Sifu Reviews
Sifu's a revenge-fueled romp through five spectacular levels combined with a complex and exciting combat system. Just don't get too burned out by the bosses -- they're tough!
Sifu remains an excellent third-person roguelike that taps into classic kung fu combat. With its multiple free updates thus far in 2022, patient gamers should be assured that now is the best time to try one of the most accessible but still challenging roguelikes of the year. Sure, the Switch's port is probably a suboptimal experience compared to the PS5's hardware. But, it runs pretty well on the Switch, and it's quite fun despite the graphical quibbles one may expect from the Switch's hardware. SLOCLAP has done a pretty good job with this port and free updates, making Sifu a shoe-in for those wanting a souls-like experience on their Switches.
Sifu gets a lot more right than not, and though I typically can’t stand to play games that force heavy-handed repetitive loops, I found myself enjoying Sifu too much to put it away for long. Playing Sifu is a cycle of emotions; it’s tough, fun, frustrating, and rewarding, not always in that order. I think Sloclap did a solid job overall and I would also point out that the game is priced very reasonably at about $50, too. If you enjoy detailed, authentic martial arts action, Sifu is not only one of the only choices out there, but it’s a great one.
But it didn't and despite my efforts, Sifu constantly met me with a passing disinterest in its subjects and a reckless deployment of imagery it didn't seem to entirely understand, all the while passing itself off as admiration. Its weak writing and poor characterization strips the game's characters and settings of tension and texture and the lens of the game's creators seems to forget the people and culture at the heart of the movies they love to invoke. I don't think I can square that away and I'm not sure anyone should have to.
Sifu is one of those games that sounds amazing in concept but is flawed in its execution. Playing as the unnamed martial arts master feels badass when it works, but once those deaths start to pile up, Sifu becomes such a punishing game that, more often than not, it will see you rage quitting the game for something more balanced and refined.
Through neoteric ideas around what combat can be, many of which were conceived with Absolver, Sloclap has carried the classic beat 'em up into the present with Sifu. It might be brutal and unforgiving, but it never feels cheap and it's a pleasure to continually learn the complexities of kung fu while bathing in the world's surplus of flair and ferocity. So push through and persevere, because there's one hell of a game on offer here.
Sifu is a game that could have been something amazing, with its fascinating premise and superbly crafted and fluid combat mechanics and animations. However, the game’s frustrating need to make the gameplay ridiculously hard just left me tired and annoyed. Sloclap really needs to think about how they can make this game more accessible, possibly by including more shortcuts, an adjustable difficulty setting, or just lowering the impact of health lost from fighting your average foe. Hopefully they will bring in some patches that will address these issues, but as it stands, I’d wait before investing time in the world of Sifu.
As a whole, the Nintendo Switch version of Sifu is very good. The action fighting game has a reliable theme, good visual elements, interesting combat with smooth mechanics, a decent challenge level with a multitude of controls/moves, and a solid story.
Seeing Sifu running on Nintendo Switch is as captivating as it sounds, but of course this isn't the best release of the game and comes with some technical compromises, even in its frame rate.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stylish kung-fu combat, in-depth combo systems and high replayability make Sifu a must-play for beat 'em up and fighting game fans.
A wonderfully difficult beat-'em-up that puts the player at the forefront of their very own martial arts epic.
Sifu turned out to be exactly the game I've been waiting for since the first gameplay demos. The developers have made a rather complex combat system, which is revealed in all its splendor only when the player is thoroughly familiar with it. The game allows you to deal with most opponents very quickly, doing it in style, but for this you will have to work hard in training.
A challenging brawler that punishes recklessness and demands perfection, Sifu’s genre-leading combat and roguelike mechanics blend together to create an early Game of the Year contender.
SIFU has quite a few highlights in scene style and action design, and its hardcore combat lets you know the true meaning of "talented pupils are trained by strict masters". The "easy-to-die" gameplay is extremely merciless to the player, and only through blood and sweat can you transcend. All this, of course, comes at the cost of deterring many players from the game.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Despite a of couple hang-ups, Sifu should be commended for injecting a sense of danger and realism back into the beat ‘em up genre.
Sifu may be the most definitive martial arts game to date, offering unapologetic roguelike combat that rewards patient players with full mastery by the end.
Sifu is a real gem with an astonishing and technical combat system that only few can master. It is undoubtedly a really hardcore game, suitable for those who love only though challenges.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If Sloclap wanted to make Sifu hard, they could have done it without making players have to re-do most of the game from the beginning. Earning and keeping shortcuts should feel rewarding, but in Sifu it only seems like it is a solution to a problem the developers created.
Is it worth the effort? Like we said: The highs here are very high, the sense of potential mastery potent. (Game looks great, too, with a fluid, slightly cartoonish style.) But progress will take a certain bloody-minded persistence—and a willingness to overlook the game’s various crimes against authenticity. (To be clear: This is a team of French developers making a video game about what they think an Asian martial arts movie looks like; it’s so divorced from anything resembling a story about real people or cultures as to land somewhere at the intersection of stereotype and cliché.) With those caveats in mind, though, Sifu remains the kind of game it’s hard to stay away from for very long—for no other reason than a desire to take vengeance on it for what it did to you the last time you played.
Overall, Sifu is an amazing indie game that emulates martial arts perfectly in an interactive video game with flashy fights in cool environments, a satisfying learning curve, and a decent amount of content. I'll return many more times for just one more fight sequence, and the Switch version is perfect if you can overcome its unavoidable performance limitations.