sloclap has been publishing for about a week now Sifu, his new video game that makes martial arts the pivot of its playful offer. After having tried it for a long time, we at Tech Princess are ready to offer you ours review by Sifu, a video game from combat system very difficult to understand and master, but which can give enormous satisfaction once you understand its hidden rhythm.
Sifu: our review
Let’s start immediately by saying that Sifu owes a lot to the previous development studio project, namely Absolve. Of this game the developers took the combat system and have reworked it in a much more hardcore way, creating a product with a strong cinematic feel and focused almost entirely on the complexity of its gameplay.
The plot of Sifu, in fact, is the simplest you can imagine; a story of revenge, as befits the canons of films on martial arts vintage, which takes on the tones of a metaphor as you get closer to its final bars.
In fact, the protagonist begins his adventure after seeing his father die at the hands of his best pupil, and after having died himself only to be resurrected by a mysterious artifact.
This premise, however, is only hinted at, and only serves to start the adventure, without too many explanations to justify the resurrection, and the consequent increase in one’s age. After a short tutorialyou are immediately ready to embark on the protagonist’s mission in search of redemption, in a gameplay loop that wastes no time in chatter and immediately puts us at the center of the action.
Between action and fighting
Already in the first level available once the introductory sequence of Sifu is finished, you can guess what the combat system of this work is based on. In fact, at its base, the game designed by the Sloclap boys is a third person fighting game, which immediately requires a lot from the player, both in terms of reflexes and mastery of the combos available to the protagonist.
At the base of the martial fights that will accompany us throughout the adventure there are of light blows and heavy blows, that can be chained together in various types of combo, also according to the type of skill that we will have unlocked from the skill tree. However in the combo system they also come into play the directional buttons (or analog sticks), the pressure of which can influence our moves by making us perform special ones.
Much importance has been given to the concept of spacingor rather one’s positioning within the various arenas that make up the levels that we will have to face, since being in the wrong place at the wrong time could imply our total defeat in a second, either because our opponents will surround us, or because we will find each other with their backs to the wall with no possibility of escape.
To all this is added the presence of weapons that the character can collect and that can guarantee us a fair advantage in battle, further stratifying the clashes that we will face in the game. We particularly liked the bottles, which are present in large quantities in the levels, especially the first ones, and which can be thrown to make the henchmen of the case boss falter.
Fly like a butterfly …
During the fighting that Sifu will put us in front of it will be of vital importance never stop. Running, putting space between us and the opposing waves through the decor of the arenas and dodging at the right time are not secondary components of the gameplaybut practices to be implemented constantly and strategically for the duration of the skirmishes.
Contextual actions are also very important, that is the sort of finisher that you can do after breaking the Position enemy, or a sort of stability bar, very similar to that seen in Sekiro, which will leave our opponents completely exposed once exhausted. These finishing moves are also the only way to restore our health, which will drop mercilessly with every hit.
But be careful: not only do the enemies have a Posture bar, we also follow their same rules and an approach that is too passive or imprecise in the clashes will break it within a few seconds. To have the best we must therefore learn as soon as possible a deflect shots perfectly on the way and then counterattack quickly with the best options at our disposal.
Sifu, when you manage to internalize its combat system 100%, shines with its own light like few other action games. We are faced with a truly remarkable variety of combos, comparable to that of the great action in the sector. The problem is that Sloclap’s creature is a caustic and cruel teacher to say the least. Not only does the game require a very high level of efficiency on the part of the user, but given that some moves must be unlocked within a certain age range which could discourage grinding.
… Sting like a bee
If we had to define Sifu with a single sentence for this review it would be something related to the constant pursuit of perfection, in every possible situation, and it must be said that the game does not discount in this regard: either you are perfect (or almost) or you go very quickly to meet a quick death. To make it work there is the possibility to save at the beginning of the level, which will allow us to re-enter the game with the lowest possible age.
Despite this, it is good to specify one very important thing: do not think of avoiding moments of frustration, because these will be there and also quite frequently. It will then be up to you to decide how to move to try to overcome them, improving your skills in the first place. And just in this regard, how exactly does the game over work?
Death plays a central role in Sifu’s gameplay loop, and it includes some mechanical roguelite. The protagonist begins his adventure at 20 and with the first death he will age by a year and then, if nothing is done to reset the counter, he will age by two, three and so on, until he reaches the final death that occurs when the threshold is exceeded. of the seventy years.
This counter can be reset by defeating very strong opponents or by performing a chain of kills, but it is not exactly an easy task, especially if we consider that the difficulty rises already from the second level onwards, where it is likely that you will see yours. first definitive game over. Either way, death is also a precious chance for buy new skillswhich is fundamental for the development of one’s character.
Sifu: our review in brief
In conclusion Sifu is a title difficult, uncompromising, brutal and which requires the player to concentrate as much as possible at all times. If this is good or bad, you have to decide: for some this type of difficulty will be stimulating and will encourage them to implement a self-improvement process until they become the martial arts masters that the game would like them to become.
Others will be hopelessly discouraged, and there is nothing wrong with that. Sifu remains a niche game, and as such it may not suit anyone’s palate. Moreover, the musical and artistic profile is also very accurate, which winks at lovers of stile minimal with what fascination of the 90s.
In short, to conclude this review we can say that if you want to test yourself with a hard and merciless experience, Sifu is definitely for you, if this is not the case, we advise you to look elsewhere.