For gamers who are fans of the martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, or facing overwhelming odds, Sifu is releasing in just two days. Sifu is offering players another chance at glory akin to the Dark Souls series, as early reviews suggest it is an incredibly difficult, punishing game.
For those who need some information on Sifu, the story is one of a martial arts student who has sworn to avenge the death of his/her master, who was killed by a group of former students. As such, the game sends players on a martial arts journey to track down and take down said students as well as plenty of enemies along the way.
Due to its martial arts nature, Sifu has been compared to other games, as well as other forms of media. Recently, the game drew a comparison between Sifu and Jet Li: Rise to Honor due to certain mechanics that mirror the movie's story. However, due to its incredibly challenging nature and martial arts background, many players are comparing Sifu to the popular Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Taking a note out of FromSoftware's wheelhouse, Sloclap Games has decided to release Sifu without a difficulty setting. What this means is that all players will be playing Sifu on the same level of difficulty at all times. This has been a controversial move for past games due to players feeling that it limits accessibility. The same argument was made for Sekiro at its launch, which was hailed as one of the more difficult games ever released. These comparisons between difficulty and background have led to Sifu trending on Twitter due to the comparison between it and Sekiro.
Twitter users' feelings about Sifu have varied greatly, with some saying the difficulty could be a turn-off and others praising said difficulty. This dichotomy mirrors that of many outlets that have reviewed the game, with some reviewing Sifu very positively and others bashing it for its lack of accessibility. This is the reason for the game being directly compared to Sekiro, as users quickly compared the difficulty between the two. Many users are on the side of some games being difficult, as the challenge is integral to the nature of the game. However, many other users believe it would be a simple addition to add a difficulty slider that would make the game more accessible.
Regardless of players' feelings about difficulty, Sifu has quickly become a highly anticipated title. With the game dropping very soon, players must decide whether they are willing to fight through another incredibly hard title or whether they will pass on the martial-arts Souls-like.
Sifu releases February 8, 2022, for PC and PS4/5.
