Featuring the gripping intensity of classic Kung Fu films with realistic and raw combat, Sifu tells the story of a young Kung Fu student who has spent their life training for a day of reckoning after the brutal murder of their entire family by a mysterious assassination squad. Hunt down the murderers one by one as you explore gang-ridden suburbs, hidden corners deep within the city, all the way to the cold hallways of corporate towers. Adaptation and careful positioning are the key to your survival and you must use everything at your disposal to succeed in your life’s mission. 

Sifu’s unique gameplay sits in the crossroads of two established and popular genres, mashing the intensity and timeless thrill of beat em ups with the gripping design of 3D character action games. Set against a detailed backdrop of a fictional Chinese city, you will uncover an ancient mystery via a series of difficult confrontations that will test your skills to their limit. To overcome the odds that are heavily stacked against you, you’ll need to rely on your mastery of Kung Fu, and on a magical pendant that will revive you after death. The cost of magic is dear, however, and you will age significantly every time you come back to life: time is the price you will pay for your revenge. 

Exquisitely hand-drawn art styles and the muted color palette lend themselves to Kung Fu film classics where themes of revenge and redemption are timeless tales, all perfectly blending with Sloclap’s martial arts gameplay expertise, to create a truly unique singleplayer Kung Fu game. 

We were hoping to release the game by the end of 2021, but we now realize that in order to release a polished game, this won’t be possible before 2022.

The Covid crisis and the subsequent lockdowns have been a huge challenge for everyone, and although we were lucky enough not to face the important revenue losses that many businesses have gone through, the situation did create some real challenges for us. Since March 2020 we have had to adapt to changing regulations, switching the whole team to remote working while we continued our development work, and we lost some velocity as a consequence – remote working has its advantages, but losing daily informal interactions between team members can also be hard to manage.

We still felt earlier this year that we could make our original planned launch date, but as the deadline grew closer, it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to do so without putting the quality of the game at risk or creating huge pressure on the Sloclap team – and neither of these options were acceptable to us.

We’re very sorry about this delay – as gamers ourselves, we know how frustrating this can be, and as an independent studio, working multiple years on a single project, delaying a game can also create financial risks, so it’s certainly not a decision that we took lightly. But at the end of the day, our top priority is to make the best possible game, a hugely entertaining and polished experience, and we’d rather ask our fans to wait a little longer than planned than release something we’re not totally proud of.

In today’s gameplay trailer, we wanted to give you a short glimpse of our aging mechanic in an all-new environment. Starting in a night club, our main character will soon find themselves in an underground fight club and will have to prevail through combat in order to reach their target. The progressive and subtle evolution of your surroundings as you get deeper into the hideouts of your enemies is a strong theme throughout the game.

Kung Fu is the mastery that comes from a life of training and practice, and the aging mechanic and death are also central to this trailer. In Sifu, that concept inspires both the main character’s drive and philosophy, and we want to make it part of the gameplay experience itself. Players can make mistakes, try again, and learn in the process. We want to make that experience smooth and fluid: players will be able to restart instantly where they died and keep going forward like an unstoppable force of revenge. You cannot age eternally, however; eventually you will become too old and have to start your path again.

You don’t get weaker as you age. On the contrary, like the old masters of classic Kung Fu movies, as the main character becomes older, they have more experience, skills, and knowledge to apply to the fight. Like a true Kung Fu student, to reach your objective you will have to improve through practice and perseverance.

Kung Fu is a path for the body and the mind. Learn from your errors, unlock unique skills, and find the strength within yourself to master the devastating techniques of Pak-Mei Kung-Fu. Your family’s legacy depends on it. 

Key Features:

• On the path of vengeance: The hunt for the assassins will take you through the hidden corners of the city, from the gang-ridden suburbs to the cold hallways of the corporate towers.  You have got one day, and countless enemies on your way. Time will be the price to pay.
• Adaptation is the way: Careful positioning and clever use of the environment to your advantage are key to your survival. Use everything  at your disposal:  throwable objects, makeshift weapons, windows and ledges… The odds are stacked against you, and you will be offered no mercy.
• Training never ends: Kung Fu is a path for the body and the mind. Learn from your errors, unlock unique skills, and find the strength within yourself to master the devastating techniques of Pak-Mei Kung-Fu.

Sifu is coming to PC (Epic Games Store), PS4 and PS5 in Early 2022.