Sifu is hard, very hard, which is why completing a level feels so satisfying. Imagine how it feels to… complete it 4 times!
What makes this game make me want to play it over and over again?
In Sifu, you play as a character (male or female, depending on your choice) on a quest for revenge against the assassins who killed your father and master, Sifu. These five killers serve as the respective bosses of each level, each with a distinct fighting style that’s hard to adapt to. It all sounds pretty standard so far, but the real fun lies in the gameplay.
Sifu’s defense is based on Kung Fu; you can dodge, block, and parry if you block at the exact right moment, mechanics that are fairly common today. The highlight, though, is the death mechanic. Each time you die, you age one year and add a death to your counter. What does this mean? Well, you start at 20 years old. If you die once, you age one year. Die again, and you age by 2 (1 year plus the death you already had in the counter). The game ends when you reach 70, so you can become an old man quite fast if you’re not careful.
Upon dying, you gain access to the skill tree where you can unlock various moves, like the ability to catch a projectile thrown at you. However, skills are only unlocked for that specific playthrough. If you restart, you lose them. The only way to keep them permanently is to unlock them five times using your experience. There are ways to reduce deaths in the counter, either by using one of the three totems spread throughout the level or by defeating multiple enemies without suffering any damage.
This mechanic is what keeps me coming back—to complete the levels as young as possible, without aging. To achieve this goal, you need to dodge in the exact direction, parry at the perfect moment, and trust me, it feels so fantastic when you “take down” a group of enemies without taking a single hit. This is what makes me want to keep playing!
Important things to discuss… the game is quite linear, though it encourages minimal exploration and examining certain details in the levels. Here’s what I mean: there’s a feature called the detective board. By investigating the right places, you’ll find things connected to the level, its boss, another boss, your father, and so on. Completing it not only earns you the generic trophy of “You’ve collected all the collectibles,” but also gives you a clearer vision of the story and the world around you.
I’m not sure if this counts as a spoiler, but if what you’ve read so far makes you want to buy the game, I’d recommend skipping the following… Another reason to complete the game more than once is that there are two possible endings. One involves killing all the bosses, while the other involves sparing their lives, because that option exists as well. That’s a nice touch.
Rating
If you’re one of those who skip the review and jump straight to the end score, I give it a 9 out of 10. It’s perfect, but it’s a relatively small production. After finishing it a couple of times, unless you’re like me, you might not see the point in replaying it. Congratulations to Sloclap for such an amazing game.
