By Dean Moses
Game: Vengeance Edition: Sifu
Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows
Rating: M for Mature
Cost: $49.99
Independent studio Sloclap has taken a new spin on martial arts with a third-person hand-to-hand combat game called Sifu—but are you strong enough to get through its deadly mechanics?
Story
Gamers can choose a female or male protagonist to venture on their journey of vengeance. As a young Kung Fu student, you must fight your way through each level as you hunt down the ones responsible for murdering your family. However, as the player battles gangs through city streets, bamboo laden lands, and buildings you must be careful to not die. You will be asked to restart the game or have your characters age up.
The key to surviving Sifu is adapting to your environment, which means using throwable object, grabbing weapons off of foes, and even tossing them off ledges. As you master each level, you will unlock skills and soon learn the techniques of Pak-Mei Kung-Fu.
Age Mechanic
Your character in Sifu starts at the age of 20 as he or she begins their quest. It’s at that time you must rely on your skills, quick thinking, and the use of a mysterious pendant to prevail. The aging system in Sifu can be frustrating due to the Death Counter, which increases depending on how many times you perish, but also decreases with the more foes you defeat. In other words, if you die at the beginning of the game with a Death Counter of two and chose to continue the level, your characters will age up to 22. This age mechanic goes up to your 70s, and after that it’s game over. With every age increase your skills remain the same, but health and damage intake decreases.
Conclusion
Sifu has a fluid fighting style reminiscent of the Batman Arkham Series while also paying homage to classic martial arts movies such as Old Boy. This is not a game for the weary, you will die a lot and need to keep replaying levels, but as you learn to adapt to your environment, it’s a fun Kung Fu iteration unlike any other.
