Be Like Water My Friends
This isn’t the first time I’ve been to this club, well maybe the first time at this age. Walking slowly down the street, the familiar large puddle, perfectly reflecting the neon “CLUB” sign in reverse. “If you’re not on the list, they won’t let you in,” the random guy says as I stroll past right up to the door. “Hey, get outta here – “the guard starts but never finishes as I unleash a torrent of strikes to his face, knocking him into a wall where I perform a finisher that ends in a roundhouse kick.
Oh, this wasn’t me… this was my experience in the world of Sifu; developed by those lovers of martial arts, Sloclap. A tight, revenge story in the tradition of Kill Bill with the smooth and dynamic combat showcased in most of Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s early kung-fu work. The area of the game that I described above is only from the second level of this tale, needless to say by the time players are done kicking, there will be many more bodies on the floor. But I was surprised to learn that Sifu is a much deeper game than meets the eye, sure the combat is probably the selling point for most people, but you’d be surprised to learn that this is probably one of the best roguelike games I’ve ever played…and I am not a big fan of the genre.
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99
While what is important to note here is Sifu is not randomly generated as many “rougelikes” but it is very much a game about trial an error. About perfecting your kung-fu, which the game asks in its marketing “If one lifetime is enough to learn…” and after spending a lot of time with Sifu I can say that it is most assuredly not. Sifu is a difficult game, let’s get that out the way right now. If you were fooled into thinking that this was going be a fun beat em up like jaunt similar to Streets of Rage 4 (which itself wasn’t an easy game) you might as well forget that. Sifu can be punishing, but its fair; in my time with it I was able to tell where I dropped a block, or I should have dodged instead of trying to parry. And while some games have a slow burn as they get more and more difficult Sifu is just hard from “press start” and will in fact get harder as players take their character on the path of revenge.
In the world of Sifu, players are put in control of either the son or daughter (player may choose which) of a kung fu master who is ruthlessly killed in his home in front of their child. So, in true Shaw Brothers fashion the child spends the credit montage training to be a master of martial arts in order to avenge their father. As the real game begins players will be 20 years old, fresh faced and trained to a razers edge in order to enact the vengeance desired. In their possession is a magical talisman that allows the young warrior to resurrect from any fatal damage at the cost of aging up a predetermined amount of years. You see, as much as the world of Sifu remains mostly grounded, the magical talisman gives players an advantage of their foes. The ability to learn from a mistake on the fly, and correct it thus winning an otherwise unwinnable battle. The more you fall in battle, the more years each death will cost, ultimately leading to permeant death once the magic is gone at age 75.
But with age comes wisdom and understanding, and that is showcased in Sifu by allowing the player to become stronger with age; thus, increasing the amount of damage done with each strike. But just like real life with advanced age comes a bodies decline, which is presented in Sifu by lowering the players health. It really is a wonderful system that can be used to your advantage if skilled enough; the players who spend the most time with the game and really learn the many, unique combos (over 150 attacks in all!) will have an easier time surviving at the advanced age where skill is required more than button mashing. But if players do ultimately fall, they will be forced to restart the current stage at whatever age they began it at. So, if you don’t finish the opening level until age 50 then you will be forced to play the rest of the game at age 50. In order to restart players will need to begin a brand-new run, which will reset them to 20 and they will lose all accumulated skills.
Sounds harsh right? Well in Sifu as players progress, they will find jade idols where they can purchase upgrades for their attacks but also upgrades to their abilities such as giving a weapon more durability. The catch-22 is that these upgrades aren’t permanent and have an age cap, for instance the durability upgrade is only available until a player turns 25. If not purchased by then, they will lose the opportunity to acquire it during this run. Advanced combat moves can be purchased permanently but the cost is double, and it has to be paid 5 times. So in essence players are able to try various techniques before deciding if they want to use it all the time or not. As you can probably tell, Sifu provides a lot of flexibility where combat, and things are concerned. You can tailor the game to your preferred play style based on these various upgrades, personally I prefer to use weapons as they will max out the “structural gauge” faster; allowing for the use of a quick finishing move.
The aforementioned “structural gauge” will be very similar to anyone who played FromSoftware’s 2019 hit Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and attacking an opponent’s “posture” before ending them with a flashy finisher. In Sifu players will want to attack an opponent’s “structural gauge” and by doing so will cause them to guard break and open them up for the finisher. Heavy attacks, and weapons do a wonderful job at maximizing damage and its possible to unlock an ability that allows players to utilize almost anything in the environment as a weapon. See a chair, kick it at your incoming enemy, a basket laying on the ground pick it up and throw it at someone… you get the point. Like I said at the outset, it all feels very much like early Jackie Chan movies where he battled like 20 guys at once. Expect to be outnumbered for the majority of fights; but the fluidity of the block/counter system and the responsiveness of the controls will allow even the worst player to become ‘greased lightning’ with practice.
And that’s what it’s going to take at the end of the day to really master Sifu; practice. Each death is going to be a lesson that is hard learned, but you will come back and know to try something different. Button mashing will NOT get you anywhere in Sifu, the combat system and AI will start to block attacks faster and cause players to get overwhelmed by enemies. Again, practice is at the very heart of the game and to really master it; players will need to practice those combos and not rely on just one or two. There are counters for every move, and once you master the dance it’s really a beautiful thing to behold. If you can’t tell, I enjoyed Sifu quite a bit; while the story of a young person against multiple assassins who killed their loved ones is not a new set up by any means.
However, the fantastic gameplay, the beautiful graphics, and the amazing soundtrack just to name a few things make this an enjoyable experience. That being said, if you are not a fan of difficult games, I’d recommend renting this one first if possible because it is an extremely difficult game at the outset and will require a grind to be successful. But if that doesn’t bother you in the slightest, then come on in; the dojo is all set up.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
