OhSora
The game does a lot right, especially keeping in mind the lower budget this game had, with that said the writing, characters and dialogues are so incredibly boring I almost dropped it before getting to the actually well crafted end-game.
2017
(Not just the base game but all the content)
The major reason why this game doesn't have a higher score is that if you wanna have the intended experience you have to spend way too much.
The major reason why this game doesn't have a higher score is that if you wanna have the intended experience you have to spend way too much.
The combat is surprisingly good, the story is enjoyable and well written, the music is bold and memorable, but the whole experience is watered down by the dreadful exploration.
2022
Sifu started with the wrong punch.
I decided to begin the game on the hardest difficulty since it’s what I usually do unless the game recommends not to do so; I do that since that’s usually the difficulty that can pose a challenge and make games fun to me personally.
I got to the first boss and I couldn’t understand what the game wanted from me, and this is the first big problem. There’s a lot to the gameplay, for example there’s 4 ways to be defensive (5 if you consider the dodge to reposition) and the game does a poor job at making sure that the player understands when and why to use each one of the tools. The second problem, that’s strictly related to the master difficulty, is that bosses don’t have patterns anymore but they can change their combos, making the gameplay incredibly difficult to enjoy since the clear intent of the game is to learn your enemies inside and out and this completely breaks that game design idea. I decided to switch to the “intended” difficulty from that point on.
Even in the intended difficulty the game still has some problems such as attacks sometimes not being reactable, so much so that you end up relying only on the first hit of the combo to know how to react to the rest of the string because of how badly telegraphed some attacks are, especially the low sweeps which are almost always unreactable, you can think of them as the non blockable attacks in Sekiro, now picture those attacks without the sound and the kanji which tells the player to act accordingly, that is Sifu.
I also personally dislike how even if you perfect parry your posture bar still goes up, add that to the fact that the parry window is much smaller than sekiro’ and also the previously mentioned problem of some attacks being too fast and badly telegraphed and you have a recipe for disaster, making fighting the bosses unfun until you’ve basically mastered them.
There’s also some minor issues with the camera and also the soundtrack being incredibly forgettable.
Getting that out of the way I can actually start praising the rest of the game because there is a lot of beauty and passion put into this project, and thats also why I’m being very harsh on it, the step the developers have made from Absolver is incredible and I’d like the next game to be even better.
The game exhibits a remarkable sense of style, showcasing artistic brilliance that rivals some of the most visually stunning games ever created. Every single place is crafted with care and not only in terms of visuals but also gameplay wise, the fights are placed in a specific order which creates a really good level of balance while also changing up the gimmicks with the place very rapidly (close to a ledge, a place full of weapons, etc…) making the fights always feel fresh.
What’s even more incredible is that the game achieves this level of style while also having an incredibly strong signature, you can tell someone is playing Sifu no matter what is represented on the screen.
The main mechanic of the game, the aging, is also genius, slowly changing up the gameplay making you become a glass cannon more and more with each death, it creates a unique and fun challenge that combined with the shortcuts that you unlock close to the boss in every level, makes you want to replay it right away engaging with every mechanic and also increasing the playtime in a very smart way.
When the gameplay works is so incredibly satisfying, in terms of game feel and reward, while also having top tier animations, sound design and flow. Also bonus for the creativity being displayed making every level feel very unique. The bosses are for the most part really good, some of them (2nd and 4th) don’t have enough moves making the fight very quick and unsatisfying especially compared to the other ones in the game.
The game has problems especially in terms of gameplay but there’s also so much care at the same time that ultimately I really enjoyed my playtime and I hope the developers improve from this, while maintaining the level of artistic touch and uniqueness to it.
I decided to begin the game on the hardest difficulty since it’s what I usually do unless the game recommends not to do so; I do that since that’s usually the difficulty that can pose a challenge and make games fun to me personally.
I got to the first boss and I couldn’t understand what the game wanted from me, and this is the first big problem. There’s a lot to the gameplay, for example there’s 4 ways to be defensive (5 if you consider the dodge to reposition) and the game does a poor job at making sure that the player understands when and why to use each one of the tools. The second problem, that’s strictly related to the master difficulty, is that bosses don’t have patterns anymore but they can change their combos, making the gameplay incredibly difficult to enjoy since the clear intent of the game is to learn your enemies inside and out and this completely breaks that game design idea. I decided to switch to the “intended” difficulty from that point on.
Even in the intended difficulty the game still has some problems such as attacks sometimes not being reactable, so much so that you end up relying only on the first hit of the combo to know how to react to the rest of the string because of how badly telegraphed some attacks are, especially the low sweeps which are almost always unreactable, you can think of them as the non blockable attacks in Sekiro, now picture those attacks without the sound and the kanji which tells the player to act accordingly, that is Sifu.
I also personally dislike how even if you perfect parry your posture bar still goes up, add that to the fact that the parry window is much smaller than sekiro’ and also the previously mentioned problem of some attacks being too fast and badly telegraphed and you have a recipe for disaster, making fighting the bosses unfun until you’ve basically mastered them.
There’s also some minor issues with the camera and also the soundtrack being incredibly forgettable.
Getting that out of the way I can actually start praising the rest of the game because there is a lot of beauty and passion put into this project, and thats also why I’m being very harsh on it, the step the developers have made from Absolver is incredible and I’d like the next game to be even better.
The game exhibits a remarkable sense of style, showcasing artistic brilliance that rivals some of the most visually stunning games ever created. Every single place is crafted with care and not only in terms of visuals but also gameplay wise, the fights are placed in a specific order which creates a really good level of balance while also changing up the gimmicks with the place very rapidly (close to a ledge, a place full of weapons, etc…) making the fights always feel fresh.
What’s even more incredible is that the game achieves this level of style while also having an incredibly strong signature, you can tell someone is playing Sifu no matter what is represented on the screen.
The main mechanic of the game, the aging, is also genius, slowly changing up the gameplay making you become a glass cannon more and more with each death, it creates a unique and fun challenge that combined with the shortcuts that you unlock close to the boss in every level, makes you want to replay it right away engaging with every mechanic and also increasing the playtime in a very smart way.
When the gameplay works is so incredibly satisfying, in terms of game feel and reward, while also having top tier animations, sound design and flow. Also bonus for the creativity being displayed making every level feel very unique. The bosses are for the most part really good, some of them (2nd and 4th) don’t have enough moves making the fight very quick and unsatisfying especially compared to the other ones in the game.
The game has problems especially in terms of gameplay but there’s also so much care at the same time that ultimately I really enjoyed my playtime and I hope the developers improve from this, while maintaining the level of artistic touch and uniqueness to it.
I was pleasantly surprised by this game, when it comes to writing the star of the show is definitely the characters that are very well portrayed, real and memorable. The writing of the cases themselves I’d say the first 3 are decent while the last 2 are incredible.
The gameplay feels very limited as in every visual novel; a problem that every game of this specific genre will always have is that even though you might know the answer to the question the game asks you there is always only one way to get there which feels very limited.
The music and art is incredible (except that I’ve played it on ps4 and the remade artstyle is dog water)
The gameplay feels very limited as in every visual novel; a problem that every game of this specific genre will always have is that even though you might know the answer to the question the game asks you there is always only one way to get there which feels very limited.
The music and art is incredible (except that I’ve played it on ps4 and the remade artstyle is dog water)
I can tell it’s a great game, I think the beginning of the runs are too slow and subjectively I don’t like how luck based it is
The game foundation is pretty good, and most of the songs are great, sadly there’s not enough so it becomes very repetitive very quickly. The harder difficulties are also not amazing in terms of fun since the game is lacking mechanics especially compared to other miku games so the challenge comes down to “how quickly can you press this button?”.
I'm being a little harsh on the score, the game is great, especially considering it's technically a DLC for Yakuza 7, I've decided to judge it as a full game though since that's how it's being categorized and sold as.
In terms of story, it builds a puzzle piece needed to go into Yakuza 8 while also answering something that Yakuza 7 didn't explain. Yakuza usually builds up to have an amazing plot payoff, in this game they used the same approach and while the payoffs hit really hard the build-ups didn't work as well, in a game as short as this it felt like there were empty spaces and the usual formula didn't fit. Having said that, it's a must-play for the series and the good scenes are top-notch in terms of writing, dialogue, and visuals.
The gameplay is incredibly fun, the only big complaint I have is that it takes too long to click, again considering how short the game is. The agent style is versatile and mostly used for groups of enemies while the Yakuza style is used for 1-on-1 encounters. It seems that the studio wants to go the juggling route when it comes to this engine and I'm all for it, the only problem is that it's not as clean as a game such as Lost Judgment, in this game it simply doesn't feel clean sometimes, you do get hit eventually even though you play "perfectly".
In terms of story, it builds a puzzle piece needed to go into Yakuza 8 while also answering something that Yakuza 7 didn't explain. Yakuza usually builds up to have an amazing plot payoff, in this game they used the same approach and while the payoffs hit really hard the build-ups didn't work as well, in a game as short as this it felt like there were empty spaces and the usual formula didn't fit. Having said that, it's a must-play for the series and the good scenes are top-notch in terms of writing, dialogue, and visuals.
The gameplay is incredibly fun, the only big complaint I have is that it takes too long to click, again considering how short the game is. The agent style is versatile and mostly used for groups of enemies while the Yakuza style is used for 1-on-1 encounters. It seems that the studio wants to go the juggling route when it comes to this engine and I'm all for it, the only problem is that it's not as clean as a game such as Lost Judgment, in this game it simply doesn't feel clean sometimes, you do get hit eventually even though you play "perfectly".
2014
While it definitely manages to be fun and enjoyable the whole way through it had a lot of wasted potential.
The story is very clichè and it slows down the pace of the game which is, outside of the instances previously mentioned, incredibly fast in the best way possible.
The gameplay had cool ideas such as the different types of modes to use, which changes the effects of the moves, this is probably the biggest complaint, it's underused and it feels like the game doesn't push you to actually switch between the styles except for the shield enemies.
Boss fights were pretty good, nothing incredible but they all offer different gameplay encounters and require to actually understand them for the most part.
The story is very clichè and it slows down the pace of the game which is, outside of the instances previously mentioned, incredibly fast in the best way possible.
The gameplay had cool ideas such as the different types of modes to use, which changes the effects of the moves, this is probably the biggest complaint, it's underused and it feels like the game doesn't push you to actually switch between the styles except for the shield enemies.
Boss fights were pretty good, nothing incredible but they all offer different gameplay encounters and require to actually understand them for the most part.
It did something incredibly unique that shocked the entire videogame part of the internet, the rest of the game kind of falls off sadly.
2017
Visually decent and voice acting feels somewhat realistic, the writing just felt a bit boring.
2021
"Game so good it made me like card games" semi-cit.
The opening act and first part of the experience is magical, the card game side of it is genuinely a captivating experience with so many facets, mechanics and fun to be had. The other part, the escape room side, is a great way to break what could become monotonous if done for too long, and they're both implemented so well in such a way that each side pushes the player to explore the other one without feeling forced. The story this far feels scattered and interesting enough to pay attention to it. The atmosphere is definitely the main course of this first act, everything feels well put together, made with so much passion and it's a joy to just look at the screen.
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The second act of the game brings a huge shift to the experience and takes away so much of the first act, especially in terms of the mechanics. This made sense story-wise so it's not necessarily a bad thing. We're in fact playing the "first version" of the game, I do believe it could've been implemented slightly better but since this section is not too long I can't really be too harsh on it.
The third act mixes the last two parts together, in a new and innovative way, there's no much really to say about this it's a great "plot-twist" in terms of story and especially gameplay; and by mixing the two together it manages to keep being fresh even after 7-8 hours of the game. Bringing another new strong personality was also incredibly welcome after the second act. Overall act 2 and 3 are much weaker than the first.
The last part feels almost unreviewable, it's an experience and I feel like it's been well put together but it's somehow so personal to the player that I don't want to judge small details.
The last part is Kaycee's mod and I believe this is the biggest flaw of the game, this mode could've been fun and had incredible potential but the way it was implemented it makes it totally reliable on rng, especially in the higher challenges, even if you build an amazing deck/strategy.
The opening act and first part of the experience is magical, the card game side of it is genuinely a captivating experience with so many facets, mechanics and fun to be had. The other part, the escape room side, is a great way to break what could become monotonous if done for too long, and they're both implemented so well in such a way that each side pushes the player to explore the other one without feeling forced. The story this far feels scattered and interesting enough to pay attention to it. The atmosphere is definitely the main course of this first act, everything feels well put together, made with so much passion and it's a joy to just look at the screen.
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////////////////////////// SPOILER ///////////////////////////
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The second act of the game brings a huge shift to the experience and takes away so much of the first act, especially in terms of the mechanics. This made sense story-wise so it's not necessarily a bad thing. We're in fact playing the "first version" of the game, I do believe it could've been implemented slightly better but since this section is not too long I can't really be too harsh on it.
The third act mixes the last two parts together, in a new and innovative way, there's no much really to say about this it's a great "plot-twist" in terms of story and especially gameplay; and by mixing the two together it manages to keep being fresh even after 7-8 hours of the game. Bringing another new strong personality was also incredibly welcome after the second act. Overall act 2 and 3 are much weaker than the first.
The last part feels almost unreviewable, it's an experience and I feel like it's been well put together but it's somehow so personal to the player that I don't want to judge small details.
The last part is Kaycee's mod and I believe this is the biggest flaw of the game, this mode could've been fun and had incredible potential but the way it was implemented it makes it totally reliable on rng, especially in the higher challenges, even if you build an amazing deck/strategy.
2003
I don't know if it's the port to ps4 that's creating these issues but the controls are genuinely unusable.
2017
The game is incredible technically but differently than other mario games it feels like this was directly made for children, there's no depth to the gameplay, in a game such as super mario 64 the game was accessible and fun for both children and adults; it strips away controls and depth during transformations, the sections are too easy and overall there's less to the movement as well.
The animation for the moons is also unbearable considering how many times it happens.
The soundtrack and the visuals are definitely the stars of the show.
The animation for the moons is also unbearable considering how many times it happens.
The soundtrack and the visuals are definitely the stars of the show.
2017
There's so much good to this game, the story and characters are created with amazing care, the graphics are breathtaking, the performances, the music, basically everything is immaculate.
In an incredibly subjective way, I didn't like the road they took with the gameplay, it works but it just didn't feel right how the game is balanced around melee weapons combat instead of the old "solve problems with fists" style that yakuza has always had; in the other games the weapons always felt special, an extra to spice up the fight with new heat moves or just movesets, this game takes the opposite approach, the game wants you and demands you to use weapons if you wanna feel like you're playing the game correctly.
In an incredibly subjective way, I didn't like the road they took with the gameplay, it works but it just didn't feel right how the game is balanced around melee weapons combat instead of the old "solve problems with fists" style that yakuza has always had; in the other games the weapons always felt special, an extra to spice up the fight with new heat moves or just movesets, this game takes the opposite approach, the game wants you and demands you to use weapons if you wanna feel like you're playing the game correctly.