Sifu Reviews
Sifu's brutal learning curve and unique structure that requires you to beat it in just one lifetime are significant barriers to overcome, but on the other side is truly one of the best modern action games around.
An elegant martial arts meditation on temporality and self-possession, set in a loving but touristy idea of China.
Sifu will test your patience, but learning how to coolly dismantle a room full of goons with virtual kung fu is worth the pain.
Sifu is a gorgeous, original and intelligent brawler whose self-confidence is leveraged by its masterful ageing mechanic and super tight combat.
As a straight action game the core combat is elegant and original but the roguelite structure makes the already mountainous difficulty just too much to bear.
Mastering Sifu's combat system takes a high degree of dedication and practice, but like a true martial artist, you must push through the practice pains before you reap any rewards.
Sifu's unique aging mechanic and top-tier combat make the journey from a headstrong student to a wise kung fu master utterly thrilling.
Like Hades and Returnal, Sifu is a run-based game where each attempt is an opportunity to get further than your last. But unlike those games, its execution is needlessly complex, and it's really, really hard to tell if you're making any permanent progress.
With Sifu, developer Sloclap is asking a lot from players. From the punishingly difficult combat that takes hours to learn and tens of hours to master, to the need to repeat and near-perfect levels to lower your starting age, this fighter can be an absolute slog. However, for those who can grit their teeth through the losses and frustration, you’ll come out smiling on the other side having played one of the best games of the year.
A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.
Sifu is a game that I wanted to love. I had high hopes for it being one of my game of the year contenders, but it left me feeling intensely deflated instead. It's a game that confuses the precise mechanical difficulty of Sekiro with a forced difficulty brought on by simply giving bosses armour. I find myself irrationally angry with Sifu. Sifu is a game that had exceptional potential, but squandered it on the wrong lessons.
If you are looking for simple and direct action, run away from this game. But if you are a persevering player who likes to be put to the test, here you will find one of the most exciting titles of recent times as hard and irresistible as the martial arts themselves.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In summary I can tell you that without me being a big fan of the beat 'em up genre I can not stop recommending this game. Not only for its excellent staging and for its original progression system. If not for being a title where you yourself are your greatest enemy and where it is possible that you get hooked to want to improve and improve until you become a master with the command. As with souls, you feel good when you manage to eliminate a boss or complete an area without suffering damage as you had planned. The word is gratifying. The game is Sifu.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Still, mileage will vary and fans of roguelikes will certainly find much to enjoy in Sifu. Hopefully further balancing and updates will help as well. The combat really is slick and fun and gives you lots of options to kick ass and take names, and the graphics and art-style are terrific. I just wish it wasn’t a roguelike.
I played the 2nd level of Sifu so many damn times trying to grind my way through unlocking more moves that I’m sick of it. I get that there’s a grind to it, but I think most games like this put a carrot on the end of the stick. Grinding through Sifu felt like just being beaten with a stick. I think it's also worth noting that Sifu was developed by an all-white European development team and some aspects of the game do come off as culturally tone-deaf. I suggest checking out this article by Khee Hoon Chan for more about that aspect of Sifu. There are so many games out there that do what Sifu does only better. Honestly, if you want a punishing grind where your efforts will actually pay off you’re probably better off just taking a Kung-Fu class in real life.
Sifu aims to bring the essence of Kung-fu to the screen, and to the controls, with a combat system as demanding as it is inspired, set in an inspired space that draws on all the tropes that usually accompany this type of story. The result is an experience that achieves what it sets out to do, making each confrontation feel like a real duel between martial arts experts. A must for anyone who enjoys a good combat system.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sifu is an uncompromising and merciless fighting game, but for this very reason it manages to give great satisfaction.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sifu offers a unique experience that focuses on detailed martial arts gameplay and dealing with enemies smoothly and quickly that are always on bar with your hero abilities and dangerous in any situation, you will go through tough boss fights that require you to learn how to read their movement in order to beat them, the game only set itself back with an over-simplistic story and a lack of adequate explanations of the main systems, and a confusing camera in many battles, and some skills that make little difference
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Sifu is a difficult game, and not always by design. But when the combat clicks, there are few games that make you feel so badass.