Developer: Sloclap
Publisher: Sloclap, Kepler Interactive
Release Date: 28th March 2023
Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch & PC
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
▫️ Code provided for review ▫️
Last year, I gave Sifu my personal game of the year. What developer Sloclap delivered was a masterclass of a third-person brawler. On top of that they nailed the tone of classic kung-fu films, which wrapped the package up perfectly. What I didn’t know at the time was how much post release content we’d get. Over the last year Sifu has been the gift that keeps on giving, and now along with its launch on Xbox we get the most significant new piece of content yet: Arenas. Before that though, let’s take a look at the base game.
Sifu is a game I eventually had to beat once the easier difficulty was patched in. Oh I tried. For over thirty hours I tried. There are few things more satisfying than finally beating that section, enemy or boss that was haunting you, only to come back and smoke them later. You’ll do that a lot in Sifu, and it’s a loop that never gets old. My advice would be to stick with the default difficulty as long as you can. Embrace the pain and enjoy the victory.
The game has a beautiful art style that looks incredible throughout, with varied and unique locations, but where it really shines is in the direction. Perspective shifts at certain times really emphasise the brutality of the combat. A section early on instantly brought me back to one of the most memorable scenes in the Netflix series Daredevil. The soundtrack, while never stealing the show, does a really great job of setting the tone.
The death mechanics are pretty unique. After clearing the tutorial section you begin your journey at 20 years old. By default, you can die 10 times, and each time you do, you’ll return an extra year older than the last (21, 23, 26, 30, 35, 41, 48, 56, 65 & 75). This doesn’t have to be how it plays out though. Put together some nice combos and you can earn a life back. While this doesn’t make you younger, it slows the ageing process and means the next time you die you’ll return younger than you otherwise would have. While this may seem confusing on paper, it all quickly becomes clear in practice. However, if you drop the difficulty not only will you only age one year per death, but enemies will be less aggressive and cause less damage.
Upgrades are available in several different forms too. XP that is built up by sweeping enemies aside can either be exchanged when you die to unlock new moves or at shrines to add new focus, improve weapon damage or reset your death counter to zero. You can increase your multiplier by not being hit during combat. Shrines aren’t just places to trade XP either. You can also unlock other perks depending on your age and level score.
The game also includes a roguelike element, but thankfully a game over screen doesn’t always mean starting from the beginning again. There are five main stages and at the end of each stage, you unlock a checkpoint. Once you lose all your lives, you’ll have the option to restart from that checkpoint, with the caveat being that you’ll restart at whatever age you were when you entered the area.
This can definitely provide some frustration. The elation of finally beating a boss and moving on to the next stage can be quickly wiped out if you do it on your last life, as you’ll begin the next stage in a situation where one death will prove fatal and your checkpoint leaves you a loop of death. In this situation you basically need to go straight back to the previous stage in an attempt to beat it with fewer fails, therefore giving you a fighting chance going forward.
Honestly, I can see why developer Sloclap has done it this way. You get the feeling that at one stage the plan was to force players to do the whole thing in one run without the use of checkpoints and that these lifelines were added in later to make the game more accessible. The accessibility options that have been added since launch only add more weight to this theory.
The additional moves you unlock during deaths are also reset at a game over screen, however, you do have the chance to unlock them permanently. Once you unlock a new move, you can purchase it again another 5x and you’ll get to keep it forever. In a move of true mercy, you can even unlock a move, buy it 2x more before having your game reset and the next time around you only have to buy it another 3x after the unlock instead of the full five. What this does, is allow you to basically spam the first and second stage over and over to unlock everything permanently.
If you think for one minute this workaround is going to let you cheese your way through Sifu though, you’re sadly mistaken. Being able to come back from the dead with potential upgrades may sound generous, but you die quickly. You are regularly swarmed by enemies, yielding weapons and issuing lethal strikes from all angles. I liken the combat to the Batman Arkham series on the hardest difficulty. There is no indicator telling you when to dodge or parry, and even if you do avoid one of the many incoming attacks, most enemies unleash combos.
Crowd control methods like using a weapon of your own and traversing the environment to create distance between yourself and clusters of enemies is key. Try to isolate a smaller number of foes and keep moving. Taking a patient approach with pinpoint dodges and striking on the counter bears the most fruit, but you’ll need lightning-fast reflexes to pull this method off. A handy training area is included that you can spar in between missions, but I actually found it easier to learn on the job and just played the first stage over, and over, and over again… for hours. This may sound like a laborious task, but honestly, Sifu is such a blast to play that I couldn’t put it down.
Arenas is the big new addition. It comes packed in with the Xbox release and as a free update for PlayStation owners. 45 challenges spread across nine different stages. These vary from two different forms of time attack, to capturing zones, performance and survive. They all boil down to you leathering the shit out of waves of enemies, but there is enough variation to keep it interesting. Each challenge offers three points depending how well you perform which you then use to unlock more stages.
There are new tougher enemy types, which helped mix things up from the main game. Each challenge also has a set of modifiers. Some which make life easier, like unlimited health, but others that allow enemies to deal 2x damage or stop the player from being able to pick up weapons. It is a small feature, but just another way to mix things up and get more mileage out of what is a robust new mode for first time and returning players.
I’m not sure I’ll ever possess the skill to fully complete the game on the normal difficulty, but I won’t stop trying. Last year, community member Gowdy received a Golden Joystick by none other than Dominik Diamond on the Pure Dead Gaming podcast for getting the platinum. We should all aspire to this. My hope is that the success, awards and love from the community results in us getting another game of a similar ilk next, whether it be a sequel or a new IP.
-Craig ✌️