Sifu Reviews

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.

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Put simply, SIFU is a fantastic game. It’s everything I wish more modern video games were. Short (the game can be beaten in just a handful of hours if you’re good enough) but with an absolute stack of replay value. Be it via the brand new Arenas mode or through the games collectibles, modifiers and high score chasing. There’s even a surprisingly in depth and creatively open photo mode and replay editor that allows you to take some beautiful artistic shots or create awesome clips of your action. Virtual Photographers and Video Editors should have a blast with this. Unfortunately I lack the creative spark to fully exploit the tools available here, but even a dullard like myself could appreciate the power of the tools at the player’s disposal here. It’s quite impressive.PC, Switch and PlayStation players should definitely jump back in to try out the new Arenas mode and Xbox players should definitely give SIFU a go. If you can find a way to break through the difficulty barrier, there’s a fantastic brawler on offer here that I definitely think is the template going forward to bring the 2D scrolling beat ’em ups into the 3D world. Where previous efforts like Die Hard Arcade didn’t quite stick the landing, SIFU definitely takes home the gold.

Sifu is possibly the best beat ‘em up we’ve played in a long time. It’s a refreshing take on the genre, and in the words of Cobra Kai’s Johnny Lawrence, it will make you feel like a “badass” when the fight is going your way. At the same time, it can be quite ruthless. Either way, you’ll probably be thinking about your next run when you aren't even playing it, which is a sign of just how great it is.

A 3D beat 'em up by the developers of Absolver, SIFU is an outstanding action game.

It’s a razor-thin wire to walk in making this feel rewarding. Too far on one side, and it’s masochistic; too far on the other, and it’s not enough of a challenge. Somehow, Sloclap strikes dead center. Sifu is a challenge worth taking on and overcoming. It’s a story of vengeance with a little heart at the end, and though it might not land perfectly, it’s got a lot of style and action to back it up.

Sifu's incredibly satisfying combat can make you feel like an action-movie hero, but its challenging encounters and roguelike progression could leave less dedicated players feeling defeated.

The coup of Sifu is that this process mirrors that of the hero; I was continually tempted to ditch my progress and start afresh, furnished with new knowledge at the expense of a little more life.

Mastering a martial art takes years – if not a lifetime. Disciples must hone their bodies to the point that they perform every attack, every counter, every movement with pinpoint precision. A skilled warrior must move without thinking. Likewise, mastering Sifu's combat system takes a high degree of dedication and practice. Like a true martial artist, you must push through the practice pains before you reap any rewards.

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.

Fans of beat-'em-ups or kung fu movies will instantly fall in love with Sifu. If you can handle replaying levels multiple times, it's a must buy.

Mastering videogame kung fu in a half-remembered dream.

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.

Sifu is surprisingly difficult, at a level that will deter most players. However, getting past that wall will reward you with an amazingly crafted game that stays true to the developer’s vision, one that celebrates kung fu and its core meaning.

Sifu is absolutely punishing. This game will make you realize who you are – a clumsy and angry screaming noob. Try it at your own risk.

Sifu is the epitome of a well-made martial arts video game that infuses cultural storytelling, brutal combat and a dash of roguelike. With its beautiful art direction, excellent soundtrack, and immaculate attention to detail, it is sure to rivet the attention of anyone interested.

Sifu is one of the hardest games that I’ve ever played and, if it wasn’t for naively nominating myself to write this review, I would have given up on it in the first couple of hours. And yet here I am, having forced myself through the ordeal and coming out on the other side with an unexpected, yet thoroughly deserving, Game of the Year 2022 contender. It’s just a shame that many players won’t get to see it through to the end.

Sifu delivers on its promises of being one of the best Kung-Fu games ever made. With incredible animation work, flowing combat, a beautiful art style, and great music; this indie beat-em-up, roguelite game deserves more than the cult following it will probably receive.

Sifu is a difficult game, requiring you to master its complex combat in order to enact your revenge. But it could have used a bit more training before entering the arena.

Way back in 2017, a little studio called Sloclap partnered up with Devolver Digital to release Absolver: a martial arts-oriented game that featured phenomenal controls, but not a lot to do within it. What mattered most was that Sloclap proved they had the chops to create a fun martial arts game based on Hong Kong cinema, something rarely seen in gaming nowadays. They just needed time and money to come up with something special. That something special took five years to make, but it’s finall...

There has been a lot of hype around Sifu and for good reason. The unique gameplay mechanic of aging every time that you die, gorgeous art style, and slick kung fu moves made it look like an impressive start to 2022. When I was given the opportunity to preview the game a few months back, I even said that Sifu could easily be a 2022 game of the year contender. However, when playing a review copy of the martial arts beat em’ up, I found that Sifu has a plethora of other issues that made me bec...

When the issues of a game are rolled and stomped by its greatness, then it’s something to invest on if you have some spare.

And I know what I’m complaining about here is an accessibility issue. Sifu is a hard game, where overcoming the challenge is the reward. Getting your ass beat by a particular boss over and over until it clicks is such a satisfying feeling. It’s just that I want as many people to experience the game and wish it had a better way to ease some folk into its systems. You eventually get the hang of the combat, but it comes after repeatedly getting your face smashed into a wall instead of at your own pace.

Sifu is an incredible journey. Featuring top-notch animations, music tracks, and visuals that are hard to match by even a big-budget animation studio, you will find your jaw-dropping as you make your journey through this story of revenge.

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!

Nonetheless, I found myself completely enamored with Sifu. It’s absolutely dripping with style, from its painterly aesthetic to its incredible sound design that uses dynamic music to heighten and lower the tension like a well-paced film does. Sifu is the new gold standard for the beat ‘em up genre, and if you don’t mind meeting the challenge, you’ll absolutely love this game. Sifu is out February 8 for $39.99 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and the Epic Games Store.

“A rewarding experience from its start, Sifu delivers challenge after challenge, all of which are too exciting to turn down.”

If you're looking for a real beat'-em-up challenge, Sifu's got it, but it's not as fair as it is tough.

With Sifu, developer Sloclap has delivered one of the most striking and original roguelikes we’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Like the process of actually learning a martial art, this is a game that requires practice and patience – and the rewards speak for themselves. The first time we encountered a key target, for example, we aged so much that we died and had to try again. And when we did finally manage to beat him, we did so at an age in the 50s. But after yet more practice, we later returned to emerge victorious in battle at the fresh age of just 21 years old, which set us up with a much better chance of overcoming the other targets on our list. It’s achievements like this that spur you on, giving Sifu a kind of magnetism that’s rarely found elsewhere.

Despite a couple of hang-ups, Sifu should be commended for injecting a sense of danger and realism back into the beat ‘em up genre.

With that said, it’ll be interesting to see if Sloclap has any grand plans for Sifu as a franchise, or at least some post-launch support. Whereas Absolver, their previous title, had online backing to keep the fun going, Sifu is a single-player only game that doesn’t offer any procedural generated content that it inspires from. Nothing wrong with a single-player focused game, but having cranked over 30-hours into it and achieving the full Platinum trophy, I’m eager to see what exciting content or game the studio has next, and hopefully this isn’t the last we’ll see of Sifu.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with Sifu. I know that it's an excellent game. The combat is tight, feels really fluid, and is going to provide a nice challenge for people who want one. However, its gameplay loop and punishing aging system and multiplier, mixed with a lack of proper training and tutorial elements, ruined whatever enjoyment I felt at the start.I have no doubt that a lot of people are going to love that the game is super difficult, especially if you enjoyed Absolver, but I am just not one of those people.

A brilliant take on the roguelike genre, Sifu is a game that is hard to beat, but even harder to put down. Timing, patience, and skill will see you to fulfilling your goal and exacting that sweet revenge.

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 one-of-a-kind rogue-like that marries an engaging setup with sublime combat mechanics. It scratches that integral itch that fuels subsequent runs, and it tries its best to avoid the feeling that time has been wasted. Progression exists in many different forms, but Sloclap's standout title pulls off one of the more impressive versions of it. Sifu shows players they are actually getting better at the game.

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 a 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 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.