While I was growing up, Chinese Kung Fu movies were my bread and butter. To this day, Jet Li’s Fearless and the Ip Man series remain some of my favourites, hence why Sifu immediately attracted my attention.
The game follows in the footsteps of Absolver, developer Sloclap’s previous brawler entry. This time around, the story is all about good old-fashioned revenge – kill the thugs who murdered your father and martial arts teacher when you were younger.
Poetry in motion
The combat system is the reason I keep returning to play Sifu. The improvisational, visceral nature of the fighting, paired with the seamless flow of attack and response, is addictive and oddly beautiful.
Sifu’s fighting choreography brings back the nostalgic feeling of awe I got from watching all those Kung Fu movies, and I can’t help but call it poetry in motion.
Unlike Hollywood extras, Sifu’s enemies don’t stand around waiting for their turn to attack the player. This means simple button-mashing won’t cut it, and you are encouraged to strategise about utilizing the environment and positioning to your advantage.
The satisfaction of sweeping your enemy’s legs to deliver two swift blows straight to their face right before kicking a nearby chair into another poor sod doesn’t get old!
Improvisation includes using any weapons you find to your advantage.
Death is not the end
Due to a mystical talisman’s powers, the player can resurrect instantly each time they die – but not without a cost. Each time the protagonist dies, the death counter increments.
Resurrection increases the main character’s age by the player’s current number of deaths, up until the age of 70 and above, after which you will not be able to resurrect. Instead, you can restart the level with the lowest age you finished the previous level with.
So, if you are killed at 23 years old and have a death count of three, resurrecting will make your character 26. If you die again, your death count will be four, and upon resurrecting, your age will be 30. However, ageing doesn’t just change the protagonist’s look – it was designed as a legitimate game mechanic that the player can use.
The older your character gets, the more damage you deal and receive. This offers you the unique opportunity to decide if you want to willingly accept a few deaths to go the glass cannon build or if you would you rather stay young to absorb more damage.
This death system means you will inevitably replay levels in an attempt to master your virtual Kung Fu skills and stand a better chance at defeating the level’s boss.
In this way, Sifu stays true to the philosophy behind the Chinese phrase “Kung Fu”, which translates to “achieving great skill through hard work” – exactly what you’ll have to do to beat the game.
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