History VideoGame / Sifu

* CombatPragmatist: There is no honor in a street fight and this game makes sure you know it. Everyone, protagonist and enemies included, will use every single advantage they have, from using weapons against unarmed opponents, overpowering with numbers, going for the eyes, the crotch, and the face, and so on. This isn't a martial arts tournament with a referee, everyone wants everyone down and out with the least amount of damage and effort to them and they don't particularly care how it happens. This is however, {{Subverted}} with the FinalBoss fight against Yang. Unlike any of the other targets, he doesn't use any Elemental abilities or weapons to face you- he just faces you with a greater master of [[MirrorBoss the same Kung-Fu abilities]] you've been honing through your fights and with the Talisman's aid, and demonstrates how much better he is with them.

** If you finish a level before the final boss at age 60-70, you'll only have one more death and greatly reduced health to handle the next ''and'' you'll have a limited pool of move upgrades, too. Most players are encouraged to abandon that run and repeat the level they just beat or the one before it but ''better'', as the game always records and starts you off at your youngest age for each level.

* CoveredInGunge: Possible to coat enemies with paint by chucking certain objects at them in the Museum, particularly in the room filled with painted lightbulbs.

* {{Determinator}}: The Student is so focused on taking their revenge, nothing dissuades them, from the small armies of {{Mooks}} they have to fight through, to the target's own formidable skills, to the targets manifesting elemental abilities out of nowhere to gain a combat advantage over them. [[spoiler:Their determination is so strong, it basically turns the third and final stage of Yang's boss fight into a HopelessBossFight against ''the Student''. After taking the same lethal blow to the heart that Yang used to kill their Sifu in the past, the Student rises to their feet again and proceeds to fight Yang to a standstill, their health bar gone entirely, until they successfully break Yang's structure and almost hit him with the same attack, staying their hand at the last second as a lesson to Yang of the true meaning of Wude before collapsing dead from his prior blow, having fought and defeated Yang despite technically being [[YouAreAlreadyDead dead already]]]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The reason Yang betrayed his master in the first place. [[spoiler:He lost his family, and the sifu kicked him out when he tried to steal the pendant so he could revive them.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In the prologue, almost everyone but Yang seem to try and not look at Fajar's execution of the Protagonist. Jinfeng, Sean, and Kuroki look away, while Fajar closes his eyes.

* FakeSpecialAttack: The Calbot focus move, named after a JokeCharacter deck in VideoGame/{{Absolver}}, is simply a humorous DopeSlap that does nothing (unless you use it to taunt your opponents). [[LampshadeHanging Its description even just says Calbot,]] and combined with its unconventional name compared to the more practical titles of the other focus moves alludes to its joke status.

* FinalBossNewDimension: When fighting each of the targets, they're initially fought in surroundings atypical to the locations you face them in, but upon breaking down their first health bar and reaching their second stage, they suddenly display mystical abilities, warping the surroundings into an AcidTripDimension based around their element, giving them an increased combat advantage in Fajar's case. With their deaths, the surrounds revert back to normal, at least in the case of Kuroki, who is the only one killed in a way that doesn't SmashToBlack. [[spoiler:The only exception to this is, ironically, [[FinalBoss Yang]] who instead hits the protagonist and somehow forces them back into the courtyard on that rainy day they killed their Sifu, creating a {{Bookends}} situation against the Student's journey. It's unclear in that case if it's actually happening, or if the situation is reminding the student of their trauma so much that they're mentally re-creating the night it happened]].

* FinalExamBoss: [[spoiler:Yang. Justified, he went to the same dojo and was taught by the same Sifu as you did. Well, 8 years ago, but he knows everything.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: [[spoiler:The student gains the option to spare the bosses in the second playthrough as an indication of their knowledge that VengeanceFeelsEmpty.]] However, this mindset doesn't carry over to the mooks, who you'll still likely deal lethal blows to depending on the circumstances and what weapon you're using at the time.

* GoodIsNotSoft: While the protagonist's enemies are monsters in their own right, and were complicit in the death of the protagonist's master and parent, some have turned away from a life of crime and have taken up modest professions or have started their own dojos. Additionally, the thugs and mooks you face vary from boss to boss (Fajar's are by far the most unrepentant of the bunch), but they're only guilty of working for the target of the protagonist's revenge. This means absolutely ''nothing'' to them, as they can go out of their way to take them down with potential lethal force.

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Inverted in The Tower that Jinfeng resides in. You climb the tower... By riding the elevator up. Only when Jinfeng rings her bell and mysteriously disappears that you'll have to be going downwards instead of up.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The Dawn Group have power of their own and if they see the protagonist get back from the death they will simply be mildly impressed. Their goons though have not received the message and are scared after seeing you come back and aged.
* MagicalRealism: ''Sifu'' is about a young martial artists beating down everyone on their RoaringRampageofRevenge. They just happen to be backed up by a magic talisman that revives them from death, while the targets inexplicably possess magic powers that shape the environment in ways that are more symbolic than anything, and are mostly treated as an afterthought with absolutely no one actually commenting on it.

* MookChivalry: {{Averted|Trope}} with a vengeance. If you don't stay vigilant and make good use of leg sweeps, shoves and vaults over terrain to give yourself some breathing room, you can look forward to:

** There's also the Sifu, the first boss you fight against (Though through the eyes of Yang).

* ResurrectiveImmortality: ... But it isn't free nor unlimited. Your protagonist's family talisman has the mysterious ability to raise them back from the dead, at the cost of a year or several years off their life. In-game, the more deaths you have in a row, the faster your character ages, until the talisman's magic completely runs out at your 70's or if you choose to give up early.

* RiddleForTheAges: It's left very unclear how exactly the Student gained the talisman in the first place. Yang assaults the Sifu's dojo with the clear intent of claiming it, and is seen opening the box where it's stored, with the talisman's tell-tale glow lighting up his face before he notices the Student's presence and Fajar slices their throat. Upon awakening, the talisman is now clutched in the student's hand and they're left alone in the broken dojo, having somehow been revived with it's powers despite not holding the talisman at the time. It's left unclear if one of the five, repentant over the death of a child, passed the talisman onto their body when they left, or if the talisman somehow 'chose' the Student over Yang and the rest.

* SinisterSilhouettes: In the prologue where the Student trains rigorously for their [[ExtremelyShortTimespan single day]] RoaringRampageOfRevenge, they fight all 5 of the Dawn Group, overlapping with FinalBossPreview as everyone but Fajar (who's seen using the standard {{Mook}} moveset instead of his kick based style) uses their own fighting style. Justified as to why they're seen as shadows; The Student only remembers them in their black clothes when they raided the Dojo. Also happens several times for each boss.
** [[BloodKnight Sean]] is the most prominent example of this, often appearing before the student and teasing him by promptly leaving before the big fight. Several of his silhouettes are prominent throughout the club, and one of them is a BaitAndSwitchSilhouette where you fight one of Sean's disciples armed with a staff instead.

* StringTheory: The Student has a little board full of collectibles that relate to their targets Examples:

* MookChivalry: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with a vengeance. If you don't stay vigilant and make good use of leg sweeps, shoves and vaults over terrain to give yourself some breathing room, you can look forward to:

* MookChivalry: [[HahahaNo Hahaha,]] [[AvertedTrope no]], so if you don't stay vigilant and make good use of leg sweeps, shoves and vaults over terrain to give yourself some breathing room you can look forward to:

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: First is [[TheBrute Sean]], who's based an entire dojo around this archetype. [[DarkChick Kuroki]] shows some implications of this from time to time during the fight, and lastly [[BigBad Yang]], who, like Kuroki, is a lot more downplayed, but still shows his arrogance from time to time.

''Sifu'' is a BeatEmUp game created and published by Sloclap, the studio behind {{VideoGame/Absolver}}. It was released for UsefulNotes/Playstation5, UsefulNotes/Playstation4 and PC on the UsefulNotes/EpicGamesStore on February 8, 2022.

** If you know there's a BossInMookClothing in a crowd of enemies, and don't feel like conteding with them, you can still beat your enemies up without performming the finishers - you will get the same rewards as though you triggered the transformation.

The central mechanic of the game is resurrection related to the aforementioned talisman. If the student dies on his or her quest, they dynamically age by a certain number of years. Each time they die, their Death Counter goes up by 1, which causes them to age that many years- for instance, going from 20 to 21, to 23, to 26 and so on. Successfully beating strong opponents lowers the Death Counter, and age is carried over between levels. The game ends if you hit 70 years of age, and the student's stats slowly change as they get older. Once you die, you can put experience points into unlocking a skill either temporarily or permanently for future runs, making gameplay akin to a roguelike.

* BlindingBangs: Kuroki sported these in the prologue. She now has a middle part with a bun.

** Lastly, Yang has rocks and tranquility, while also combining the themes from all the previous bosses. The clinic he resides is in filled with large, open hallways and incredibly vast rooms. The level is remarkably still, even more so than Jinfeng's, and has elements of greenery, wood, flowing water, and metal throughout the sanctuary. Yang is notably fought within the confines of his personal dojo, [[spoiler: before the fight moves into a recreation of the spot where the Student's father was killed.]] '

** Lastly, Yang has rocks and tranquility, while also combining the themes from all the previous bosses. The clinic he resides is in filled with large, open hallways and incredibly vast rooms. The level is remarkably still, even more so than Jinfeng's, and has elements of greenery, wood, flowing water, and metal throughout the sanctuary. Yang is notably fought within the confines of his personal dojo, [[spoiler: before the fight moves into a recreation of the spot where the Student's father was killed.]]

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Subverted, and ''hard''. Any time you're facing a large number of foes at once, they will overwhelmingly hold the advantage against you if you're not playing smart. So help you if one of them has a [[BossInMooksClothing particularly larger share of ninjutsu than their counterparts]] as you'll never know until you try to finish them off expecting a health boost and instead have a refreshed, much more powerful, and ''angry'' new foe to contend with.

** Sean, with his Pyrokinesis, the constant smoking, his hotheaded nature, and the "trials by fire" you need to go through to face him, is Fire.

* FinalExamBoss: [[spoiler:Yang. Justified, he went to the same dojo and was taught by the same Sifu as you did. Well, 8 years ago. But he knows everything.]]

* TheGrappler: The calling card of the bulky enemies is a running grab where they pick you up and powerbomb you into the dirt. To a lesser extent, also the Bodyguards, who, instead of slamming you into the ground, tackle you down for an MMA Style Ground and Pound.

** The enemies you beat on, say, Disciple difficulty will be available in training mode if
you create a new save on Master; meaning you can practice dealing with tougher variants without going through the hassle of unlocking them again.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: if you know there's a BossInMookClothing in a crowd of enemies, and don't feel like conteding with them, you can still beat your enemies up without performming the finishers - you will get the same rewards as though you triggered the transformation.

* DeadlyDodging: Enemy attacks can hit each other if you dodge at the right moment. This is especially common for enemies [[DangerousBackswing making wide swings with bat weapons.]]

* StrongAndSkilled: The Student is capable of throwing around the GiantMooks, and the GiantMooks themselves show a great deal of knowledge of martial arts.

* UselessUsefulSpell: Increasing weapon durability with experience points won't do the Student any favors against the bosses as armament pick-ups are non-existent in their arenas. Inversely, the levels leading up to them are filled with pipes, staffs, and blades, so there's little reason to hold on to a specific weapon for long anyway.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: First is [[TheBrute Sean]], who's based an entire dojo around this archetype. There's also [[BigBad Yang]], who is a lot more downplayed, but still shows his arrogance from time to time.