitchless and Unrestricted

All glitchless, restricted and unrestricted speedruns are currently ran on 1.04 or 1.06. You would not want to run any of these categories on 1.02 because 1.02 has extremely weak Mortal Draw. You would also not want to run any category that has to fight Bull on 1.03 or below because Blazing Bull has more health/posture.

1.04, 1.05 and 1.06 are very similar, there are only a few small differences between them.

1. On 1.04 and below, enemies approaching you while sitting at an Idol will stand you up from the idol. This saves time in some categories where you want to quickly pick up an idol for later use. However, it can also mess you up if you want to sit at an Idol and immediately use it.
2. On 1.05 and 1.06, there are additional options in the Idol menu. On 1.04, you can buffer an up input when entering an Idol to immediately be on the upgrade attack power option. This is saves a bit of time over the course of the run.
3. On 1.05 and 1.06, there are more pop-ups that need to be skipped before proceeding in certain areas, which loses a bit of time.
4. Some people believe that 1.06 has better responsiveness, especially when using keyboard and mouse, I haven't been able to get any numbers on that. But I can confirm that item menuing is the exact same between 1.04 and 1.06 when using keyboard, specifically. Take this point with a grain of salt.

Most routes play out the same on 1.04, 1.05 and 1.06, so it is generally considered to be personal preference which to use. However, some categories benefit from downpatching to 1.04 for the reasons stated above. The general advice that is given, is that you shouldn't worry too much about downpatching if you're a beginner because the differences are minor. But if you want to, you can.

No Airswim

No Airswim is exclusively ran on 1.02, due to the Early Monkeys Glitch being patched on 1.03. In theory, you could run No Airswim on newer patches, but you won't be able to do the optimal route. This is a bigger issue for Shura No Airswim than Immortal Severance No Airswim, due to the fact that IS has to follow a more intended route, which involves killing Genichiro first, to not get locked out of the IS ending. The timesave from Early Monkeys is only around 40s-1min in IS, where as it saves over 4 minutes in Shura No Airswim (fastest 1.06 run is 27:11 by Ocarina, done on PS5).

IS No Airswim is fine on current patch, but Shura No Airswim basically has to be ran on 1.02. But in the end, you should do the speedrun however it most pleases you. Having fun is the most important.

FPS and Hardware Differences (PC vs Console)

The PS4 and Xbox1 have weaker components than newer consoles, therefore they were capped at 30fps. This creates new behaviour in some instances. Notably, the blazing bull acts differently at 30fps on his opening. On a well performing PC, PS5 or Xbox series X/S, the Bull will be very consistent on his opener. However, when running at a lower FPS, like 30fps on ps4 for example, he will be far less predictable on how he starts the fight.

Part of this issue is also in that the PS4 and Xbox1 have spinning harddrives and not SSD's, which can lead to areas and other things not loading in properly. If a PS4 is upgraded with an SSD it performs much better when it comes to speedrunning.

Patch 1.00

Patch 1.00 is infamous in many FromSoft games for being insanely broken. In Sekiro's 1.00, many fogwalls, trigger points and boss AIs do not function as they should. Patch 1.00 is not super well documented due to the fact that it is only available via a disc version of the game on console.

If you're interested in learning more you can check out a speedrun using patch 1.00 by LilAggy here.

Here are some of the things that are different in version 1.00.

• When running through Shichimen Warrior's arena in the abandoned dungeon, it is possible to navigate past Shichimen without being spotted, which lets you skip him. every other game version, he will always spot you. There is an a way to do this skip on newer patches though, but it requires precise jumps.
• It is possible to sneak up behind and backstab Long-Arm Centipede Giraffe. works similarly to the Shichimen Warrior skip. In 1.00, some bosses are not programmed to automatically detect you when you enter their arena, rather it seems like they use normal line of sight to spot the player. This is very abusable so the developers added triggerboxes to the arenas to avoid this, but it seems that they didn't fully apply this fix to Corrupted Monk, which is why we can stealth deathblow her.
• The item menu looks different.

(Screenshot from LilAggy's run).