12/29/2023 0 Comments Insurmountable ps5Sifu is a game all about utilizing every skill at your disposal, so a skill tree system that takes away abilities is baffling to me. If you get “entry” to a skill and forget to get it again, it’s pretty damn annoying to find out you don’t have it in the middle of a fight. Made more so by how frustrating it is to remember which skills you have during your current run. Sounds confusing and annoying? It sure is. This means that if you’ve bought in twice, when you restart and get past that “entry” free, you’ll only have to buy-in three more times to make it permanent so you’ll never have to purchase “entry” again. Your five buy-ins are permanent, so even if you die and have to buy “entry” to the ability again, it’ll keep your buy-ins. Once you purchase past the “entry” level, you can buy into it five more times after that. There’s an “entry” level of access to each ability, but that access restarts when you die. This entire skill tree is convoluted as hell. It can only be accessed at preset shrines (checkpoints of a sort) or upon death. You can mitigate this somewhat by the game’s skill tree. Now getting old does increase your damage output at the cost of your overall health, so I suppose it’s up to you to balance your own risk vs. Guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. As you get older, learning some skills gets cut off. Staying young benefits you not only by giving you more lives in the following levels, but also keeping your access to unlocked abilities. Conversely, if you choose to keep running and perfecting a single level, it feels mighty badass to beat it at only 22 or 23. You’ll only be disappointed that you beat the boss aged 45 instead of the starting age of 20. It leads to a feeling unlike any other game, where even when you beat that boss, it rarely feels triumphant. So your overall flow in the game is trying to beat each level, and its associated boss, with as few deaths as possible. It’s frustrating at first, but it feels damn good when you finally beat them only dying once or twice. They demand perfection from you, and you’re gonna have to put the time into learning their attack patterns. Even if you get past the mobs easily, the bosses are no joke. There’s only five levels in the game and each can be beaten in a half hour, but you’re gonna be pouring a lot more time into them than that. The real bastard of it is that your age carries over to the next level. The number keeps growing in your death counter, and though that death count gets reduced in a few ways, it nonetheless can add up quickly. Setting this game apart, however, is that dying ages you. Sifu is not on your side, and is in fact a pretty poor teacher, so you’ll be dying a lot. This is all well and good, but it is much easier said than done. So that’s your goal in most encounters, take down enemies as fast as possible and utilize all takedown opportunities. Takedowns are essential as you’re invincible during the animation, and it replenishes a small portion of your health. Combos are constructed with heavy/light attacks, and your goal is to drain enemies’ health or “structure.” If you attack quickly and with skill, you’ll destroy that structure and get to perform a takedown. This speaks nothing to your offensive options, which are every bit as intricate as you might expect. That’s six different options just for when an enemy attacks you. When an enemy attacks, you can dodge, block, parry, weave, duck low, or hop high. You have to learn its intricacies, and accept that there are no half-measures. This is because, more than anything, Sifu demands your patience. Bosses are gonna wreck you at first, seeming like insurmountable foes. Enemies can kill you in only a few hits, and the only way to recover health is earned with takedown moves. It does this not by making you an overpowered ass kicker, but by making you earn your skills. Despite all of this, I can’t put it down.Īs evidenced in its marketing, Sifu is most interested in making you feel like a martial arts master. There is an exciting kung-fu story at the outset, but seems confused about itself by the end. The levels are artistically beautiful and loaded with thrilling set piece battles, but you’ll be replaying them ad nauseum. It has some of the most mechanically dense and interesting combat of any game out there, but it’s muddled in confusing upgrade mechanics.
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