Sifu Review – Real Kung Fu Mela

The relatively young French studio Sloclap, founded in 2015, has in its portfolio only the interesting online event Absolver, released in 2017. If you have played or rehearsed the title, then you know that its main advantage was a really successful combat system that focused on contact fighting. And contact battles form the basis of their hot news called Sifu, which you can play from today (provided you pre-ordered the Deluxe edition, for the rest the game will be released on February 8th).

• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (peer-reviewed version)
• Publication date: 08.02.2022
• Developer: negligence
• Genre: Roguelite fighting game
• Czech location: Should come, probably, with the release of the boxed version (subtitles)
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 7 GB
• Game time: around 10 o’clock
• Sales version: Digital (boxes will arrive in May)
• Price: CZK 840 at Epic Games Store / CZK 1049 at PlayStation Store

Blind road to revenge

And let me start by talking about this new project. In the game, you take on the role of the protagonist (or heroine, you have the option to choose your gender), who witnessed unpleasant events in his youth, who himself barely survived. However, this happened when he devoted the next eight years to the careful and patient mastering of kung fu, then to go on an uncompromising journey for revenge and punish those who marked him for the rest of his life.

The journey is reminiscent of various action movies.

It is no coincidence that this journey is reminiscent of various action films not only of Asian origin, in which the protagonist gradually makes his way through an almost endless crowd of various motives in order to reach key people who also, with luck, accompany him. world in an exciting duel. In any case, the events here are actually told in a relatively minimalistic way, as here we can only find a few dividing scenes where little is said and mostly action takes place. So, in general, this is a simple story that will not offend you, will not let you down, and you more or less know in advance how it will end. Although the authors offer light flashes of slightly more sophisticated elements, when the question of the influence of such a bloodthirsty path on the human psyche is briefly touched upon and some moralizing comes to mind, but in this regard, the results / carrier also surface. At the same time, however, I dare to say that it is precisely this straightforwardness that is not at all harmful, because you really feel that you have been transferred to some kind of washing of action.

Defense is the basis of a good attack

And in this idea, it is also confirmed by the mentioned combat system, which in a word is excellent and is the biggest draw in the entire game. Although I cannot eruditely assess how accurately kung fu is translated into the game (the game uses the so-called Pak Mei style, which combines the fury of a tiger, the insight of a leopard, and also we find elements of a snake, a style of a crane and a dragon), so I can say with complete certainty that this is a hell of a lot of fun. You will use various punches, kicks and grapples that can be combined into different combos and thus destroy your opponents. However, the basis of any good attack is defense, so we must not forget about covers, counterattacks and reflections. With all this, you can still use various weapons (a club or a baseball bat) and the environment, breaking through the defense with a quick takedown (complete an important life bat), and from time to time, after charging the concentration indicator, you attack the enemy with a special move. All this then responds beautifully, and as soon as the control passes to you, you will be able to set in motion an incredible battle dance, after which you will not be able to get rid of the feeling that you really are the master of the world.

The combat system is the biggest draw in the entire game.

But be sure to add that the game will not give you anything for free. The difficulty here is really uncompromising and at first you will often sweat. Plus, you won’t even press the buttons too fast. Accordingly, you can miss a little while in matches with ordinary opponents (not many types, but enough), but as soon as it comes to the boss (there are 5 in total in the game), you will be more or less lost. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the rules of the game and with the help of training (either at individual levels or in a special training room) become the master of your movements and patience, because every reckless movement will be severely punished.

Came a young man, left a wise old man

However, you will be punished in other ways, which brings us to another key element – the aging system. Whenever your life drops to zero, two things happen. Your character will age for a certain number of years, and at the same time your death counter will increase (on the contrary, you will decrease it by eliminating more difficult enemies), which indicates how many years you will age in case of another refusal. This brings a certain roguelite element to the game, as you have to complete all five levels offered (they are not generated, more or less closed without side tasks, but with various secret places) before your age becomes too unbearable (in the game it is more 70 years). From here it is clear that you cannot afford too many deaths, so it is important that you master individual attacks and study the movements of enemies in detail.

Aging brings a certain element of roguelite to the game.

So it’s a very interesting mechanic, but I feel like it could be included a little better. Aging is manifested by a change in the appearance of your character, which at the same time increases the damage you deal, but at the cost of reducing lives (in addition, some additional abilities become unavailable to you). However, as a result, this does not have a significant impact on the gameplay when the character is still mobile, and her movements are mobile, which is very disappointing. I would also like the time to decrease not only for the main character, but also for the rest, maybe the bosses would grow old. But in terms of design and development, I probably understand why the developers went down this path.

Frightened looks

However, the game time itself comes from this aging mechanic. If you are really very skilled and everything goes through your blood quickly, you should be able to complete the game in 5-6 hours (plus about an hour to get to the “correct” end). However, if you are a shovel like me, you can also spend more than 15 hours in the game, constantly returning to the levels you have already completed, which you will try to get better in order to have a better starting position for the next one. In addition, players who want to unlock and find everything will still have to return to these levels to reach previously inaccessible locations and find other hidden secrets. However, this return will be aided by permanent Dark Souls-style labels. And a form of simplification is also the ability to constantly unlock various abilities that can be obtained for experience points (you can also improve various characteristics for shrines, but they will only be unlocked in this course).

The game time depends very much on your dexterity.

On the other hand, there are also several ailments that make your efforts more difficult. The first is a really very restless camera that is constantly moving from one hand to another, and during fights in more enclosed spaces it often happens that it makes a holistic decision and you lose sight of what is happening, which is not entirely happy at critical moments. And this is related to my second reproach, which is related to the lack of the ability to block the gaze / focus on the enemy, which would give us an increased ability to control strikes.

Drunk, minimalistic, beautiful and sleek

But now let’s talk a little about visuals. As can be seen from the accompanying pictorial examples, the title is not realistic and offers a relatively strong stylization that creates a slightly heady impression (maybe a bit oil painting style?). This style doesn’t go into any intricate detail and offers simpler shapes, but looks very nice when each level also offers a completely different environment, working with a different color palette, a little warmer, cooler in there. Also, they will be pleased that the game ran completely smoothly and that I did not encounter any bugs during my travels, which is also not very noticeable these days (reviewed on PlayStation 5). And those who are interested in a more engaging experience can disable the HUD.

The game ran smoothly; it looks visually pleasing.

In terms of sound, I definitely praise the pleasant musical accompaniment, which adequately complements what is happening on the screen and completes the overall atmosphere. However, this is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that only English voice acting is available at the moment, which makes it somewhat boring. However, work on the Chinese version is already underway and should be available some time after the release. And of course I understand that someone still prefers English dubbing.

combat interest

But all of the above sores and imperfections certainly do not outweigh the advantages that Sifu offers, an interesting and very entertaining activity that should be taken on by both fans of action movies and adherents of interesting bagels and considerable tests. And who knows, maybe because of this you will decide that you want to try kung fu in real life.