Revenge ages the aggressor, a concept which s several other interesting themed mechanics in Sloclap’s brawler Sifu. If our preview was any indication, Sifu is shaping up to be an engaging and replayable third-person beat ‘em up. Merging martial arts - both in of the physical art form and its popular cinematic adoption - with a clean visual style, unique progression mechanics, and lofty skill ceiling, Sifu has become the kind of game that garners exponential interest with each careful new reveal.
Folks might developer Sloclap from 2017’s third-person action game Absolver. With its complicated modular fighting system, Soulslike lore leanings, and otherworldly presentation, Absolver ignited a core fanbase who flocked to its deep PvP gameplay. Inspired by Souls games, Clover’s PlayStation 2 classic God Hand, and hardcore fighting game fundamentals, it was a perfect demonstration of Sloclap’s interests with a steep learning curve, something which their sophomore project Sifu may try to correct.
That’s not to say that unusual gameplay systems aren’t present here, but Sifu seems much more pick-up-and-play overall, at least from this vantage and prior to any hands-on experience. It’s a straight-up single-player story spanning five discrete levels, each of which are inspired by the five Chinese elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. While we didn’t get a close look at the narrative, it’s a classic revenge tale that sees the main character (who can be male or female) fighting their way up the underworld ladder to punish the people who murdered their family.
Gameplay is viewed from a behind-the-back perspective, and watching samples of its combat summons immediate memories of Absolver again. Like that game, Sifu’s protagonist has a suite of defensive and offensive maneuvers, ones which are largely grounded in authentic martial arts; this time around, the Sloclap team have enlisted the help of a Pak-Mei Kung-Fu master to consult closely on the game’s combat vocabulary. This is absolutely evident in the previewed gameplay, with a focus on close-range strikes. The game even employs realistic foley of forceful hits in lieu of overblown arcade-y sound effects, adding to its practical, “realer” presentation, although Sloclap also hints at some more magical inclusions that appear later on in the story.
The environment in Sifu is crucial to each encounter, with plenty of organic maneuvers that look like vibrant genre tributes. The levels detailed in our preview have made brief appearances in previous trailers, and include a nightclub (with a hidden underground fighting arena), a run-down apartment complex in a slum, and a stunning modern art museum. Players can shunt ottomans with a quick kick, tumble enemies over banisters, evade cornering by parkouring up short walls, chuck priceless works of art at heads, and turn most any available objects into handy weapons. A centerpiece fight which has also appeared in trailers is a dead-on reenactment of the infamous hallway encounter from Oldboy, and it was shown to us this time in an extended stretch of gameplay, almost serving as a pure trailer for the game in and of itself.
Sifu’s player-aging mechanic is certainly its most unusual feature, and we were able to learn about it in greater detail during this session. Essentially, whenever a player loses all of their health and gets knocked out, they age several years in time before respawning on the spot. Aging affords opportunities to level up using points accrued from successful strings of combos, which can then be used to unlock a full suite of martial arts moves; reportedly over 150 in all, including ones which incorporate weapons. In addition to that, special focus attacks briefly slow time and allow for increased damage, dizzied enemies, and other yet-unknown effects.
Beyond these mechanics lie Sifu’s finer details. Attacking enemies before they properly enter a fighting stance prompts extra damage, a final enemy in a fight has the chance to “power up” into a mini-boss-like foe, and certain weapons like machetes are particularly deadly and most be dodged or disarmed. One of the last portions of our preview saw the main character initiate a fight against several machete-wielding enemies with alternating approaches, replaying the same encounter with different techniques and entirely different results.
It speaks to Sifu’s deep design focus. This doesn’t look to be a game mired in stats and equipment, and healthy checkpointing mixed with the aging respawn mechanic will let budding brawlers improve their ability over time while still getting to see the whole game, before starting over and continuing the path of mastery. The fighting system is its centerpiece, and Sifu just looks like an interactive The Raid simulator - probably one of the best pitches on current consoles.
Sifu releases in February of 2022 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and the Epic Games Store for PC.
