When I started planning out my next run through the game while I was stuck on the final boss, I knew I was in. When I started looking up the utility of individual moves and philosophy behind Wude, I knew this had jumped to becoming something very special for me. It took a long time to get here- the joke being that it took the game being sold as a beat ‘em up for me to pick it back up again (thanks Raph!), but I’m glad I did.
One of the most telling things for me was when I started considering it alongside some of my favorite games: Thought a lot about ZeroRanger and the way it secretly primes you to see the appeal of going for a one-credit clear- and the basic logic of the death counter serves a similar function, getting you to really take note of your successes and failures as you plot out the best way through each of the levels: Take a shortcut, even if it means missing a few helpful upgrade statues, or try your hand at some of the tougher encounters, where you might take some extra deaths but end up improving chances of success long-term.
It’s a great tension, something that keeps the appeal of a 1CC alive over multiple levels, though I think some levels capitalize on it better than others- the third stage is the obvious standout, with immediate access to the boss and complete control over which encounters you want to pursue. Out of all the levels, it’s the one where those questions change the most on each new attempt, debating the merits of trying to hit every Shrine in order to best prepare for one of the toughest fights in the game. It’s a spike in complexity and difficulty that I don’t think the game is ever able to quite match again, and between it and the incredible production of Stage 2, as you flicker in and out of reality, I’m sort of inclined to say that the game peaks by the halfway point- though the latter half is still excellent, and further speaks to the way the systems here bolster so much of the action.
Even a fight that might seem inconsequential in the moment has ramifications that can really spiral outwards: what weapons you used, how much damage you took, whether or not you used your Focus meter and now have to build it back up again- and with the ability for some enemies to activate a more powerful second form if you perform a takedown on them, even the simplest interaction in the game carries some considerations with it. So often with action games, I find you need to set some intrinsic goals for yourself- the reality being that playing the game as-is never really pushes the mechanics far enough. I feel like I’ve spent more time on the structure of Sifu than on the granularities of combat, but that’s partly because it’s the framing of these mechanics that really pushes the game over the edge.
The game’s unusual cohesiveness reminds me a lot of Inaba discussing Hideki Kamyia’s directing- that the quality of his games wasn’t just the result of raw talent, but time and effort and a wide variety of inspirations. Reading on Slo-Clap’s variety of influences, from arcade games to martial arts cinema to drawing from the experience Pak Mei experts, it’s hard not to see Inaba’s sentiment borne out here as well- just a remarkable amount of consideration for everything here.
Some stray thoughts:
- I have no basis for this, but I feel like the destructible physics objects were something that someone fought like hell to keep, and if so, I’m totally glad they did. Running around and breaking chairs is legitimately one of the high points of the game- maybe made all the better by how measured the game is otherwise.
- The Arenas mode reminds me a lot of what originally liked about the Streets of Rage 4 DLC, a complimentary mode that’ll keep the game evergreen. Especially like the way cheats and gameplay modifiers are added to some of the scenarios, really distinguishes the fights from one another and shows a side of the game I’d never opt into normally. I think the biggest compliment I can pay the mode is that, when I needed a break from Sifu, I just played Sifu: Arenas.
- Camera is far better than most action games, with certain objects in the environment going transparent for the sake of clarity, but the few moments where it lapses feel far more devastating (especially given the penchant for being cornered in Sean’s arena) given the penalty for failure is so high- Oni once again reigns supreme among 3D action games with its camera design.
- And this is intensely pedantic, but I spent a lot of time wondering if the aging mechanic should have been framed a bit differently- I love the idea of becoming a wise old master, but in practice, getting that old is normally a sign of a lifetime of chronic screw-ups. Something that tapped into the sense that you were unnaturally re-animated, like the corruption of your character in Shadow of the Colossus, becoming more pallid and deathly over time (and as an added bonus, it could work as another cinematic reference in a game full of them- add The Crow to the list!), but at that point, when I’m workshopping some alternate way of visualizing these systems, it’s probably more a sign of how deep in I am than some major fault of the game.
All that said, there’s not really a clean way for me to close this out- I told myself I could only talk about the game if I could clear it at under 50 years old, but in doing so, I realized how little of the game I could really speak to- terrifying for the purposes writing on it, wonderful for the realization that there’s so much left to uncover. In a genre full of games with unspoken caveats and that hint at what could be, Sifu ends up being something remarkably fully-formed, unusually complete.
///
References:
But instead of being some genius with ideas coming out of thin air, it’s more due to his nature and he gets ideas from a lot of different places and inspiration from diverse things and he thinks about things for a long time… his process needs space.
- Producer Atsushi Inaba, discussing Hideki Kamyia’s directing style, From 1UP
Both Oldboy and The Raid were inspirations for the design and art teams working on Sifu. In general, the game is filled with references and inspirations from many action & martial arts movies, such as John Wick, Sha Po Lang/Killzone, and Tom-Yum-Goong/The Protector… There were many different inspirations and references for the team, but for gameplay two good examples are Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as well as God Hand on the PS2.
- From a Q&A with GameRant
The style we are focused on for Sifu is the Pak Mei style. Jordan (our creative director) and myself, as well as others in the studio have various backgrounds in martial arts but Jordan specifically trained in the Pak Mei style. We’ve worked closely with a sifu here in France to make sure the details of the Pak Mei study are represented accurately in the game. There’s so much history and nuance across all of the styles but we’ve been super inspired by diving deep into this one for Sifu.
- SloClap Executive Producer Pierre Tarno, on the martial arts depicted in the game, From mp1st
///
Some additional resources on the game:
How to enjoy Sifu (thanks Ziad!)
Sifu - Why you should use... Charged Backfist
One of the most telling things for me was when I started considering it alongside some of my favorite games: Thought a lot about ZeroRanger and the way it secretly primes you to see the appeal of going for a one-credit clear- and the basic logic of the death counter serves a similar function, getting you to really take note of your successes and failures as you plot out the best way through each of the levels: Take a shortcut, even if it means missing a few helpful upgrade statues, or try your hand at some of the tougher encounters, where you might take some extra deaths but end up improving chances of success long-term.
It’s a great tension, something that keeps the appeal of a 1CC alive over multiple levels, though I think some levels capitalize on it better than others- the third stage is the obvious standout, with immediate access to the boss and complete control over which encounters you want to pursue. Out of all the levels, it’s the one where those questions change the most on each new attempt, debating the merits of trying to hit every Shrine in order to best prepare for one of the toughest fights in the game. It’s a spike in complexity and difficulty that I don’t think the game is ever able to quite match again, and between it and the incredible production of Stage 2, as you flicker in and out of reality, I’m sort of inclined to say that the game peaks by the halfway point- though the latter half is still excellent, and further speaks to the way the systems here bolster so much of the action.
Even a fight that might seem inconsequential in the moment has ramifications that can really spiral outwards: what weapons you used, how much damage you took, whether or not you used your Focus meter and now have to build it back up again- and with the ability for some enemies to activate a more powerful second form if you perform a takedown on them, even the simplest interaction in the game carries some considerations with it. So often with action games, I find you need to set some intrinsic goals for yourself- the reality being that playing the game as-is never really pushes the mechanics far enough. I feel like I’ve spent more time on the structure of Sifu than on the granularities of combat, but that’s partly because it’s the framing of these mechanics that really pushes the game over the edge.
The game’s unusual cohesiveness reminds me a lot of Inaba discussing Hideki Kamyia’s directing- that the quality of his games wasn’t just the result of raw talent, but time and effort and a wide variety of inspirations. Reading on Slo-Clap’s variety of influences, from arcade games to martial arts cinema to drawing from the experience Pak Mei experts, it’s hard not to see Inaba’s sentiment borne out here as well- just a remarkable amount of consideration for everything here.
Some stray thoughts:
- I have no basis for this, but I feel like the destructible physics objects were something that someone fought like hell to keep, and if so, I’m totally glad they did. Running around and breaking chairs is legitimately one of the high points of the game- maybe made all the better by how measured the game is otherwise.
- The Arenas mode reminds me a lot of what originally liked about the Streets of Rage 4 DLC, a complimentary mode that’ll keep the game evergreen. Especially like the way cheats and gameplay modifiers are added to some of the scenarios, really distinguishes the fights from one another and shows a side of the game I’d never opt into normally. I think the biggest compliment I can pay the mode is that, when I needed a break from Sifu, I just played Sifu: Arenas.
- Camera is far better than most action games, with certain objects in the environment going transparent for the sake of clarity, but the few moments where it lapses feel far more devastating (especially given the penchant for being cornered in Sean’s arena) given the penalty for failure is so high- Oni once again reigns supreme among 3D action games with its camera design.
- And this is intensely pedantic, but I spent a lot of time wondering if the aging mechanic should have been framed a bit differently- I love the idea of becoming a wise old master, but in practice, getting that old is normally a sign of a lifetime of chronic screw-ups. Something that tapped into the sense that you were unnaturally re-animated, like the corruption of your character in Shadow of the Colossus, becoming more pallid and deathly over time (and as an added bonus, it could work as another cinematic reference in a game full of them- add The Crow to the list!), but at that point, when I’m workshopping some alternate way of visualizing these systems, it’s probably more a sign of how deep in I am than some major fault of the game.
All that said, there’s not really a clean way for me to close this out- I told myself I could only talk about the game if I could clear it at under 50 years old, but in doing so, I realized how little of the game I could really speak to- terrifying for the purposes writing on it, wonderful for the realization that there’s so much left to uncover. In a genre full of games with unspoken caveats and that hint at what could be, Sifu ends up being something remarkably fully-formed, unusually complete.
///
References:
But instead of being some genius with ideas coming out of thin air, it’s more due to his nature and he gets ideas from a lot of different places and inspiration from diverse things and he thinks about things for a long time… his process needs space.
- Producer Atsushi Inaba, discussing Hideki Kamyia’s directing style, From 1UP
Both Oldboy and The Raid were inspirations for the design and art teams working on Sifu. In general, the game is filled with references and inspirations from many action & martial arts movies, such as John Wick, Sha Po Lang/Killzone, and Tom-Yum-Goong/The Protector… There were many different inspirations and references for the team, but for gameplay two good examples are Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as well as God Hand on the PS2.
- From a Q&A with GameRant
The style we are focused on for Sifu is the Pak Mei style. Jordan (our creative director) and myself, as well as others in the studio have various backgrounds in martial arts but Jordan specifically trained in the Pak Mei style. We’ve worked closely with a sifu here in France to make sure the details of the Pak Mei study are represented accurately in the game. There’s so much history and nuance across all of the styles but we’ve been super inspired by diving deep into this one for Sifu.
- SloClap Executive Producer Pierre Tarno, on the martial arts depicted in the game, From mp1st
///
Some additional resources on the game:
How to enjoy Sifu (thanks Ziad!)
Sifu - Why you should use... Charged Backfist