SIFU is known for its challenging combat mechanic and unique aging mechanic. The game’s combat mechanics are designed to be more strategic than traditional beat-ups, emphasizing parrying, dodging, and using weapons to create distance.
Plus, these mechanics are highly praised for their smooth animation and bone-crunching impact, which are emphasized by the DualSense controller’s haptics. The game’s difficulty is also noted for its challenge, with some players finding it frustratingly hard.
The player character’s health bar melts quickly, making it essential to avoid taking hits, but these are all the generic stuff you will find in games nowadays.
Key Takeaways
- SIFU’s aging mechanics, player’s reflexes, and controls are reasons for its extremely great difficulty.
- SIFU offers martial arts enthusiasts engaging gameplay with intricate controls and customizable difficulty.
- Real-time player reflexes are required for an efficient gameplay experience.
- Customizing the controls for easy combo execution and practicing them in training mode.
Difficulty
SIFU is known for its high difficulty level, which can frustrate some players. The game’s unique aging mechanic, where the player character can die and resurrect but becomes older with each death, makes him weak in taking damage and strong as the moves he has learned are saved. This adds another layer of difficulty to the game and requires players to strategize and plan their attacks carefully.
SIFU’s control enforce players to stay focused and active on the moves that the player will choose to dish out as a punishment. Another point that adds to the difficulty is that not every move can be executed every time.
You have to read and predict your enemy’s or, in most cases, enemies’ next move, which is very difficult for a game that expects you to have excellent reflexes. However, the game’s intense combat and punishing difficulty may not be for everyone, and some players may find it too challenging to enjoy.
In SIFU, mastering the controls is considered one of the most challenging aspects of the game, requiring precision timing and strategic thinking.
Complex Martial Arts Battler
In my eyes, SIFU is not just an average brawler; it is a complex martial arts battler that demands trial and error to reach perfection. The game’s broad arsenal of Kung-Fu moves requires players to learn and execute multiple combinations precisely, making it challenging to master, especially when facing intimidating bosses.
Sifu’s developers acknowledged that some parts of the game were too challenging and adjusted the difficulty before its release. In a later update, they added new difficulty settings, allowing players to choose between Student (easy) and Master (hard) modes.
These settings provide finer-grained difficulty control, making the game more approachable for newcomers while still challenging for experienced players.
Trial & Error Learning
While the game provides a default control scheme for players to learn, mastering the controls involves significant trial and error. Players need to practice and improve their understanding of the various combos and moves available in the game to effectively handle combat situations and emerge victorious. As the saying goes, “The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed on the battlefield.”
I died at least 20 times when I first played the game until I reached the first boss. With each death, you blame the controls if you have not practiced the moves enough.
Customizable Controls
SIFU allows players to customize their controls, adapting the control scheme to their specific inputs. This customization can provide an advantage, but it also requires players to invest time and effort in fine-tuning the controls to suit their playstyle, adding another layer of complexity to mastering the controls.
This customization makes it easier for the player to execute combos, but they should also practice those moves with the controls they have set up. In my experience, customizing controls helps only if you practice the moves so they become muscle memory.
Others argue that the game’s difficulty is part of its appeal and adds to the sense of accomplishment when successfully executing complex moves and combos. They say the game’s difficulty encourages players to learn and master its combat system, providing a more engaging and rewarding experience.
Training Mode
Finally, from my perspective, the most underrated part of the game that gamers neglect is training mode. This mode allows players to practice dodges, parries, and combos against AI opponents set to different performance levels to hone their Kung Fu skills outside the primary levels.
While training mode offers a safe environment to practice, mastering the controls in actual combat situations remains a challenging task that requires dedication and skill development, which is the true essence of this game.
In summary, Sifu’s controls are the most challenging thing to master in the game due to its complex martial arts combat system, the need for trial and error learning, the option for customizable controls, and the challenging nature of combat scenarios that demand precise execution of moves and combos.
Players must invest time and effort in understanding and mastering the game’s controls to navigate SIFU’s intense and unforgiving battles successfully.
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Farrukh has been covering Souls like games for years now. Having an extensive experience in Dark Soul 3 and Elden Ring he critically judges these games and writes his unbiased thoughts on them after spending hundreds of hours grinding. Farrukh has also worked with Game Rant, MP1st and The Nerd Stash on a variety of gaming guides making him an expert to share his opinions. When not writing he probably be clearing another dungeon. You can also join Farrukh on his Steam.
