And at least when my cortisol levels are within a normal range, beating up bouncers in SIfu is exceptionally fun. I can't say that I was exactly happy to beat up the same nightclub bouncer 50 or so times on my way into the second level, but I didn't feel I could accept defeat, either. It's irritating how compelling Sifu is in spite of all that.

There are also pointless moments where you've got to listen to an inane line of dialogue and respond before progressing-I do not need to ask what the goddamn three trials are the 30th time I am doing the three trials!-and there are beautiful but strangely long, unpopulated passageways everywhere you go. It's about repetition, which makes any and all forced lingering irritating. Once loaded, there's an annoyingly languid camera tilt down to show the protagonist entering the scene before you can take control, which contributed to my occasional desire to kick Sifu off a cliff. I don't know if Sifu would be possible before SSD times, because even as it stands I think it takes too long to restart a level, never mind get back to the boss fight. You might need to replay the level before that level, too, though, and at that point you may as well start from the beginning and grind out some permanent skill unlocks.Ībove: How boss fights tend to go on the first attempt. If you're struggling to beat a boss-the bloodthirsty, demonic museum owner, for instance, or the corporate CEO who hides out in a mine-one option is to give yourself more leeway by attempting to finish the previous level at a younger age. Once you've reached a level, you can restart it as many times as you want, always beginning from the lowest age at which you finished the previous level. What's more, you don't have to beat all five levels and their bosses in one run. Hey, no big deal-some of those years were probably gonna suck, right?

That gives them more than 10 chances to finish their mission at the cost of blowing through their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s over a few days. Thanks to a magic talisman, the protagonist can be resurrected on the spot, which ages them by a number of years that increases every time they're slain (and decreases under certain conditions). You aren't even out of the fight when Sifu kills you (which it does frequently, if I haven't made that explicit enough).

Sifu game rating