It's only natural that, when a huge amount of game announcements pour forth, some of them get lost in the excitement. Events like E3 and Summer Game Fest are always packed with more games than there is time for the video game community to talk about at depth, no matter how exciting they are. The things people take away from E3 and similar events are almost always whatever is the most exciting in one sense or another. However, one game that's cropped up again during 2021's summer game conferences is Sifu, and although it hasn't been the star of the show, it deserves much more attention than it's gotten so far.
Sloclap recently teased a gameplay trailer for Sifu, and it just delivered. IGN's Summer of Gaming included one minute of Sifu action, giving fans a better image of how the martial arts brawler from the makers of Absolver plays. The gameplay trailer was light on specifics, but filled to the brim with subtle hints on how Sifu works and what makes it special. There simply isn't a game quite like Sifu on the market right now, and it deserves a lot more attention than it's gotten so far. The latest gameplay trailer from Sloclap is filled with evidence that its next game is something special.
Sifu's Dynamic, Environmental Combat
There's not a lot of games out there that focus on the relatively simple combat that Sifu seems to focus on. Shooters like Destiny or fantasy RPGs like The Elder Scrolls, which feature wide weapon arsenals, are the name of the game right now. The Sifu gameplay trailer makes it clear that it's all about unarmed hand-to-hand combat, and it makes the most of that. The gameplay looks extremely fluid, letting the player move quickly between individual targets, unleash all kinds of unique combos at a moment's notice, and make the most of the Sifu protagonist's unarmed artistry.
Even though Sifu is about unarmed martial arts, Sloclap is clearly exploring what that type of combat looks like in different environments. For example, the Sifu gameplay trailer shows the protagonist grab a bottle off a bar and smash it against an enemy as a part of a combo, which suggests improvised weapons will take the place of collectible look and add diversity to the combat as Sifu players explore the city. What's more, there's apparently destructible environments and obstacles that the player can vault over, which opens lots of possibilities for player mobility in Sifu and encourages fans to wreak highly cinematic havoc by tearing up every battlefield.
Sifu Deserves More Attention
Sifu represents a genre of games that isn't nearly as popular as it used to be. It's a martial arts beat-em-up that almost feels like a distant cousin of games like Streets of Rage -- traditional city roaming brawlers that defined a genre. Unlike other action games of their kind, Sifu doesn't appear to have different characters to choose from or supernatural techniques, aside from the Sifu protagonist's cycle of resurrection. What Sifu lacks in those flashy departments, it can more than make up for with fluid, mobile combat where all the combos and techniques of a fighting game's whole roster of characters are packed into one protagonist.
Sloclap isn't the most famous developer out there, but it has a lot of potential on its hands via Sifu. The game industry is largely built on the backs of small independent developers like Sloclap that come forward with unique ideas and contribute something refreshing to the game industry. Indie studios make clever, experimental games that take risks that AAA developers avoid. Absolver already indicated Sloclap's knack for coming up with unique ideas, and that experience can easily translate into making Sifu something special. As more information about Sifu rolls out, hopefully it gets some of the attention it deserves.
Sifu releases for PC, PS4, and PS5 in 2021.