Boy, my fingers hurt.
Sifu's premise is a (deliberately) simple one. As a child, you watched your master be killed in front of you and now must dedicate yourself solely to revenge, armed with your fists and an ancient talisman capable of reviving the dead at the expense of increasing your age with each use. Been there, seen it, got the t-shirt.
Joking aside, the threadbare story here isn't as much of a hindrance to the overall experience as you might believe. Much like the Hong Kong action cinema classics that inspired it, it's a fitting foundation for the fast-paced, "easy to learn but hard to master" combat that Sifu is built upon. Each level is centered around a basic objective: make your way through the level, beating up underlings along the way, until you reach the head honcho and take them down in a lengthy boss battle.
That premise might sound familiar to fans of souls-likes but Sifu really doesn't share many similarities with those games, other than being balls hard initially until you can get a handle on the flow of combat and enemy encounters and can feel like a real kung-fu master as you breeze through the levels with (relative) ease. Much like those games too, it is very rewarding as you try to best your previous times and abilities to unlock Sifu's roster of temporary and permanent skills to take with you onto the next arena.
What I did actually appreciate is that those skills don't necessarily make the game easier; they just give you a lot more options to deal with enemies if you find yourself in a bind. No matter how much you upgrade yourself, a random mook could catch you in a string of poorly-timed parries and take you out just as easily as a boss can, meaning you have to stay on your toes in Sifu pretty much at all times, which can be fun and rewarding but incredibly exhausting too.
That said, there is a noticeable lack of enemy variety in Sifu. You could argue that it's for the best since keeping enemy types to a minimum can help you focus on the appropriate tactics and moves for that level's boss but it does feel like you're going through the motions to get there sometimes. One would expect each new level to bring with it a slew of new enemy types mixed into ones you're already familiar with but it's pretty much the same few on repeat.
Sifu does struggle with its camera sometimes too, especially in tight spaces. There's a moment in the first level that mimics the infamous hallway fight scene in Park Chan-wook's Oldboy and the camera temporarily switches to a sidescroller view. It's a cool, satisfying homage, and yet the camera only does something like that once through the whole game. In other circumstances, when you're pushed up against a wall with not much wiggle room, it's tricky to see enemy attacks being telegraphed and you can find yourself trapped in a combo unwittingly.
Lastly, Sifu features an investigation board adorned with information about each of the 5 bosses you must take down throughout the game. Through each level, you will find scraps of info or keys to various locked rooms, some of which are for previous levels that can occasionally help with shortcuts if you want to bypass several rooms full of enemies. It has its uses; however, it mostly exists for lore purposes and is largely superfluous to the gameplay. Since there are very light dialogue systems interspersed throughout Sifu, one would expect the items you find to open up new avenues of conversation; however, that is not the case, leading to the investigation board being mostly present for set dressing purposes and not much else.
Regardless, Sifu is a fun and engaging yet exhausting but rewarding game with some great level design, music, and, of course, excellent combat. Lack of enemy variety, camera issues, and a superfluous investigation board feature hold it back from getting that coveted IGN 10 from me, but it's no less a real winner for you combo perverts out there who go weak at the knees at the sight of a 'moves list' at the pause menu.
8/10
Sifu's premise is a (deliberately) simple one. As a child, you watched your master be killed in front of you and now must dedicate yourself solely to revenge, armed with your fists and an ancient talisman capable of reviving the dead at the expense of increasing your age with each use. Been there, seen it, got the t-shirt.
Joking aside, the threadbare story here isn't as much of a hindrance to the overall experience as you might believe. Much like the Hong Kong action cinema classics that inspired it, it's a fitting foundation for the fast-paced, "easy to learn but hard to master" combat that Sifu is built upon. Each level is centered around a basic objective: make your way through the level, beating up underlings along the way, until you reach the head honcho and take them down in a lengthy boss battle.
That premise might sound familiar to fans of souls-likes but Sifu really doesn't share many similarities with those games, other than being balls hard initially until you can get a handle on the flow of combat and enemy encounters and can feel like a real kung-fu master as you breeze through the levels with (relative) ease. Much like those games too, it is very rewarding as you try to best your previous times and abilities to unlock Sifu's roster of temporary and permanent skills to take with you onto the next arena.
What I did actually appreciate is that those skills don't necessarily make the game easier; they just give you a lot more options to deal with enemies if you find yourself in a bind. No matter how much you upgrade yourself, a random mook could catch you in a string of poorly-timed parries and take you out just as easily as a boss can, meaning you have to stay on your toes in Sifu pretty much at all times, which can be fun and rewarding but incredibly exhausting too.
That said, there is a noticeable lack of enemy variety in Sifu. You could argue that it's for the best since keeping enemy types to a minimum can help you focus on the appropriate tactics and moves for that level's boss but it does feel like you're going through the motions to get there sometimes. One would expect each new level to bring with it a slew of new enemy types mixed into ones you're already familiar with but it's pretty much the same few on repeat.
Sifu does struggle with its camera sometimes too, especially in tight spaces. There's a moment in the first level that mimics the infamous hallway fight scene in Park Chan-wook's Oldboy and the camera temporarily switches to a sidescroller view. It's a cool, satisfying homage, and yet the camera only does something like that once through the whole game. In other circumstances, when you're pushed up against a wall with not much wiggle room, it's tricky to see enemy attacks being telegraphed and you can find yourself trapped in a combo unwittingly.
Lastly, Sifu features an investigation board adorned with information about each of the 5 bosses you must take down throughout the game. Through each level, you will find scraps of info or keys to various locked rooms, some of which are for previous levels that can occasionally help with shortcuts if you want to bypass several rooms full of enemies. It has its uses; however, it mostly exists for lore purposes and is largely superfluous to the gameplay. Since there are very light dialogue systems interspersed throughout Sifu, one would expect the items you find to open up new avenues of conversation; however, that is not the case, leading to the investigation board being mostly present for set dressing purposes and not much else.
Regardless, Sifu is a fun and engaging yet exhausting but rewarding game with some great level design, music, and, of course, excellent combat. Lack of enemy variety, camera issues, and a superfluous investigation board feature hold it back from getting that coveted IGN 10 from me, but it's no less a real winner for you combo perverts out there who go weak at the knees at the sight of a 'moves list' at the pause menu.
8/10