PC Gamer - UK (2022-04)

variance to keep you on your toes.
Inscribing attack patterns into your
brain folds is a tried and true form of
fun, and I did delight in finally
snuffing out each boss, easily dodging
combos that once tormented me –
even the damned sweeping trip
attacks. But Sifu shines where
memorisation meets improvisation
and playfulness, an experience
mainly found in the
goon-filled rooms on
the way to the bosses.
You can produce
wildly diverse
combinations of
kneeings, elbowings,
kicks, punches, and
throws from just two
buttons and an analog
stick. (There’s keyboard and mouse
support, too, but it feels like playing
Rocket League that way: doable, but
weird.) It’s fun just to take part in
such a stylish display of imagined
(but mostly grounded) athleticism,
but Sifu’s brilliance lies more in
defence than offence.
You can slip and roll around and
under haymakers, kicks, and grabs,
which basic enemies telegraph
clearly like the amateurs they are
(thanks to Sifu being a singleplayer
game, it can slow down time to make
this easier). It’s possible to avoid most
attacks that way, and it’s enormously
satisfying to stand in place dodging
every foot and fist and baseball bat
that enters your airspace like a pro
boxer who outclasses their opponent
and definitely knows it.
When everything clicks, all your
moves flow together in long brawls
that look more like some amazing
movie action scene than something
you could possibly be controlling.
There’s a big fight inside the
nightclub level that can’t be avoided,
and so I’ve done it dozens of times.
It’s always a little different, but a
snippet of it might go something like
this: I run in and beat a guy to the
floor with a baseball bat, bounce it off
someone else’s forehead, dodge a
punch from behind me and then
throw a backhand into their temple
without turning around (the charged
backfist attack has become one of my
favourite unlocks), trip another
combatant with a kick and then
dodge an incoming punch by
kneeling down to hammer them with
punches, stand the tripped guy back
up and palm strike him over a
staircase, sending him tumbling onto
the dance floor, kick an ottoman at

another dude to throw out his legs,

too, and so on. There’s much more

you can do in just those five levels.

INTO DREAMS

But the kung fu revenge tale meant to

make sense of those levels comes

across like someone’s poorly-

remembered dream. In its

otherworldly China, nightclubs,

corporations and

medical centres are all

run by elusive kung fu

masters, a drug lab

transforms into a

bamboo grove, and a

museum elevator leads

to a moonlit night. Like

so many dreams, the

plot probably matters

more to the dreamer than to anyone

else, but Sifu’s logic can be enjoyably

uncanny and its visual effects are

fantastic. At one point, waves of

golden energy rise from a deep-earth

bell, seeming to liquify banded iron

ore in the cave walls surrounding

you. Rather than Sifu’s clumsy

dialogue and character barks, I

wanted that powerful foreshadowing

to be paired with some of Max

Payne’s noir monologuing, “My

future was ringing in my ears...”

Remedy’s waking nightmares in

Max Payne and Control do make for a

decent point of comparison, but

Quentin Tarantino films are really

Sifu’s nearest comparison. The

opening cutscene is reminiscent of

O-Ren Ishii’s animated origin in Kill

Bill, and like those movies it’s guided

in large part by a fascination with

cliché and archetype. Martial arts

films are the major inspiration for

both, and early in Sifu there’s a direct

nod to the hallway fight in Oldboy.

That first level doubles as an homage

to The Raid, taking place in an

apartment building strewn with

junkies who the protagonist notes

aren’t a threat, more or less informing

us that they’re just props.

They’re slightly more than that by

the end, as the expensive-looking

healing centre at the conclusion

provides some critical contrast. That

connection may say more about the

country I live in than China, though.

Sifu’s point of view on the nation it’s

set in is hazy. The Paris-based studio

worked with Chinese consultants,

and its creative director is associated

with a French Pak Mei kung fu

master, the chosen disciple of master

Lao Wei San in Foshan. Reverence

for that tradition and lineage is

obvious in the school that acts as the

protagonist’s home base between

levels, but the other places come

across like Control’s Oceanview

Motel: not generic, exactly, but

locationless. They could be part of

the fictional world in Sloclap’s

previous game, Absolver.

PRACTICE MAKE PERFECT

What is mainly gained from these

kung fu enthusiasts is the mechanical

videogame adaptation of a specific

style of kung fu. I can’t say whether

or not the character shows faithful

form, but the cohesiveness of the

moveset comes through brilliantly.

And I did have the experience of

‘mastery through practice’ that was

promised. In that way, Sifu’s focus on

kung fu tradition is a success, even if

the setting and story are mostly just

mystifying spectacle.

I wish I had recorded my first

blundering advance through the

opening stage so that I could see just

how far I’ve come. It’s hard to

remember being a novice after you’ve

trained so much that you can no

longer say exactly how you do it: at

this point, I just dodge when it’s time

to dodge and attack when it’s time to

attack. That’s a lot more complicated

to do in the physical world, but 30

hours with Sifu’s videogame version

can at least get you a heady whiff of

kung fu mastery.

85

The experience of

coolly beating up a

dozen goons at once

is worth enduring

Sifu’s lows for.

VERDICT

You can slip

and roll around

and under

haymakers,

kicks and grabs

YOUNG VS OLD

The pros and cons of getting older

YOUNG MASTER

· Has more health.

· Whole life ahead of him.

· Dad was murdered pretty

recently though, so that stings.

· Lots of muscles.

OLD MASTER

· Does more damage.

· Wasted whole life beating up

gangsters for revenge.

· Still sad about dad anyway.

· Good beard.

Sifu

REVIEW