Sifu Review - Simple Storyline But Stay Comfortable

Sifu Review - Simple Storyline But Stay Comfortable

A stunning masterpiece came from an American studio named Sloclap. After a fairly long postponement and wait, they finally announced his first Kung-Fu game entitled Sifu. On this occasion, ExGamesplay will provide a simple review of SIFU. Will it be following our expectations or not? Let's follow the discussion.

Sifu Review - Simple Storyline But Stay Comfortable

Released on the 8th of February, Sifu is a Rogue-like game combined with the Beat-Em-Up concept. This one game was a major concern when attending a big game event in 2021. Not only appears with a beautiful visual, but this game also presents a spoiled martial arts animation. No wonder the fans immediately can't wait to try it.

Simple story but still comfortable to follow

The story of this game is set at one Kung-Fu College in the middle of a hill led by a sifu (teacher) without a name. One time, the college was attacked by 5 strong warriors who managed to kill all of the college students. The five people were led by one young man named "who," was a former Sifu student who was betrayed because he managed to dismantle the teacher's secret.

In a 1V1 fierce battle, Sifu was killed by who was witnessed by his child who was hiding. Knowing the presence of the boy, he and the 4 other warriors immediately killed the child and left the college. Unfortunately, the boy survived thanks to the help of a magical pendant that was looking for by the warriors. After seeing his father killed, this child is finally ambitious to avenge him.

This name (man/female) without this name trains himself to 20 years old. From here he was ready to kill the warriors related to the murder of his father. The five warriors each have led their universe. Therefore, the child's journey to achieve it will be very heavy. From here you will play a child to avenge and dismantle the mystery of the murder of his father.

Keep in mind that the whole story and mystery in this game will not be served using cutscenes like most games. Sifu will sue his players to explore MAP to find a note, photo, or evidence to provide more details about the story. For those of you who don't like to explore, then you will miss the most important factors of this game.

sifu ps5

Unique Rogue-Like Gameplay System

Before talking about the aspect of the gameplay, we will discuss how this game presents its tutorial which is quite interesting. When finished watching the opening scene, the player will plunge into the opening credits segment. From here you will fight the form of "shadows" 5 main bosses while learning combat mechanics which are varied but quite easy to learn.

Do you still remember you with a magical pendant that had previously saved the life of the main character? Yup, the pendant plays an important role as an item responsible for the formation of the Rogue-Like element in this game. Every time your character dies, the age of the character will be increasingly aging. Not only that, the Health Bar that you have will get thinner in his age. But, the damage you and will also get stronger.

How Health Count Works in this game is indeed complicated and different from the usual beat-em-up. Your character will start retaliation at the age of 20 years. When you die in the middle of the road, your age will increase by 1 year (so 21 years). However, when you die in a row in the same area, then the pendant will dislike 2 years (so 23 years) to re-turn the main character.

That way, when you die again, then your age will increase older 2x. This Health Count will continue to increase greater until your character reaches its age limit. Just to remind you, the maximum age of the character only reaches 70 years. So, you have to be wise and learn to adapt to the fight so as not to repeat the progress of the game from the start.

sifu ps4

Mechanics that are easy to learn but it is difficult to be master

Switch to the mechanical discussion, this game seems to have a formula that is almost similar to Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice. Because they both use the body structure element, which when your character is attacked by tubes then he will lose balance. This also applies to BOSS and small enemies, which when you damaged the structure, the enemy will fall and you can execute Takedown.

Besides the Combat attack, of course, we don't forget about the guard system in this game. Fortunately, SIFU only serves 4 types of guard systems, namely UpGuard, down guard (lower block), Dodge, and Parry. Just as the name suggests, UpGuard and refuse down guards to avoid attacks up and down. To Dodge, your character will avoid attacks with power that cannot be blocked. While Parry only fended small attacks.

The Boss in this game has AI with a level of difficulty that is not playing. All attacks they submit are very aggressive and high maneuver. Even so, all of them have their weaknesses. Do you still remember the opening credits that invite you to fight against the "shadow" of the 5 bosses? Yup, the tutorial contains a hint (instructions) of the point of weakness of the Boss.

Some gamers may forget the opening credits, it is not surprising if many players are surprised by the boss's animation attack that is not a can. Fortunately, the mechanics presented are very responsive and accurate. Boss on Sifu usually attacks using attacks up and down. So, all you need to do is focus on the down guard, upguard, and dodge only.

For attacks to be more effective, your character can also use Melee Weapons such as sticks, bat baseball, glass bottles, bamboo, machete, and much more. Every object that is used can be thrown at the enemy. But what's interesting, your character can also kick the object under the floor. This mechanic is suitable for damaging the defense and the opponent's body structure quickly.

One more thing, in this game you will be given the freedom to upgrade. Every time you do a takedown, there will be a point that can be collected. From here you can open the movement permanently and open the skill (not permanent) by collecting "shrines" spread on the map. One of the quite useful skills is to reduce health count when executing takedown so as not to consume many years of age.

sifu steam

Have a visual style like a martial arts film

Sifu does not offer visuals as we found in the AAA class game. Even so, this game can appear with its beauty. This is evidenced by their focus on physics and ambient occlusion which is so smooth. Furthermore, the lighting display that this game design is also so beautiful with a little gods ray spices and accurate shadow simulations.

One most prominent thing might come from polygon-style art-style and tone color which is calm. Not only that, but the implemented "Object Destruction" feature also managed to look amazing. It seems, that almost every object in this game can be destroyed. Examples, such as a table, doors, wooden walls, chairs, cabinets, and many more. With this feature, every fight so looks more "action."

What is more interesting, Sifu gives an approach to the Cinematography element. You can find it clearly in some segments that suddenly changed the perspective of the camera that had been Third-Person to side-scroll. The display of this camera tracking is often used in Martial Arts films such as Kill Bill, Ong Bak, Old Boy, and many more. So it is not surprising if Sifu appears like an action film that we often encounter.

Unfortunately, in this game, you are not allowed to move the camera. Therefore, this CIFU game camera can sometimes disturb you when your character is cornered. The player becomes difficulty looking at moving enemies when in this position. Not only that, a brutal and full battle with this action does not work with a blood splash that should be able to add to the intense immersion sense when in action.

Level Design that is not entirely linear

Sifu not only presents the Rogue-Like concept, but he also has a few formula spices from Metroidvania. This game presents a total of 5 maps with different settings. Examples are Night Club, Kung-Fu schools, Museum, Company Building, and Abandoned Industrial Areas. The folder itself is linearly designed but with many rooms that are fully canceled.

Players will be required to pass many small areas containing a group of small enemies. On the other hand, you also have to find the right way to look for the main boss on the map. There are times when the player will get lost or trapped in a certain area, therefore, you must find a key or keycard to open the next area. Interestingly, several keys can indeed open shortcuts.

At the level of the "museum," you can get a keycard that allows the main character to use the elevator to the top floor. With the key card, you don't need to struggle to fight the small enemies who resides on the other floor. Because, once the main character goes upstairs, then he can go straight to the boss battle arena to defeat him.

sifu xbox

Conclusion

Sifu is not a game designed for all circles. However, this game is suitable for those of you who like challenges. Sloclap managed to demand players learn from previous mistakes. The mechanics offered are quite easy to learn but it is difficult to master. This is what makes every blow that you put very important because this game has a high level of difficulty with AI enemies.

Every movement and combo that you execute is very responsive and precise. It is supported by the super cool kung-fu animation complete with the effect of object destruction which makes the game more action. Unique design levels and amazing cinematic styles make it hard to escape from the screen. What's more, the magic pendant system that is well executed makes the game has its uniqueness.

Even so, Sifu still has shortcomings like other games. In addition to cameras that cannot be moved, sometimes the position of the camera also often disturbs the vision while being cornered. The studio also hesitated to add blood effects that can increase the image of the game. Fortunately, these problems are still quite reasonable when compared to existing positive things.

For those of you who haven't had the chance to try this game, then now it's time. For this reason, SIFU itself is available via PC, PS4, and PS5 platforms. As usual, PC users can buy this game exclusively through the Epic Games Store page or the Official Website of the Sifu game. Who do you think is interested in trying it?