Sifu is an action-packed game that allows you to beat up all kinds of enemies while laughing your azz off. The game's graphics and gameplay are making it a visually stunning experience. The storyline is engaging and the characters are unique and entertaining. Overall, Sifu is a must-play for anyone who loves a good beat 'em up game with a side of humor.

Sifu is a masterpiece. It's got one of the most fun gameplay loops out there, getting good at Sifu genuinely makes you feel like you've improved and are now a better player because of your training.

The game starts off pretty hard, the main gimmick here is that whenever you die, instead of going back to the last checkpoint, you revive on the spot with your mystical pendant but in return, you get a little bit older. It starts off as just one year but everytime you die it adds another number to the counter, so you could very well skip 5 whole years or more of your life with just a single death. Eventually, around your 70s, you get too old to fight and then you gotta either restart the whole level and try again, or try beating an earlier level with less deaths so you have more years to spare for future, harder levels.

The game has a really satisfying gameplay, beating enemies is always fun, there is a variety of weapons and moves which add so much flavor to the whole experience, plus you have a bunch of different techniques that you can learn as you progress which also make the gameplay a lot more fun and varied. There's no proper way of describing the feeling of getting a hard parry chained into a cool execution, or perfectly dodging a complicated attack into a punish for a full combo. It's nutty as hell and it's worth all the effort.

The game also has some pretty sweet mechanics regarding its levels (and also how you age), first of all, the game kinda functions as a roguelike. The game saves your youngest age whenever you enter a level after completing a previous one, so let's say you finish level 1 at 24 years, but the next time you play that level you finish it at 28 years, you'll still be able to play level 2 at 24 because that's your youngest age so far when entering that level. This is pretty neat seeing as you'll be playing the same level many times over, wether it be trying to get a better record or just getting collectibles, which can actually interact with eachother across levels, which is good because some collectibles need items from different levels so it can be accessed (even if the level is a later one) You can also get unique upgrades whenever you start a level in the form of shrines, those can give you permament buffs that work through all levels and can greatly help you out with things like more healing or weapon damage.
You can also reduce your death counter by defeating certain hard enemies during levels, which stops you from going on a big snowball after you start dying and accumulate a ridiculous death counter

Finally, you have the Arenas mode, a free expansion released a while ago that gave every player access to a special mode where you can fight in hand-crafted scenarios with special conditions and new objectives to complete, from enemies having infinite health (can only be killed with executions) to you being granted some unbreakable weapon or being given the ability to slow down time, there are so many different scenarios and places crafted especifically for this mode that it becomes kinda crazy, you can see the devs really put a lot of effort into making something that honestly didn't even make them that much money (because it's free)

Of course, the game is pretty punishing. You're gonna get your ass handed to you for the first couple of hours while you learn to dodge, parry and move around but when it clicks, DAMN it clicks.

Satisfying action, fun af gameplay and actually pretty good voice acting? The game also has some really good areas that just feel good to look at, the graphics are simple even if a bit cartoonish but everything looks and feels pretty awesome so it's a win from me

Great game, if you're a fan of hard games and high skill ceiling "beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of the enemy" games, this beautiful thing is for you.

Sifu is an unbelievably good martial arts game. I almost want to compare it to the parts of Shenmue that involve combat - or to what I liked about Virtua Fighter as a kid or Sekiro as an adult. Timing and reading the enemy NPCs' movements are extremely well-rewarded, while button mashing or becoming a "one trick pony" are punished.

Unlocking moves and items happens in a way that seems like you're constantly getting the "good stuff," and doesn't waste your time. There are plenty of reasons to replay and improve your performance on early areas, while giving you an edge if you're observant; meanwhile, the tight combat never really grows tiresome, and as you learn the subtle differences between similar offensive or defensive actions, you also get more and more chance to "optimize" your runs.

I have nothing but good things to say about the game - it performs well even on Steam decks, and other than perhaps one room within the second-to-last level where it seemed to crash a small percentage of the time in a predictable way, everything "just works," which keeps a player focused on the action.