When I started this game, I couldn't make it to the first boss without getting killed at least once or twice. Now, 135 hours later, I have finished the game on the highest difficulty without dying once. As I dodged the final boss's final attack and watched him go down, my heartrate soared to... probably unhealthy levels. But dang did it feel good . That's really Sifu in a nutshell. Some reviews talk about its short length, but this is one of those games that's not about getting from the start to the end. It's about improving and mastering the game mechanics over countless runs. It's a journey in steps, so to speak - first you barely limp over the finish line, then you try tackling the challenges that are unlocked after finishing the game once, then you get the secret ending, then you get comfortable enough to try master difficulty, then you barely limp over the finish line of that, then you think "hey I think I might be able to no-death this game now." So on, so forth, until you've beaten the game without getting hit once. And every time you climb a step? It's the best feeling ever. Also, there may only be five levels but each of them has a massive amount of love and attention to detail put into them, and it shows. The levels are heavily color-coded and have vastly distinct atmospheres - some of them even start changing in fantastical ways as the targets begin using their magic talismans against you. Each room, as well, feels like its own unique setpiece. Every enemy has a different design, while still keeping it easy to tell apart special enemies through to their body build. There's a multitude of alternate paths, shortcuts, collectibles and lore rooms that reveal stuff about the bosses. It doesn't feel like you're running through a videogame level, but rather a real, breathing place full of people that just happen to be fantastic at martial arts. It all makes the world come alive and enhances the gameplay experience. Of course, none of this would matter if the combat system wasn't as good as it is. You have a myriad of different attacks at your disposal, performed with simple enough button combinations, which makes the system easy to pick up, for as difficult as it can be to master. Work on your timing to break the enemy's structure through parries, or your reflexes to identify high and low attacks and perform the correct type of dodge. Or, just fight dirty - throw bottles, break sticks on heads, push people down stairs, off ledges and into other people, spend focus bars to perform devastating special attacks... You've a ton of options at your disposal, and it's a joy to learn how to use them all to their maximum potential. Big shoutout to arena mode as well. A more arcade-ish, short-bursts experience than the main game, distilled down to the core basics of the gameplay and jam-packed with enough challenges to give you a good 10-15 more hours of content just going through them - and much like the base game, they incentivize you to improve at them by mean of stamps, which award currency to purchase gameplay modifiers. And once you have 3-stamped every arena? Well, they say if you do exceptionally well, you might attain the fabled gold stamps... Oh yeah, that's another thing. Gameplay modifiers. Make yourself invincible, make enemies stronger, activate slow-motion with the press of a key, give yourself an unbreakable weapon, age backwards, age on each hit instead of death, fight invisible enemies, randomize enemy movesets or change up your own... I still haven't played around too much with these but it's probably a great way to challenge yourself after you've mastered the game or just feel like having a bit of fun. And to top it all off, the game is visually really pretty, enjoying one of those artstyles that age really well and don't need millions thrown at them to look good; and the story, while simple, serves as a neat little bow to wrap up the package. The characters of the targets get decently fleshed out through collectibles and dialogue, and even your own playable character goes through a bit of development depending on how you play the game. I don't usually write reviews on Steam. I also don't usually buy soundtracks or artbooks on Steam. For Sifu, I went out of my way to get both of the latter, despite the fact that I probably won't get much use out of them, just because I wanted to throw more money at the developers for creating this masterpiece. Similarly, I felt the need to write a review. Get my love for this game out there. One of the greatest games I have ever played. Don't be discouraged by its seemingly short length or its daunting mechanics. If it clicks for you, getting good at this game is an unforgettable journey.
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