alright, so let’s talk about sifu:
basically, it’s an uncompromising 3d kung fu brawler with roguelike mechanics. it’s also really fucking good. at first glance, it looks like it plays like sleeping dogs or arkham, but it is way more technical, borrowing more from sekiro than anything else.
whereas the former two games focus primarily on attacking punctuated by the occasional reversal/counter, sifu is - much like sekiro - all about aggressive defence; whittling down your opponent’s structure bar (think stamina/stagger) to open them up for a stylish, one-shot, ip man-esque takedown.
it gets very crowded. typical fights can see you taking on 5-10 basic enemies and they don’t wait politely like in the movies. they will attack you while you’re mid combo, so crowd control and positioning are vital. you can cancel into your defensive options (block, dodge, avoid and parry), switch targets mid-combo, do a takedown or ground attack for a brief moment of invincibility, or use dodge to get out of being surrounded.
additionally, you can vault over nearby scenery - bar tops, tables, sofas, etc. - to break up groups and put some distance between you, jackie chan style. this environmental interactivity is part of what elevates the game. you can quick kick stools or bottles at opponents to down or stun them. you can throw them over ledges, down stairs or into walls for increased structure damage. the animated takedowns too change depending on your position, whether you’re armed, the enemy type, and the environment around you.
there are five levels plus a prologue (which is amazing btw), each with a distinct elemental-based aesthetic. there is a little bit of exploration, mostly to find story-based collectibles (collected together on a neat detective board) and shortcuts which mitigate some of the more gruelling fights, but the bulk of the game is cracking skulls.
repeated play isn’t just positively encouraged, it is necessary. when you die, you age. deaths are recorded on the death counter, which indicates how much you’ll age per death. die once, age a year; die twice in a row, age two; die three times, age three years - and so on. if you get to a particularly tricky section, this can get out of hand very quickly. for example, a particularly troublesome boss took me from 33 to 74, so you’re not only managing health and structure, but deaths too. you can lower the death count by defeating strong enemies, but your age can never go down.
every decade, you age more noticeably: beard, longer sleeves (?), greying hair, etc. you also do more damage, though you receive more too. you get locked out of specific upgrades, which you usually unlock between levels or upon death. these upgrades last you till your ‘complete’ death (which happens if you die in your seventies), though you can permanently unlock them with enough xp. with ‘complete’ death, you keep the collectibles and perma upgrades, but lose everything else. you can restart the level at the lowest age you reached it though, so it isn’t too bad. going back through a level to reach the next stage at a lower age is vital for getting to end of the game. you will die. a lot.
now, the only way to heal is by defeating enemies, performing takedowns, or reaching one of the three ‘hidden’ shrines per level. only the latter fills your bar; the other ways offer only incremental health boosts.
the game clearly wants you to manage your health and play defensively when fighting crowds or mini-bosses. fortunately, you have a myriad of defensive options from the get go, each with their own benefits and pitfalls:
blocking will reliably stop anything short of a guard break attack (signified by the enemy’s glowing limbs), but effectively exchanges health damage for structure damage. you recover structure by being still, but only very slowly while blocking, so you can’t really turtle up.
dodging can get you out of a fight to help you regain structure and avoid a string of attacks, but is almost useless close up. it’s basically a positioning tool.
parrying - where you block as the attack comes in - is the most powerful defensive option. it has a small window of opportunity and may need to be performed multiple times in a single string, but it stops enemies dead and causes massive structure damage, leaving them open to a counter-attack or throw.
finally, we have avoid, which is your bread and butter defensive option. it is a stationary dodge (think of a boxer weaving) that allows you to uh avoid incoming attacks. with every successful avoid, you regain structure. you can spam it on minions but mini-bosses have slight delays in their combos, as well low attacks (which require you to push up when you avoid), to make sure you’re paying attention.
no one option is the perfect answer to every situation and the interplay between them keeps things interesting. for instance, if you fail a parry and tank the structure damage, you can use the more passive avoid to regain it before attempting to parry again. enemy moves are telegraphed, but very quickly, so successful defence relies on learning your opponent’s moves rather than reacting on the fly, much like absolver.
there are a wide range of offensive moves available too that i could get into, but really, your defensive abilities are far more important and the real upgrade happens in your head.
yesterday, i couldn’t reach the second boss before my 60s. today, i’m (comparatively) blowing through half the level and reaching him in my 30s. that sense of progression, that i’m improving my knowledge of the game rather than upping arbitrary stats or finding more powerful weapons to keep my damage up, is pretty intoxicating.
it’s really fucking good, but if you’re quick to blame a game for your own failings, you aren’t going to get on with sifu… at least till they release the announced easy mode. outside of a slightly finicky camera, your deaths are usually your fault (not you you). if you’re up for a challenge and can bear repeating levels purely to get better, this is an absolute treat.
