Sifu is a really, really neat game. That's the first thing that came to mind once I beat it, after getting my ass handed to me by the final boss yet again and almost failing despite giving myself plenty of breathing room. It's a fantastic arcade-y, vaguely rogue-lite beat-em-up with a lot of depth and a well-balanced difficulty; in nearly every case, deaths are your fault and your fault alone.
When I first started playing Sifu and had trouble with the first level of the game, I realized that I had to go through four more areas AFTER and it seemed like a nearly impossible task. And yet, for my final run-through of the game, I was at the final boss by age 30. It's pretty incredible how hard, yet at the same time how master-able, the game is. The combat is absolutely satisfying once you start to nail it down and figure out how to use all the tools at your disposal. It certainly took me awhile, and I still don't think I particularly got anywhere close to truly mastering it by the end, but I was proud of how far I had come.
I didn't honestly have nearly as much of an issue with the camera as a lot of others have been saying. I can definitely see how and *when it becomes an issue, and its not like I had no issues with it, but it didn't distract me too much.
I'm typically not a big fan of backtracking in non-Metroidvania games, but I think the way it was implemented in Sifu was effective and it did not really bother me. The gameplay and pace is extremely fluid and satisfying and works well to keep you entirely engaged as you play, even when going back to repeat the same level for the third of fourth time. Every single time I went back to a previous level, I improved my ending age with zero exceptions. The game is extremely generous with shortcuts, so much to the point that you may have to skip them sometimes to give yourself some XP before fighting the boss with absolutely no skills unlocked. This is a really neat system that lets you control how you want to play levels, but also gives you a clear path from the beginning of the game to the end when you're ready.
Another really big thing I appreciated about Sifu is how much incredible attention to detail there is in every single part of the game. It is a beautiful game and there were VERY little, almost no instances of bugs or awkward glitches that came up. In a game where precision matters such as Sifu, this careful level of craft is essential, and SloClap absolutely nailed it. The UI of the game is also beautiful, along with scene transitions and cutscenes, environment designs, and basically every single interactable or visual thing in the game. SloClap was able to put maximum effort to making every piece of Sifu as intricately detailed as possible due to the smaller scope of the game, and I am honestly just extremely impressed at the overall presentation of nearly everything that Sifu has to offer. I give the absolute highest praise to the entirety of he game's aesthetics.
The game's narrative is definitely the weaker point, and didn't have very much of a satisfying or meaningful conclusion at all. There are some interesting themes and ideas regarding the aging system and it's relation to the story that could and should have been explored more to make certain actions, events, and decisions more impactful. While the narrative is the least important part of a game like this, having stronger ideas to share would have made the experience overall a lot more impactful.
Regardless, I was quite satisfied with the game by the end and would highly recommend it to anyone a fan of complex action combat and/or arcade-y fighters/rogue-likes. Sifu really scratches that 'video game-y' itch, offering an engaging combat system backed by nearly flawless aesthetic and user experience that is deserving of a high level of praise on its own.
9/10
When I first started playing Sifu and had trouble with the first level of the game, I realized that I had to go through four more areas AFTER and it seemed like a nearly impossible task. And yet, for my final run-through of the game, I was at the final boss by age 30. It's pretty incredible how hard, yet at the same time how master-able, the game is. The combat is absolutely satisfying once you start to nail it down and figure out how to use all the tools at your disposal. It certainly took me awhile, and I still don't think I particularly got anywhere close to truly mastering it by the end, but I was proud of how far I had come.
I didn't honestly have nearly as much of an issue with the camera as a lot of others have been saying. I can definitely see how and *when it becomes an issue, and its not like I had no issues with it, but it didn't distract me too much.
I'm typically not a big fan of backtracking in non-Metroidvania games, but I think the way it was implemented in Sifu was effective and it did not really bother me. The gameplay and pace is extremely fluid and satisfying and works well to keep you entirely engaged as you play, even when going back to repeat the same level for the third of fourth time. Every single time I went back to a previous level, I improved my ending age with zero exceptions. The game is extremely generous with shortcuts, so much to the point that you may have to skip them sometimes to give yourself some XP before fighting the boss with absolutely no skills unlocked. This is a really neat system that lets you control how you want to play levels, but also gives you a clear path from the beginning of the game to the end when you're ready.
Another really big thing I appreciated about Sifu is how much incredible attention to detail there is in every single part of the game. It is a beautiful game and there were VERY little, almost no instances of bugs or awkward glitches that came up. In a game where precision matters such as Sifu, this careful level of craft is essential, and SloClap absolutely nailed it. The UI of the game is also beautiful, along with scene transitions and cutscenes, environment designs, and basically every single interactable or visual thing in the game. SloClap was able to put maximum effort to making every piece of Sifu as intricately detailed as possible due to the smaller scope of the game, and I am honestly just extremely impressed at the overall presentation of nearly everything that Sifu has to offer. I give the absolute highest praise to the entirety of he game's aesthetics.
The game's narrative is definitely the weaker point, and didn't have very much of a satisfying or meaningful conclusion at all. There are some interesting themes and ideas regarding the aging system and it's relation to the story that could and should have been explored more to make certain actions, events, and decisions more impactful. While the narrative is the least important part of a game like this, having stronger ideas to share would have made the experience overall a lot more impactful.
Regardless, I was quite satisfied with the game by the end and would highly recommend it to anyone a fan of complex action combat and/or arcade-y fighters/rogue-likes. Sifu really scratches that 'video game-y' itch, offering an engaging combat system backed by nearly flawless aesthetic and user experience that is deserving of a high level of praise on its own.
9/10