Sifu translates to Master and is a beat 'em up game developed by French independent video game studio Sloclap and released in association with video game publisher Kepler from London and Singapore. It is available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. This game is set in contemporary China and honours martials arts cinema from the seventies until today. If you appreciate this video game, let me recommend movies such as Five Fingers of Death (1972), The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974), The Master and the Kid (1978), The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984), A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), Once Upon a Time in China (1991), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Hero (2002), Fearless (2006) and Brotherhood of Blades (2014).
The story revolves around a child whose master and school employees are murdered by five vicious martial artists. As the child grows older, the protagonist trains to confront all five antagonists at different times and in different locations.
This game is convincing for several reasons. First of all, the different characters, locations and weapons have been fleshed out in a way that offers much authenticity, diversity and entertainment. Up next, the combat mechanics are fluid enough to help new genre fans settle in while providing enough possibilities to genre experts to explore new techniques every now and then. The ending also deserves much praise for offering different outcomes and even a reason to play the entire game again from start to finish which offers much replay value.
On the negative side, the combats might end up feeling repetitive despite the different techniques put on display. The game itself is finished rather quickly and leaves dedicated players wanting more. The story itself is as stereotypical as it gets and fails to come around with any noteworthy surprises.
At the end of the day, the game's positive elements outweigh its downsides. Action game enthusiasts should certainly give Sifu a fair chance. Occasional or new fans should perhaps start exploring this genre with side-scrolling action game Trek to Yomi. Experienced gamers should pursue their discovery of the genre with action-adventure game Ghost of Tsushima. Gamers should however not neglect watching the aforementioned movies that have aged particularly well. Needless to say that practising martial arts and visiting the countries portrayed in these games and films remain highly interesting perspectives that deserve to be stated strongly.
