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Sifu is not perfect though. There are a lot of things that the developer, Sloclap, has already promised. When will these fixes come? It’s hard to say. In the meantime, here is a quick wishlist on things Sloclap should make note of for the first major update, or updates beyond.
7 Allow For Multiple Upgrades At Shrines
Shrines can be found throughout Sifu. They allow players to upgrade one of nine aspects of their character from three categories. Each category takes something away from the player including age, score points, and experience points.
Even if players have enough currency to grab an upgrade from all three categories, they can’t. Only one upgrade can be purchased at a time. This should be increased to at least one upgrade per category. If this doesn’t get updated then maybe more shrines could be added to levels like The Squats.
6 Increase The Flow Of Death
Death can be annoying in games and no player wants to actively die. Sifu takes this fear of death to a new level. Every time the player dies, they see a death animation, followed by the upgrade screen, which is then completed with a full revival right there in the spot.
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This eats away a lot of time especially if the player dies repeatedly in that area. It would be nice if there was an option to at least skip the upgrade process. Being able to upgrade, not in death, would be a huge benefit too.
5 Add Assist Options
Roguelikes are notoriously challenging. That’s part of the design of the genre. They push players to reach whole new levels. However, not everyone wants an intense workout on their controller. That’s why some recent roguelikes have added in assist features.
Skul: The Hero Slayer and Hades both have options to decrease damage received from enemies. Sifu doesn’t have that option or even difficulty levels. Adding in assist options or difficulty modes would be a huge help to this meme-focused roguelike.
4 Countering Upgrades
One of the hardest aspects of Sifu is the combat. It can be tricky to master because of the sheer amount of combo inputs players have to learn. The game also doesn’t help players out a lot while in battle.
For example, the game clearly takes some inspiration from other melee-focused games like the Batman: Arkham series. That game also has counter-attacks but signals pop out of enemy heads to warn players of an attack. Sifu should get an option to allow that to happen too. Even an increase in the countering window would help create a better combat flow.
3 More Environmental Weapons
Some of the best martial arts movies showcase masters using their environments as their weapons. Jackie Chan is seemingly the king of this style. Sifu has weapons in it from bamboo shoots to pipes to bottles. However, there aren’t a lot of environmental opportunities for players to take advantage of.
If the enemy, or player, slams into a wall, or table, they will take damage. That’s as far as the environmental help goes. Learning to manipulate enemies into walls or tables will prove to be an invaluable strategy. However, it would be nice if anything could be a weapon in this game. It would feel more realistic. It might be impossible to do that in a patch, but the developer could at least add in more weapons or environmental prompts. This would help with bosses especially.
2 Add Proper Stealth
There are stealth opportunities in this game but the prompts are not there. Players can’t even crouch down to sneak around. To initiate a stealth takedown, players have to hit an enemy from behind which will trigger the usual two-button combo.
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For a game that seemingly promotes stealth, it is weird that there isn’t a better-integrated system. Stealth mechanics have been in games for decades now. There are dozens of titles Sifu could have looked at for inspiration. Adding in a crouch button along with a stealth takedown prompt would go a long way in a patch.
1 Controller And Screen Options
There are two typical options found in most modern games that are missing in Sifu. One, there is no way to reduce motion blur. This might go unnoticed by most fans. However, if players try to take a screenshot without the aid of photo mode, the screenshot might turn out blurry.
This is only true when in action. Adding in a reduction to motion blur would be nice. Niche, but nice. The second missing option is in regard to the controller’s speaker. Some sound effects can be muted but not all of them. Players could reduce the volume of their controller speaker in the PS5 menu internally, but they shouldn’t have to go that far. Removing the effects should be an in-game option too.
Sifu was released on February 8, 2022 and is available on PC, PS4, and PS5.
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