Delays have been incredibly common during the pandemic to the point where almost no game hits its stated release date. Sifu is one of those games as it missed its initial 2021 window and was delayed in July 2021. Developer Sloclap then gave a specific date in February, but the team is surprisingly pushing the date up by two weeks. Sifu‘s new release date is now February 8, 2022 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
The team simply announced the push with no further explanation through a short trailer before debuting a few more trailers that delve into its aging system and combat mechanics. Its combat appears to be building on what the studio did with Absolver, but boiled down to its essentials and expanded upon from there. Players can dodge, duck, and parry to avoid attacks and watch their stamina while wearing down their opponent’s. The environment is also key as it can wield new context-specific attacks and weapons that can help tip the scales in the player’s favor. And while weapons help, learning combos does as well as certain moves have different properties like knockback and stun that can put the opponent in precarious scenarios.
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But not everyone will master the mechanics, which is where the aging system comes in. Instead of dying, players are revived through a magic pendant and aged up to “experience [the] training and self-improvement” that comes when trying to learn Kung Fu. The years pass faster with each death and players trade maximum health for attack power. But that’s only until the player gets too old (the trailer posits that this age is around 74) and the magic pendant becomes useless. Dying is definitive, meaning it appears to have permadeath. The game keeps a board of valuable information (like secret rooms and shortcuts) if players die before their journey ends, which should help expedite the process of getting back on track.
The first death ages up players one year, the second death death ages up two years, and so on. This counter can be lowered or reset by beating bosses and through shrines. However, the player can’t lower their age, just the rate at which it grows. Save points between chapters will create saves with the age players were when they first finished it and each can be replayed.
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Sifu is getting a little further from some of February’s huge games; it is no longer sandwiched right between Horizon Forbidden West and Elden Ring. However, it’s impossible to escape how many games are coming in the shortest month of the year. February still has those two aforementioned RPGs as well as Dying Light 2, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Life is Strange Remastered Collection, King of Fighters XV, and Evil Dead: The Game. So while a push up does give it some distance, there’s still a lot to contend with.
