I practiced with Sifu, a beat-up action-adventure game by developer Absolver Slotlap. My hand is not exactly “on”, but actually more “around”. That’s one thing I’ve learned from my time working with this kung-fu martial art. To keep my fists flowing, I need to be patient and not crush the buttons. Seriously, bang those buttons without thinking and you’re dead.
Dying in Sifu means you’re getting older, and if you die a lot, you’ll age faster. Hit 70 and you won’t be able to rise from the dirt anymore. Instead, you will have to start your revenge journey from scratch. Even for this reason alone it can be tempting to hold onto your youth, but I really like getting older, with my beard and harder attacks. Not only do you develop a relationship with your body in Sifu, but your travels to the afterlife also help you master its myriad moves. Sifu actually gets better with age.
My previous build got me into the first half of the second chapter, with no intro and little context. I am simply a clean twenty-year-old in a small apartment complex that functions as a kind of central space. Here, I can access a training area and view a table filled with investigative notes on past and present acquaintances. By the desk overlooking the sweeping city, I was able to enter the “Club”.
My duty? Look for a blog named Sean. Not sure why, but he obviously got me wrong and I needed to get him out of his hideous little nightclub. You begin the procedure in a narrow alleyway, with neon lights indicating the entrance to the club. Fools in tank tops lean against walls plastered with posters and graffiti. At first, I thought Sifu would be a bit Killer vibe, the way I could approach the guard and could tell him to let me pass. He asked, “What do you want?”, and I was presented with two dialogue options: ask him about the mysterious Sean or provoke him with a “None of your business.” In either case, it led to a fight, and I quickly learned that the club members preferred talking with their fists. In this preview build, at least, Sifu is more concerned with kung-fu than character development.
The good news, however, is that kung-fu is completely disciplined. Simply put, The Club is really a series of arenas with enemies yearning for a takedown. You don’t have to worry about asking people questions or spending time inhaling the scent of cigarettes and vodka. You walk into discos, bars and lounge areas and turn their inhabitants to pulp. On the surf, fighting in Sifu is pretty straightforward. Both you and your enemies have sports health bars and stagger gauges. Smash your enemies and you’ll damage them both. Much as Sekiro, the bar is the most important of the two bars. Attacks from the front with a well-timed block that will make it move upwards and launch subsequent hits while they’re off guard will also go a long way. Break the bar and they will enter a vulnerable state where you can perform a fancy finishing move. Think of consecutive stabs through the skull, a kick to the stomach, then a careful guide of the enemy’s head into nearby concrete.
I find that it is best to assert dominance early, as you will get nowhere in Sifu by sitting back and defending. But you can’t go overboard either. You have to be patient and learn not to mix. I like that you don’t have to master specific combos to look eye-catching or win important battles. So as long as you choose the right moment to throw some furious fists, your mix of random button presses will always produce a sequence of quick smashes.
All of the fights that I sampled were fights as well. You’ll slide on sofas in the living area, with bottles on top. At one point, you plunge into a cage fight and ruin the bets of those who follow their subject from above. One of my favorites is a two-on-one tango with a few maids. They warned me that the road ahead was closed, so I ignored it. They then proceeded to scrub the glass clean, jumping over the counter and explaining the situation again, with only a combination of quick kicks and stabs. It’s a series of encounters that flow and style with ease.
When I started school, I was a young man with a strict shaving regimen. Having died en masse in the fight through the club, I end my preview as a rank 50 karate king with a beard and gray hair. As I mentioned above, death in Sifu is not the end. In fact, it’s a fresh start. After each failure, you will have one more chance in life, but you will age a little. Thing is, the more you die in a row, the faster you age. Hit 70 and you’ll have to start the mission from scratch.
The cool thing is that every time you die, you can attach EXP earned from defeated enemies to this magic necklace filled with these unlockable abilities. Things like new moves that let you slash enemies with knives or spinning sticks for extra vitality, to toss items from the ground in a pinch. And when you grow a beard, your health bar goes down but your damage increases to compensate. In many ways, you turn into a glass cannon. You develop this relationship with your rickety body, where you understand its limits. One wrong step and you will die, but the boy does not hit hard. It really makes you feel like a sick kung-fu master.
During the first few playthroughs, I really enjoyed getting older and feeling this sense of physical mastery. Not only that, it also adds an element of stress to the proceedings. I find myself performing better under pressure. My nine lives are up and I simply can’t let that woman’s swipe get me, or else I end up in a pointless game.
But as I gave the build preview a few final spins and became more proficient in my spin technique, I took a different turn; I have held onto my youth. I have a desire to stay young and almost impersonate this smug upstart who can beat all these bad guys. No matter if I don’t hit too hard, it would be nice to re-enact each scenario learned from my previous life as Mr. Wrinkles.
They all appear in the position of the building’s end boss, who is a sturdy cookie with a headband and no head: two clear signs that he is meant for business and capable. very good at martial arts. Sure, I’ve aged a bit, but I’m still pretty young, and I wanted to prove to this guy that I can beat him at a similar time in our lives.
Of course, it’s up to Sifu to maintain this momentum for the rest of the game, but based on what I’ve played, it’s shaping up to be a great kung-fu saga, with a fighting style and beat the electric boss. What’s more, its interesting aging system makes you both appreciate getting older and stay young. I also never found Sean, so I want to correct that someday. Maybe shake his hand quickly or get him stuck. Anything works.
I won’t have to wait too long for my chance when Sifu launches on February 8, 2022 (a few weeks earlier than original release date of February 22) through the Epic Games Store.
