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Sifu developer explains why the game’s latest update is its last

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Sifu, from Sloclap and Kepler Interactive, was one of 2022’s most memorable games thanks to tough, but fluid combat that felt like it was pulled straight out of a classic action movie. Over time, Sloclap improved the game through a series of updates that added more gameplay options, new modes, and difficulty customization. Now, Sifu‘s last content update is upon us.

That final update, which is available now, is focused on the game’s more hardcore players and fleshes out the Arena mode introduced in an update earlier this year. It includes six new arenas, 75 new challenges to complete within them, lots of new modifiers and cheats, and a Custom Arenas mode that lets players tailor their own challenges. Overall, Sloclap believes this adds 15 hours of gameplay.

Sifu's main character at age 70 in Sifu.
Kepler Interactive

When a game like Sifu is a surprise hit and sees healthy support post-launch, it can be tough for developers to move on from it. At a preview event held by Kepler Interactive prior to the announcement, Digital Trends asked Sloclap why it finally thought it was time to move on from Sifu. They revealed that most of these post-launch updates were mainly meant to make the game feel complete and that they were impossible to keep up forever because they were free updates and not DLC.

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“After we launched Sifu, there were features that we didn’t have time to include, so we wanted to finish the game,” Felix Garczynski, Sloclap head of marketing and publishing, told Digital Trends. “We gave ourselves some time and dedicated part of the team to work on these updates, but as we chose to do only free updates and no DLCs, we couldn’t maintain updates forever. As parts of the team switched on to new projects, we’ve concluded our update run. We feel that, as far as free updates go, it’s been quite extensive, but we also wanted to start working on the next project. We’re a small studio, so it’s complicated to do both at the same time.”

Although the developers decided not to make any new story content, it’s a solid sendoff for a game that gives players the tools to keep playing for as long as want to with the Custom Arenas. Sifu is available now across PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, and its final update is available now.

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Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
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"The easy mode was really intended for players just wanting to enjoy the ambiance, the environments, and the story with cool fight scenes," Caselli continued. "At the other end of the spectrum, we also wanted to give the most skilled players an even greater challenge and introduce a harder difficulty. The same philosophy guided our choice on the upcoming summer update. Make the game more tweakable, to make it more accessible, or more challenging, or even a little bit of both at the same time, both cheats and modifiers."
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Truly skilled players can also show off with a brand new outfit called Master Hand, which gives players a hat that will fall off if they are hit even once. If you want to beat Sifu with a hat on, you’ll need to be really good. Players who do want to get all of Sifu's trophies will also have to avoid modifiers that make the game easier. Felix Garczynski, Sloclap marketing manager, confirmed to Digital Trends that gameplay modifiers that make the game easier will disable trophies. Slocloap also believes gameplay modifiers have a place in helping players who want to improve. To get better at Sifu, Garczynski recommends disabling blocking, though maybe you can still turn on zero gravity and have some fun.
“Blocking is never a good option in the game,” Garczynski says. “You can use it while you try to learn the combat system, but are more rewarded if you manage to parry at the right time or evade the blow. I think disabling it is a good way to make sure you are actually learning and not reverting to the easy option. And if I wanted to choose one just for fun, I think the low-gravity option is really cool because you have all the pieces and items you’ve broken in the environment and enemies floating around and create some really poetic scenes.”
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