Sifu review: martial arts roguelike is too complex for its own good

Sifu’s got a good pitch. A martial arts expert, you are determined to take revenge on the people who have hurt you. However, there is a way to get back up every time you go down. Your avatar becomes frail and gray as you race to complete your quest.

It’s a novel concept, so it’s a shame that developer Sloclap wasn’t able to make it work. SifuIt is full of infuriating, confusing and inescapable flaws, almost all tied to the supernatural twist.

Sloclap by Polygon

Before we get into that, let’s talk about the good stuff: The “badass martial arts master” portion of the pitch is executed with incredible skill. Sifu It has all of the elements that make up an action-packed game. You can use it to create your Hong Kong action dreams. You can combine light and heavy attacks into stunning animated combos to deliver satisfying hits. thwacksComic book action lines. With brutal and fast environmental executions, you can stun stunned enemies. This will cause gasps all around. From the jump, you’re a force to be reckoned with.

However, your opponents will not give up. You can be knocked out in just a few hits. They use their numbers and surround you to overpower and overwhelm you. Sifu’s goons are hardly as polite as the kind we’ve come to expect in a post-Batman: Arkham third-person combat world. They don’t wait their turn, and they don’t broadcast their intent with blinking warning icons. So you’re always on the move, sliding across tables and hopping over furniture — constantly scrambling to deny them the full benefit of their superior numbers.

Sloclap by Polygon

The time to flee from your assailants Do catch up to you, you’ve still got tools — maybe too many. Sifu’s defensive resource is called “structure,” and it works a lot like “posture” in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Although you can absorb and block attacks, your structure meter will swell. It shatters when it fills up, making you vulnerable for just a few seconds. If you time your block perfectly, however, the enemy can take structural damage. Sifu adds another layer of technical complexity with its “avoids,” which are executed by holding the block button and flicking the left stick up or down, depending on whether you’re evading a high attack or low attack. With the right timing, you’ll escape damage and recover a bit of structure.

It takes time to learn the usefulness of each one of these defensive tools, but it is worth the effort. There’s nothing like perfectly timing a duck under an incoming baseball bat and watching your opponent slug the poor goon behind you.

SifuIt is best to drop you in overwhelming situations and then ask you to employ these defensive and offensive tools to defeat the odds. You’ll shove a foe into a crowd of his allies and then flow through them, parrying, disarming, striking, dodging, sweeping, and having a lovely time. It’s amazing to think that is all there is. Sifu’s reach, and that it’s happy to revel in all of this kinetic, violent joy.

Alas!

Everything else. When I saw the debut trailer that revealed the nifty “get older every time you die” mechanic, I thought, Oh, neat. I wonder how they’ll massage that concept into an elegant game system. I’m sad to report that the answer to that question is: “They didn’t.” It’s confusing and unwieldy. Its inner logic can be difficult to understand and it has a negative impact on everything.

Sloclap by Polygon

So let’s get into it.

It’s easy to get started SifuAs a Pak Mei master aged 20, Five big jerks must be rescued and killed in order. You are reborn with an increased life bar, more gray hairs and a renewed spirit each time you die. It is called The Sum of aging you’ll do is a Fibonacci sequence determined by your current death count. After your first death, you’ll be 21; after your second, you’ll be 23; after your third, you’ll be 26; and so forth.

I hope you’re not already confused, because we’re just getting started.

Each decade represents a significant milestone. You’ll gain a bit of attack power, but your maximum health will shrink. This is very cool. You become a glass-cannon and the combat risk/reward ratio changes. Every death gives you the opportunity to access a shop, where experience points can be spent on highly useful combinations and skills like throwing projectiles at opponents, performing a devastating parry follow up, or sliding kicks that knock them over. Cool! Easy enough.

But!There is a cutoff age for each skill. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I suppose. A skill that you have already purchased can be repurchased. You don’t unlock a better version of it, but if you buy it five times, it will be unlocked on all subsequent runs. Hrm.

Sloclap by Polygon

The system can be overwhelming, even for the interface. It’s a sea of pink, black, and gray dots, as well as XP costs, tool tips and terms and condition. The process of dumping experience into already-unlocked skills isn’t rewarding. This is like repaying my student loans.

Shrines can be used to increase core stats. They are found throughout the levels. Shrines offer passive benefits, such as increased weapon durability and health recovery after takedowns or the chance to reset you death counter. You can invest one point into each shrine to unlock any of the nine perks. Each level has three levels. Which currency can you use to get these perks? It all depends on what perk you want. Some are unlocked with experience, some by simply being under a certain age, and others with the third abstract currency of “level score.”

Right now, you might be saying, “Why are you telling me all this? Many games feature confusing, difficult-to-understand progression systems. I’ve played Dark Souls.” And you’re right. When they’re molded into gameplay, complex and prickly progressions can still be fun.

But that’s not the case here. Not at all.

I haven’t even dug into how bosses work, or how you have to restart a run once you die after the age of 70. My energy was spent reading. Sifu’s opaque network of rules and systems, and I want to spare you, dear reader, from the same form of exhaustion. Trust me, I will not be able to understand you no matter how hard you try. SifuYou will never meet it halfway.

You might like Hades Refund, SifuIt is a running-based game, with each run being an opportunity to improve your score. But unlike those games, its execution is needlessly complex, and it’s really, really hard to tell if you’re making any permanent progress.

HadesThe icons and effects that enhance weapon and perks are displayed on the screen to reinforce them. You can also find In SifuExternal reminders are not available to remind you of what skills have been acquired. I can’t count how many times I mashed the input for a technique, only to realize I hadn’t unlocked it on that particular run. Without going through the painful and tedious process of permanently unlocking skills, there is no way to create muscle memory. In short, Sifu’s visual language isn’t doing its convoluted systems any favors.

Likewise, the perks you’ve gained from shrines are reset and overwritten with each new attempt, making it just about impossible to easily plan your build, or even hold onto any reliable understanding of your own abilities.

SifuThis is an extremely difficult roguelite and will require you to replay all levels. However, it’s worth mentioning that the level layouts and enemy placements are identical on each run. I’ve enjoyed games where this is the case. Dark Souls is about learning effective routes to boss battles and weaving around opponents, fighting when needed. You can find out more. SifuThis is not possible. Fighting is not easy. Doors are locked up until the lowly goons have been defeated. It might take you 10-15 minutes to get back to the boss if all goes according to plan. These runs are not surprising and can increase your mastery. But when you’ve seen the same scripted events and heard the same unskippable dialogue for the dozenth time, it feels horribly rote, and all that’s left is drudgery.

Sloclap by Polygon

It’s such a shame, because there are some beautiful sequences in this game. The game takes you through beautiful scenes with haunting sounds and vivid colors. It’s amazing — the first time. However, each time I tried it again and again I became more confused and frustrated. They did an amazing job but I was not satisfied. No oneTell them the type of game it was. Was it obvious to the players that they would need to navigate this beautiful interactive art installation repeatedly in order to get the chance to beat the enemy to death?

SifuIt is frustrating, but underneath all the clunky, messy contrivances there is an amazing action game.Really?Want to play. You want to play. Sifu can’t get out of its own way, and its high-concept ambitions spoil its fundamental pleasures.

SifuFebruary 8th on PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5; pre-orders go live on Feb. 6th. Sloclap gave us a PS5 Download Code to review the game. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions on products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.