Beat ‘Em Up Coming to Xbox and PC – Geeko

Temporary exclusivity for the PlayStation console catalog, Sifu is finally eligible for a port on PC and Xbox consoles with new content.

You may remember the excellent Absolver, the previous game from the small studio Sloclap. Quite successful at the time, the title served as the (solid) basis for the development of Sifu, an intense but above all very demanding fighting game released just over a year ago on PS4 and PS5. Given its exclusivity, relatively little was said about the title. Its release on Xbox and PC consoles is an opportunity for us to tell you about it.

From an aesthetic point of view, shifu has a unique style.

He embodies a martial artist who goes in search of revenge for his master, who was killed many years ago by a group of five mysterious people. A simple and understandable game scenario in structure, we will go through five levels, where each of the five antagonists who helped defeat our master is waiting for us. If the events are very classic, you can still find objects in the levels that give a little context about the places visited or the activities of the various antagonists.

A bit like an old-fashioned beat ’em up, the different levels are linear passages punctuated by fights with a whole bunch of enemies. The gameplay is especially good. A few small issues with the camera don’t stop the game from being enjoyable. The movement is smooth, the grip is effective, and the blows delivered are powerful. The rather high difficulty of the game gives a real sense of accomplishment when you manage to defeat all of these very aggressive enemies, they will not hesitate to attack you while you are helpless or lying on the ground. All of our opponents have a defense bar that, once full, allows them to get off balance and complete a destructive chain.

You can do a whole bunch of combos and useful tricks in different situations, as well as use weapons and items found in the environment, but you also need to bet heavily on defense with guards and various evasions. You can use the concentration bar to launch more powerful attacks that allow you to use all the blows of other fighters. Defeating enemies brings us experience points that can be spent on new combat skills. They must first be temporarily purchased and therefore can be used during the current game, but they can be acquired permanently by paying much more experience.

This new version of the game is enriched with content.

The development of the name is based on the original concept, but is also punitive in nature. Thanks to the power of a magical talisman, you can return right to where we died, but each of our deaths will age our character. The number of years that a person loses with each death depends on the counter, which increases every time you walk past a weapon on the left. Our first death will age us by a year and add a point to this meter, and if it is not reduced by playing well enough, our next death will result in us losing two years instead of one. This counter can keep increasing, and it goes without saying that our character can age very quickly. With age, our protagonist gains strength, but loses vitality, and when he is over 70, the game ends.

However, the title does not resume at the very beginning, it is possible to start the level again from the age we had when we completed the previous one. If this age is too high, then we must return to the level even earlier and finish it as well as possible in order to preserve our young years. So the goal is to play well enough to survive to the last level. Thus, the high difficulty of the game forces us to repeat the levels over and over again until we master the gameplay enough to be able to progress. Juggling offensive abilities so as not to be overwhelmed by a group of enemies and the judicious use of defensive tools is very important. You will also have to face the game’s five antagonists, who are the strongest and most aggressive enemies. Sifu is a frustrating experience, but it can come in very handy in exchange for your time and some investment, a concept that not everyone will like.

You have to face in everything and for everyone with five bosses.

Sifu chooses a very pleasing art direction. The title suggests the realistic proportions of the environment and characters, and the colors and hues are a bit reminiscent of paintings. A mixture that gives it a special atmosphere and offers very beautiful landscapes. Another strength of the title is its particularly neat staging. In addition to the fights that offer very well animated martial arts moves and impressive sequences that always feel natural, in many cases the game scenery also stands out. The music, unfortunately, is not very catchy, but very good. The sound design is especially good, giving the action even more panache.

If it takes a while to complete an adventure, it’s primarily thanks to the punitive game system that makes us start over and over again. Without this aspect, life expectancy would actually be very short. The result is a very repetitive title despite some alternate paths throughout the levels. This game also remains rather confusing and frustrating, but it becomes exhilarating when the various elements of the title are assimilated. Sifu really asks you to master the art of kung fu and that’s what makes it so charming. Please note that for the release on PC and Xbox consoles, the game is enriched with content with the Arenas expansion, which adds 9 new areas and 45 new challenges, a survival mode, a capture mode, and a Time Attack mode. New features that will extend the life of the title by more than 10 hours, but which in the end will only be of interest to those players who fully adhere to the concept.

Conclusion

Released last year on PS4 and PS5, Sifu finally got the right to release on PC and Xbox consoles. This port, very solid, brings new content that greatly extends the life of the game as we are talking about several new game modes, 9 new areas to explore, 45 new challenges. So a nice addition, but one that will only be of interest to fans of the title as it’s about alternative ways to play the title and not about continuing the story. One thing is for sure, this very demanding beat ’em up game has a lot to tempt with its neat aesthetic, very demanding gameplay and unique concept. The title is really complex and harsh, our character can get up every time he dies in exchange for years of his life, and once those 70 years are over, the game will be over. If the adventure itself is really not long, the difficulty forces you to redo the few stages of the game many times in order to waste as few years as possible. A repetitive experience that takes time and persistence, but which proves to be very rewarding once the game is mastered.

_
Follow Geeko on Facebook, Youtube and Instagram so you don’t miss any news, tests and tips.

Sifu

li { font-family: FontAwesome; } .review-wu-bars ul li { display: inline-block; swim to the left; width: 8%; height: 6px; edge right: 2%; } .rev-option ul li { margin-top: 0 !important; lower bound: 0 !important; left margin: 0! important; padding-left: 0 !important; } .review-wu-bars ul { width: 100% !important; padding-left: 0 !important; margin: 0 0 15px 0; } .review-wu-bars ul li { background: #E1E2E0; color: #E1E2E0; } .review-wu-bars ul.wppr-very good li.colored { background: #8DC153; color: #8DC153; } .review-wu-bars ul.wppr-not bad li.colored { background: #FFCE55; color: #FFCE55; } .review-wu-bars ul.wppr-weak li.colored { background: #FF7F66; color: #FF7F66; } ]]>

We love :

Solid gameplay

original ideas

Good additions to content

Lots of work on animation and staging

Very good art direction

We like less:

Very difficult and not very accessible

A short adventure artificially lengthened by difficulty

Very repetitive

Some problems with the camera