While playing SIFU, you’ll find yourself in three different situations, and here are some tips & tricks on how to Kung-Fu through these situations.
Those of you checking this article, are already aware of the game SIFU, a beat ’em up action-adventure both developed and published by French studio Sloclap. It’s one of the most anticipated games of this year and I get those of you who have got your hands on it is struggling a bit with the gameplay. Yes, SIFU isn’t like any other beat ’em up games we play every day. So before stepping into the tips & tricks, here’s a brief if you didn’t pay attention to the opening chapter.
SIFU is the story of a young Kung-Fu student on a path of revenge, hunting for the murderers of entire his family. The hunt for the murderers will you take through the hidden corners of the city, and you get only one day to take down countless foes on your way to the murderers. Every mistake that you make, you pay the costliest price of all, time.
Each time you go down, your age goes up. You get up again at the expense of a special coin that your dad gave before he was killed. When you run of the coins, the game is over. Before that happens, learn the tricks below and master yourself with the Pak-Mei Kung-Fu.
So, let’s get on with the tips & tricks.
While playing SIFU, you’ll find yourself in three different situations. 1. Facing regular foes while progressing through a stage. 2. Facing multiple foes or a foe with special skills/abilities. 3. Facing the boss. Before getting into the details on how to deal with these situations, there are some common factors to be noted while you deal with any of these situations.
Adapt the environment and position yourself accordingly. Whether facing a regular foe or the boss, first and foremost, you must adapt to the environment. It’s vital how you position yourself and take advantage of the situation you’re in. Careful positioning and clever using the environment to your advantage are key to your survival. The odds are stacked against you, and you will be offered no mercy.
Learn the opposition’s pattern of attack in each stage. There are a set of foes and each with their distinct pattern of attacks in different stages. The sooner you figure out your opponents’ patterns and rhythms, the faster you can take them down. The best way to do so is by letting them attack you first while you defend or avoid getting hits. Once you know when to hit back, a solid defense that combines parries and avoids will provide you with several possibilities to counterattack.
You must always try to avoid getting cornered at all costs. You’ll need to be alert to prevent being cornered. AI oppositions in SITU aren’t as dumb as the usual beat ’em up games. They’ll chase you and try to corner you to attack simultaneously from every side. One will successfully hit you while you were defending hits from another. Best way to run away from such a situation and face them in a narrow entrance where they come one after another.
Also, to handle groups of foes, you may utilize the environs to place yourself as well as the different crowd control aspects of the fighting tactics. Use the Focus ability (L1) as soon as the bar is full to take down one.
Stay close to sticks or hitting objects. Weapons and throwable things are valuable tools for getting you out of difficult circumstances. Take a look around! Most will be disguised in the surroundings. Bring your foes close to the objects or carry them with you when you face your opponents. When you get to chose your rewards, make sure that you chose the one that makes your weapons more durable. And from the skill tree, pick Environmental Mastery skill, the one that allows you to kick-throw objects from the ground using R1.
Practice makes a man perfect. If you haven’t noticed the Mu Ren Zhuang aka The Wing-Chun Dummy, also known as the Wooden Dummy in your hideout, then find it and practice there. It offers a comprehensive collection of combinations. Experiment with the many qualities in the practice range and pick your favorite ways combos and parries.
As you’re already aware that in the SIFU game, there’s only one difficulty mode. Without mastering the gameplay tactics, it’s not going to be a pleasant ride ahead. Son let’s discuss how you can finish the game with fewer difficulties in different scenarios.
1. Facing regular foes while progressing through a stage:
- Learn and practice both of your defensive moves: parrying and avoiding. They are both required to beat the game’s encounters. Learning the timings early on will benefit you much in later fights, so put in the effort to practice both mechanics.
- Even though I don’t recommend it, in later stages when even the regular foes become channeling, find out the shortcuts to beat them down. The longer you take for taking one down, the more cornered get when more join against you. Though it’s only a matter of time when you progress through stages to master useful shortcuts to defeat them. Sadly, there’s no shortcut to learning that. Once you master these shortcuts, you can use them during the boss encounters to take them down swiftly.
- Know your key abilities and skills and develop them when crowded by enemies, such as pushing them away or knocking them out for a longer time with a heavy blow or quick knockdown tactics. These tactics along with the usage of surroundings are extremely beneficial when you progress through stages.
- Don’t panic! Always maintain your composure and keep going even if your character is too old to complete the game. Keep going until you run out of coins and try to progress through the stages as much as possible to make yourself familiar for the second or third try. The further you explore, the easier it gets in the next tries because you discover new talents and secret passageways. When you restart the mission/stage from your hideout again, you age back to your younger self. So, no harm in getting older when exploring a stage for the first time.
Facing multiple foes or a foe with special skills/abilities:
- As mentioned earlier, never allow yourself to be heavily outnumbered. This will lead you to be killed even by the most ordinary foe. When too many are attacking you, it gets lethal due to a large number of strikes at the same moment. The best way to avoid being overwhelmed is by slipping out using the R2 or running and jumping over obstacles.
- Make a mental line-up of your take-down targets. I strongly recommend the armed emeries who are most lethal. Try to eliminate them swiftly using Focus strikes and knockdown combos. This will allow you to lessen the threat as well as grant their weapons.
- Don’t target the strongest opponents who have golden bars above them. It takes more time to take them down. Target the silver ones first, while you take the weaker ones in the middle with a quick knockdown to gain focus points, and keep pushing the golden bar foes away or use heavy attacks to keep them knocked down for a while. Change your stance to avoid facing them once they are down or pushed away. This will allow another to attack you. Quickly take him or her down to fill the focus bar before the stronger foe gets up and attacks you.
- Speaking of pushing, make use of this as your crowd-control technique. To thin the herd, use this technique such much as possible to give yourself room for taking down easier opponents. Don’t forget to use the throwables for stunning and disabling them. This will also allow time to work on your targeted takedown line-up.
- Since each takedown heals you, avoid getting hits by parring and dodging attacks. A well-timed dodge or parry will give the opportunities for a quick takedown. Never miss those opportunities.
Facing the boss:
- Boss fights are all about observation. Each of the five bosses; Fajar, Sean, Kuroki, Jinfeng, and Yang has their specific set of attacks. Start by observing them and avoid being aggressive. Boss fights are comparatively easy if you concentrate on your defense, blocking, and dodging their strikes. Gradually their weaker moments will be exposed and you’ll know when to attack them. Have patience!
- Bosses will frequently counterattack during their assault cycles, usually towards the conclusion of a pattern. There’s always a pause after their array of attacks and wait for that opportunity. Simply avoid their attacks or time your parries well, and the moment they give that pause, use a focused attack followed by a counterattack.
- If you haven’t read the first two properly, then read again, because your aggressive counterattacks or button mashing will never work against the bosses.
- Finally, try to experiment during boss fights, especially combinations that you may think will give a cool ending. No! it won’t! You only get a split-second window for the counterattack. So, use the right combo for each type of boss. You may ask which combo to use for which boss. Well, load the game from the beginning, because Sloclap gave that out during the start of the game when the intro credits are shown. Too lazy to go through that? Check this video.
In the end, remember that Kung-Fu takes time and practice to master. Just like in the real world, you need to adjust your mindset and adjust yourself with the controller accordingly. Point out your common mistakes and practice on the aka The Wing-Chun Dummy. Pak-Mei Kung-Fu is considered among the most fearsome and lethal fighting. It’ll be foolish of you to even consider mastering it virtually within a day of playing video games.
Hope these tips & tricks will help you to enjoy the game. The action-adventure Beat ’em up game Sifu is now available on PlayStation 4/5 and PC. Stay tuned for our review on SIFU.
