Kung-fu dynasty
Martial Artist fans are in for quite a treat next year with the launch of Sifu. Sifu for those that don’t know, means teacher; and just like life there is no better teacher than experience. And developer SloClap’s first game, Absolver provided them with the experience they needed to make their latest martial arts combat game.
I was able to spend some time with the Sifu, and came away very impressed. The build we were given starts off around the second chapter in the game, so the introduction and tutorial were not available. The team really wanted to test combat with this demo and I can comfortably say that it functions with such fluidity that it mimics perfectly the almost ‘dance-like’ combat encounters that have been seen for years in older kung-fu movies.
Combat in Sifu is easy to pick up, and difficult to master with strikes being mapped to face buttons on the controller. Like most melee combat games, success can be found by simply mixing up the two while fighting; however, once more combatants become involved that simply won’t be enough. Players will need to use the dodge and especially the parry mechanic to effortlessly shrug off attacks before delivering a brutal counter. The night club I was fighting in was littered with bottles and stools that could all be used as weapons as well. In fact, my favorite part of the combat was being able to smoothly kick a bottle or chair toward another opponent while still exchanging blows with their pal. The animations in Sifu are simply top notch while in combat, and moving at a smooth 60fps makes one feel like Jet Li in Fearless.
The aging mechanic is a really neat feature, the demo starts with the protagonist being 20 years old. As he loses health and ‘dies’ a point will be gained on the death counter which ages the hero and revives him. At first its not such a big deal, but the more players fall to enemies in an area the more the counter will go up. As the hero ages into his 30’s, 40’s and up to where I capped out at 77 there is a blessing and a curse. Strength of attacks are increased as your knowledge and training increases through the years but the problem is your defense and health will be lower. While its cool to be the older master from kung-fu movies, unless player can evade like them, they’ll quickly be met with a ‘Game Over’ screen.
Sifu is one to watch as it heads to release in Feb 2022, the art style is visually appealing but it’s the combat that shines best here and if the story is on the same level, then we could have a GOTY contender early in the cycle.
