Sifu test: the school of spin

absolver, Sloclap's previous game, was as demanding as it was attractive in concept and identity. Sifu, the youngest of the Parisian studio, takes up this description by pushing the knobs a little more in order to seduce without hiding the hardcore gamers who love stylish and intractable fights. It remains to be seen whether its main specificity, namely its system of aging with each failure, is as successful as it is original.

By clearly targeting the most patient, efficient and challenge-seeking players, Sifu could well leave all the others by the wayside... Starting with yours truly who, not being classified in any of these categories, would have in time normal quickly abandoned a title which nevertheless multiplies the arguments and only asks to be savored.

Sifu test: the school of spin See the priceRead the conclusionSifu

Hard-hitting and challenging combat
A progression system that makes sense with the subject
An artistic direction and a staging that slam
A great challenge for the most motivated

Some passages deserve a little balancing
An often frustrating progression
An overly linear level design and a perfectible camera
A mechanism that may disgust casual players

Sifu was tested on PC via an Epic Games Store code provided by the publisher. The game is released on February 8 on PC (Epic Games Store), PS4 and PS5.

A Sifu, was, was, the little brushes

From its introduction and especially its devilishly sexy interactive opening credits, Sifu does not go out of its way to expose its expeditious scenario. The player embodies the choice of a man or a woman, who will dedicate his life to one thing: avenging the death of his family. For this, it will be necessary to cross five levels filled with enemies and ending with a boss. Nothing very original so far, you will agree. Except that.

Except that Sifu is not just any action game. Admittedly, there are essentials such as heavy or light attacks, dodging and parrying (with stamina bar and left/right/up/down system not easy to master), combos or even a bar energy to perform special moves, and everything needed to practice kung fu properly. But the title, which has a significant rogue-like component, conceals something of its own which turns out to be both its strong point and its weak point: its death system.

Your character starts the game at age 20. When your health drops to zero (which happens after taking only a handful of hits, and there's little way to recover from them), a lot of things happen. First of all, it's one of the only ways to have access to a skill tree where you can spend the experience acquired during your current run. Here, you will not only be able to unlock abilities for the latter, but also invest experience (in fairly large quantities) so that you can eventually start your next runs with abilities already unlocked and make your job a little easier.

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Only one reward to unlock per altar using your age, score or XP

Also, after closing this skill menu, you instantly return to where you left off to attempt to go further, but with one more year on the clock. If by misfortune you come to die again without finishing off a powerful enemy before that to lower your death counter, again - but you will then take 2 years at once in the life seen. And so on. Thus, dying in a chain can be quickly punitive and you literally see your life flash before your eyes at full speed... and the character visually ages.

The Raid is dead

With each lost decade, the character's maximum hit points decrease and their damage increases. After 70 years, it's simply game over to the next death. You lose your bonuses and skills (except those permanently unlocked with experience), and you are good to start again at the choice of the first level at 20 years old, or at the level of your choice, but with the minimum age that you had when you got there.

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Traversing the levels allows you to find narrative elements on your targets

Thus, for example, succeeding in completing the first level while being 60 years old and with a death counter of 6 at the end will allow you to attempt the 2nd, but will only leave you 3 tries before reaching game over. The ideal then being to unlock shortcuts in the levels (in the corridor level design which leaves quite a few different paths unfortunately) to reach the bosses more quickly, and to redo the levels in a loop in search of perfection to take the least possible age. Lovers of learning the hard way, demanding with themselves, will be delighted, but others will probably see mostly grind, repetitiveness and a progression system that doesn't really help.

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Lose your mind: tatanes

And that's a shame, because Sifu's combat system is excellent and requires real attention to opponents and the environment. Do not be surrounded, find weapons around you, identify enemies to prioritize or take advantage of objects and walls to protect yourself or hinder enemies... A cocktail that requires patience, observation and a certain timing , but it is exhilarating to master. There's no point in bludgeoning your attacks like in Tekken (I know what I'm talking about), here you have to play it smart and play a lot on dodging and parrying to get by.

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I know...

Especially since the varied animations and the sensations of the controller in hand are extremely satisfying. It's hard not to push an "Ouch!" in front of this head crushed on a table with a pipe, just after dodging a shin that wanted to meet your nose. Especially since the inspired staging (which should often speak to kung-fu fans) never spoils the experience. However, the camera regularly plays up: an enemy locking system would have been appreciated, and sometimes it is difficult to read the pattern or the exact range of the enemies. But overall, Sifu is doing well on his fighting part. It must be said that he had a very good school with his Sifu Absolver, whose sleek and functional interface also seems to be a good legacy.

"YOU BECOME SIFU"

However, Sifu may a little too often make you want to throw your controller away following incomprehensible enemy touches or certain enemies that are too painful and take a long time to beat. But if there are a few moments when the game seems to be in question (did I tell you that the game was deliberately difficult, too?), often the fault will also come from the player, too rushed, badly placed or not concentrated enough . Note, however, that most of this test was carried out before the arrival of a sensible day one patch, in particular to make some fights less difficult and to correct a few bugs encountered here and there, and that the developers seem to be especially attentive to feedback. players.

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Hello, do you know Old Boy?

Technically, the Sloclap title is serious and enjoys solid performance on PC (and supports Nvidia's DLSS). Certainly, it is quite simple on the side of its engine, but it compensates with an attractive artistic direction which denotes the studio's love for martial arts, China and all the works that revolve around it. For total immersion, we regret that the audio in Chinese is not yet available: it will only arrive later, in an update. For the moment, we will have to be content with English.

Still on the sound side, the sound design of the tatane is also solid, as is the soundtrack of Howie Lee which conceals some nice moments, but does not tire the player even after several hours in the same levels. The latter moreover each offer a successful atmosphere and a sometimes mystical, surprising and memorable staging. Especially in the incredible level of the museum, which I deliberately preferred not to show you too much so as not to spoil the surprise.

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Me when I know that behind me awaits the boss...

There remain the thorny questions of the price charged and the lifespan. At €40, Sifu should satisfy and keep the most motivated players busy for a few dozen hours, even a little more for those looking for perfection, or perhaps a little less for the best players. In any case, the investment can be justified for those persevering enough to go through with this story of revenge, despite the flaws mentioned and the sometimes frustrating die and retry aspect. For the others, on the other hand, the title risks quickly gathering dust in their toy library because of its high difficulty which does not make a gift, or its repetitiveness almost impossible to dodge.

Sifu: the opinion of JVFR

Difficult to evaluate a game when you realize after fifteen hours that it is absolutely not made for you despite all your desire to like it. Admittedly, yours truly had the feeling of progressing and better mastering his systems over the failures, but it is clear that I will probably never see the end credits without help or updates as my level is today as insufficient as my patience gauge is full. And it's a shame, as I enjoyed visiting every corner of this title with its amazing atmosphere and uncompromising philosophy.

However, if you are confident and looking for a challenge, that you are not afraid to redo levels several times in a loop to optimize your runs and that you only live to make footsteps: you can go there without problem , the title of Sloclap is made for you and comes as close as possible to the perfect kung-fu simulator.

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Yes, I took a big hit on the head after this capture made with the integrated photo mode

If you didn't recognize yourself at all in these lines, on the other hand (or like me you quickly abandoned Furi, quite similar in spirit), unless you are a true martial arts lover ready to be mistreated and you probably can't see the end of it, you might be better off investing your time, your nerves and your money elsewhere. In the Warrior series, for example.

Without wanting to revive the eternal debate on the difficulty in the video game, Sifu could perhaps benefit from offering aids or different modes to help the less successful players to cross its pretty levels in a little less pain and frustration. Addressing hardcore gamers is good, but letting everyone benefit from its solid proposition is better.

Sifu

Sifu will test your patience and if you have what it takes to overcome it. In this, the game is a perfect simulator of revenge spread over a lifetime: only the few people who are sufficiently seasoned, motivated and patient will go through to the end of this project which is as hard-hitting as it is demanding.