Sifu

Overview

From Sloclap, the makers of Absolver. Sifu is a third-person action-adventure game set in an unnamed, contemporary Chinese city, but with some light magic elements mixed in. The player's goal is to take revenge on a group of five assassins who murdered his family. By defeating enemies and progressing through the game, the player can learn new moves to use against increasingly difficult enemies and situations. However, the player's aging accelerates every time he dies, making him forget certain moves and losing vitality in exchange for stronger attacks. When the player dies enough times, he is forced to restart the game from his home as a 20-year-old student. But by spending enough experience, the player can permanently remember certain new moves through the following time loop.

Main Enemies

Fajar, The Botanist

A mute man who spends his time in The Squats cultivating flowers that are used in a popular new hallucinogenic drug known as Purple Mist for an unnamed drug lord in the area. He was one of the five assassins responsible for the attack on the kwoon and killed several of the old Sifu's students, plus the Protagonist themselves at the start of the game. He wields a machete and uses his control over plants with the wood talisman to ambush his enemies.

Sean, The Fighter

A haughty fighter who owns a nightclub in the city that secretly houses a brutal fighting gym in the back, and the second of the five assassins who stormed the kwoon. Constantly looking for a worthy challenger. He wields a large bo staff, and uses his fire talisman to set the ends of it on fire, as well as burning his own students to make a point.

Kuroki, The Artist

The third of the five assassins who stormed the kwoon that fateful night. An artist with rumored ties to the Yakuza who was forced to flee Japan and reside here, for reasons that are never stated, and now she runs her own museum that exhibits her artwork. There are hints in her artwork that she killed her sister, or at least feels responsible for her death. Kuroki wields a bladed sanjiegun (3-section staff) and uses the water talisman to quickly move in and out of the Protagonist's attack range while throwing kunai.

Jinfeng, The CEO

A one-armed woman who was once the only female kung-fu master in the city, renowned for aiding the poor and downtrodden. She now runs operations for The Corporation and The Dawn Group from the top of her corporate headquarters, known simply as The Tower, and offers funds for both Kuroki's Museum and Yang's Sanctuary. Jinfeng wields a chained bell and can strike from long distances, while using the power of her metal talisman to create shockwaves to make her enemy lose their footing.

Yang, The Leader

The head of the five assassins who attacked the kwoon, and technically the first playable character in the prologue of the game who kills the original Sifu. He and Jinfeng both thought the powers of the elemental talismans should be used to help others, but the Sifu refused, thinking that no mortal could be trusted to responsibly use their power. So Yang brought together the other assassins above and stormed the kwoon to take the talismans for himself. Yang now uses the earth talisman to treat terminally-ill patients at The Sanctuary that he owns. He does not wield any weapons, but his mastery of kung-fu and the earth talisman makes his body a deadly weapon in itself.

Ending

If the Protagonist kills any of the five assassins, the player receives the Determinist ending, where they have achieved their revenge but are told by the spirit of their talisman that they have failed the principles of "Wude," or the "martial morality" taught in Chinese martial arts, and are transported back to 8 years ago where they must re-live the night of their father's death over again. However, the Protagonist can replay the levels of the game in any order after running through it once.

In the Wude ending, if the Protagonist has spared all of the assassins, they succumb to their injuries after fighting Yang, but they achieve enlightenment. Before they pass on, Yang uses the earth talisman to bring the Protagonist back from the brink of death, and the two forgive each other. A post-credit scene shows The Protagonist becoming the new Sifu of their own school in the city, where their father once taught.