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Other unlockable upgrades are more forgiving, including one’s tied to your score or experience points. However, there are certain skills that can only be upgraded under certain conditions, forcing you to unlock them first.įor example, upgrading weapon durability can only be done before the age of 25. It allowed me to build the character I know I would play well as, but health is an obvious go-to. Before I knew it, I was 75!Īlong the way, you’ll find “Rewards” in the form of idols, which allow players to increase a stat such as health gained on takedowns, structure reserve for blocking, or weapon durability. After all, with each decade, your damage increases, but your health decreases. And, if you do get taken down, to know where to take down special enemies to reduce that death tally. It’s an interesting mechanic, adding to the pressure of making your way through stages (and replaying them) with as few deaths as possible. Once you do, your age stays the same, but the tally is reduced by one. The death tally keeps going up until you defeat a special, more adept type of enemy (more on that later).
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So, when you die once, you get a year added to your life. These skills are only temporary though, and you’ll need far more to unlock them permanently on a run.
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This is where the hyped age mechanic comes into play, giving you a death tally to add to your age and gain skills using XP you’ve earned throughout the fights players have endured so far. It all goes quite easily until a random group of enemies didn’t go down with the simple combos I was used to. However, it lends to the student’s drive to preserve their family’s legacy, and also makes players want to preserve as much life as they can. The whole game takes place over the course of a day, and it’s eerie to think the student can age over 50 years - from 20 to over 70 - in that space of time. This is both a gift and a curse, as aging offers more experience and greater damage, but decreases health. The catch? The student ages every time they get back up. It follows the story of a Kung Fu student (male or female) hunting down the murderers of their family, with their only aid being a special pendant that allows them to resurrect after being taken out. This is a story ripe with revenge, with your character exploring different destinations of those who wronged them, with five on the hit list.
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I adore the way Sifu’s story unfolds along with the gameplay right from the get-go, including the opening credits teaching you how to do the fundamentals on your character’s eventual threats.
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#Sifu game release date Ps4
That’s part of the fun, though, and heading back to pulverize a horde of foes that once floored me never gets old.Īvailable on PC via the Epic Games Store, PS4 and PS5, Sifu is one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to come out this year. Speaking of, honing my skills to get through this game was frustrating yet rewarding, as Sifu’s learning curve can take time to get used to. But much like the game’s theme of mastery through practice, the developers have honed their skills. Sifu could have been a run-of-the-mill action game with interesting fighting mechanics in the same vein as Sloclap’s last game, Absolver. That isn’t a dig at Sifu’s repetitive nature on the contrary, the developers know gamers are here for an explosive, yet grounded Kung Fu experience and they’ve delivered the badassery in spades. Sloclap’s beat ‘em up action-adventure takes a number of twists and turns from there, but this introduction perfectly captures how the rest of the game plays out. You get the sense that you’re taking control of a martial arts master out for revenge. As soon as you boot up Sifu, expect to be greeted with stylish, film-esque visuals, and to be thrown into satisfying Kung Fu action instantaneously.
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