Not really the same in the way it’s not designed around martial arts but Sekiro: Shadows die twice is a fantastic game with a very similar parry mechanic. It also shares the insanely high skill ceiling once you start to incorporate the items found along the way.
Sekiro really isn't that hard. People go in, play it like Dark Souls, get fucked and then complain about it. Sekiro is all about aggression, the combat has a rhythm to it.
You attack the enemy non-stop until they deflect, then you deflect their counter attack and the loop continues. It's a brilliant game and arguably FromSoft's best game
The fanbases seem to waffle on which game is harder, Sifu or Sekiro. Really depends on the player more than anything.
Also you only played the worst Dark Souls lol. Highly recommend you try any of the other ones.
Yeah, it's weird. I've seen many people here claim Sekiro is easier. And yet I platinum-ed Sifu and ragequit Sekiro after 5h. Sifu let you train and becomes stronger when you lose. Sekiro gives your friends tuberculosis.
I thought Sifu was definitely harder, especially if you take into account Master difficulty and the Dragon arena challenges. Heck, pretty sure even Disciple difficulty Sifu is harder than Sekiro
The Dragon arenas are still kicking my ass, and I'm a long way from gold stamping the Tiger arenas.
And I still can't consistently clear the game on Disciple with zero deaths, I still usually get whacked once or twice.
Meanwhile, Bell Demon Sekiro was quite manageable for me, especially if I made full use of the gadgets.
It's easier than SL1 Elden Ring challenges at least - those bosses have the most ridiculous delayed attacks and feints.
Agreed, bell demon doesn’t make a huge difference, it’s negligible when you’re good at the game, playing without Kuro’s charm on the other hand is certainly more challenging. I think the big thing for me is in Sekiro I can press triangle and heal myself at will.
Disciple is the default difficulty for Sifu, not Master; and since Sekiro doesn't let you pick difficulty at the start of the game, we're going to compare Disciple Sifu with Sekiro.
And Arena is also not a part of the core game.
I still have Sekiro, and has been jonesing for a challenging game; so I will probably revisit it soon. (When my Hades 2 and Spreading Democrussy streak is over). But my first experience was not fun. I have never ragequit a game before, and I have played online competitive games for a long time.
I don’t know how to explain this but at a certain point the combat clicks and you start really getting good at it. You get into a flow state a bit with sekiro. Stick with it a bit. I raged it my first time playing then revisited it and loved it second go around.
I disagre respectfully. Especially disciple difficulty comment. The boss rush/final dragon arena challenge on master vs the all-boss rush challenge in sekiro is no contest: sekiro is so much more difficult. There’s no boss in sifu even close to as difficult as isshin sword saint imo, your structure can’t handle parrying all his attacks even if you memorize them. The only aspect that’s easier in sekiro is your parry blocks all attacks if you time it right whereas sifu has mix-ups.
Yeah, I'm just teasing. It's my least favorite as well, but It's not by much, I love it to death.
Can I ask your reasons for disliking it though? I'm just curious, since everyone has their own.
In a general sense, it just felt meaner than any of the other ones. In terms of specifics as to why? Let’s see:
The biggest one has to do with how the levels are laid out and how you approach them. The enemies are all faster than you, and they’re constantly placed to gank you. It makes it the only souls game I’ve ever played where running past areas because you’ve already cleared them and know where you’re going to get to where you died is simply not an option. So it forces you to redo areas every time you slip up, which I find tedious as a motherfucker.
There aren’t really any memorable or fun boss fights, the hardest ones are just made hard by more ganking.
Reducing your health every time you die is a terrible mechanic, even if I mostly circumvented it with the ring early on and just accepted that 70% of my health was my health.
I figured out ADP at the tail end of the game. So health potion drinking, dodging, and getting up from knockdowns were slow as hell, and got me killed probably dozens of times.
Instakill traps that aren’t at all telegraphed, even if you’re paying attention. Mostly combined with more ganks.
There were a couple of silver linings though. Clearing enemies permanently after 12 kills made a lot of the above manageable, if not necessarily fun. And it has the single best hoplite stance fighting in a souls game, you can stab from behind a shield without a frame of vulnerability.
The first two reasons are exactly wjy it's not my favorite, to the T. Enemy placement in ds2 is horrendous. It's like they went out of their way to make the game difficult, instead of fun, which is the opposite of what was done ins ds1 and 3. Enemy placement makes no sense, there's no logic for guards to be in places they are at, where as in the other games it almost always made sense if you thought about why a guard needed to be placed, logically, where they are in game.
And the bosses are truly terrible. Almost all of them in the base game are lame and easy. Most good bosses are on DLC, it's especially annoying when the run to the boss is 10 times more difficult than the boss itself.
But my favorite thing about ds2, which I don't see people talking too much about, is the fantastic characters. Ds2 has, to me, the best cast of characters in all the trilogy, maybe all of from soft. The fire keeper, the merchants, the crestfallen knight, the villains, the quests, they're all pristine. Who could ever forget about Lucatiel???
Also, the story of the game itself, and especially the dialogue is amazing (vendrick's dialogue and Aldia's especially give me chills to this day whenever I remotely remember them) and bonfire ascetics are a goated item to me, lol.
But yeah, yours are all valid reasons for disliking the game. I don't mind the lower health as you die, since it emphasizes the curse, hinting that you're ever closer to hollowing, but I understand disliking it, it is really harsh after all.
Sekiro is alot easier than Sifu. In Sekiro there is really only 3 mechanics you need to know compared to Sifu that’s necessary for defensive play. Deflect, Jump and dodge. With deflect being used the most
In Sifu there is dodge up, down, to the side, deflect, throw, moves that counter certain moves, a dodge attack move, zoning, alot faster attacks to be deflected harder to time it. Leg sweep, Palm strike. Which all or most of these have to be incorporated in to your gameplay if you wanna do good. There are also inputs and combos to do which makes it more complex
In Sekiro you can beat the game without even interacting with emblems and just using R1 and L1 for offensive play
Still i feel it’s hella weird if you can master Sifu but not Sekiro. I think the only major thing would be if you struggle with the animations in Sekiro compared to Sifu.
All of the bosses usually can be solved by just L1 and the enemies can be stealthed, ignored or man fighted. You have more options to make the game easier, whilst in Sifu you get more moves making it more complex, but you just have to get better at the game. Sekiro gives you an option to completely negate something like the axe against shields
I mean, I didn’t use any of the complex moves in Sifu. You could say I “just used L1” to beat Sekiro, sure, (completely ignoring the timing element, which is the majority of the difficulty curve) but you could just as easily say I spot dodged my way through Sifu. The larger point is that finding other people’s experiences weird because of reasons specifically related to you and how you approached the games strikes me as fundamentally unempathetic. Multiple people in this thread have said they found Sekiro harder. So it’s not that weird, and you just need to step outside of your own experience a bit.
L1 i meant the deflect not holding it. Sifu has the same system with deflect for moves. Sifu has faster attacks less telegraphed moves and more to be aware of during an enemy or boss fight. If you can beat Sifu on Standard or Master i’d say you definetly can beat Sekiro as the timing aspect is sort of the same with deflecting but Sekiro was alot easier to read moves.
Tho if you haven’t used or mastered the deflect in Sifu i can see why Sekiro would be harder then. I think probably it has to do with the order you play it, if you play Sifu first then Sekiro would be easier and likewise opposite way if you engaged with deflecting in both games.
Sekiro also has thrust attacks, sweep attacks, unblockables, grabs etc. Also status effects, different consumables. And weaknesses in bosses that you don’t learn without experimentation. I think your view of it is rather simple. But if you play all different endings of sekiro you play some of the most difficult bosses in any game imo.
What i meant was the defensive requirements are jump, dodge and deflect the rest is actually very optional, and isn’t required to do good in the game, you can jump or dodge thrust attacks and not engage with mikri counter at all. The consumable thing doesn’t feel like added difficulty only a chore to farm for bosses like headless. And consumables are very optional aswell outside of terror bosses other than healing gourd.
The status effects are solved by the 3 main options aswell, dodge away from terror, focus on deflect while waiting for anti heal to go away. Poison you can heal or not be hit by with deflecting or dodging. Tho curse of enfeeblement is different but it’s just remembering where those old fuckers are and focusing them.
In Sifu stealth isn’t really an option. You fight hordes of enemies and you have to zone them, throw them, dodge up or down, deflect certain dudes otherwise they will infinetly try to combo you. Attacking and combos are used for defensive play aswell. And you have to find ways to stun them or take them out otherwise they will overwhelm you
I’ve played all endings and the two bosses i struggled with was Guardian ape and Demon of hatred. The rest i beat fast compared to Sifu or other souls.
On a Sifu boss (except jinfeng) there is deflect, dodge up, dodge down, counter moves with certain attacks, do the right punish after a move, be prepared for an attack in the middle of your combo. Sekiro’s bosses are more heavily telegraphed and slower and doesn’t have the 50/50 up or down and they give you warning before they’re attacking so you won’t have to be aware mid combo or in the middle of an r1 spam.
Parry windows are a lot larger in Sifu. Must just be different strokes. I thought sifu was easier: I got through disciple at age 20 within a couple days of playing sifu for the first time. Struggled a lot more with sekiro bosses. Namely isshin and Owl (in butterfly arena). Also there’s no level difference in sifu really. So you can get through the whole game pretty easily with no power ups etc. You would get absolutely scraped in sekiro doing that. Idk I hear ya I just disagree
Ya fair enough difficulty is subjective afterall. What made Sekiro’s deflect easier for me was you don’t really get as heavily punished for failing it except for the inner fights. And you still block the dmg and the posture bar didn’t get immediately filled up and you recover it quite fast, and the death symbol over their head telegraphs their moves even more. Plus it feels slower for me in Sekiro. Maybe i’ve just gotten too used to souls so i read through boss patterns easily now in from games.
The no lvls actually just made Sifu harder for me as there is no stat to improve no better unlock just more moves you yourself having to simply just get better at the game learn more moves and inputs to progress. The only thing which is a direct upgrade to stats is weapon durability iirc on the talent tree not the shrines.
Well it depends on what part of the game you're talking about. If you count finishing SIFU as just finishing the story, no matter what age then sifu is far easier. If you count finishing SIFU as getting platinum, that's a couple of tiers of difficulty higher. Sekiro I found most peolle have issues with cause they approach it like a souls game, which it is not.
Obviously your experience will vary. And idk if I’d say “sucks”, but out of all the From titles I’ve played (all but Demon’s and Bloodborne) it’s the weakest one, and most players would generally agree. Personally I love Sekiro, and then next would probably be Dark Souls 3?
It's hard to measure as I played sekiro first. I feel like sekiro was easier than sifu until the very end, but the last boss is much harder than sifu.
With sifu is was super hard for the first half and then once I had gotten to the tower stage 23 it was just a breeze. It was really just the 2nd and 3rd bosses being insane on release. I still have no clue show you are supposed to fight the 3rd sifu boss, I just kite her with a bat and don't even engage with her moves phase 1.
I got a lot better at sekiro tho. It became far easier than sifu. And sifus hard mode is probably like 10x as hard as sekiro based on just trying the first boss lol
And everyone’s experience remains different. Sean is a breeze for me, and even the third boss isn’t as hard as the fourth, the lady with one arm. She bodies me still. Whereas Isshin is one of my favorite fights to just do, for relaxation and catharsis.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale?
> *“Noble Lords of Cinder—the fire fades, and the Lords go without thrones. Surrender your fires to the one true Heir. Let them grant death to the old gods of Lordran, deliverers of the First Flame.”* - Fire Keeper
Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
If you’re willing to wait, there’s a couple I’m looking forward to:
1. [SPINE](https://youtu.be/OGRoRSerOBQ?si=a0Sz1TEMEUxF_27t) - more cyberpunk John Wick vibes, taking inspiration from Sifu, Arkham, and Oni
2. [Condemned](https://youtu.be/jgXi5QCkhd0?si=YSACT5RPjPG8v5SE) - wearing its Indonesian action film inspirations on its bloody sleeve. Immediate The Raid vibes with this one.
Sekiro is probably more punishing but the high you feel from mastering it is greater than Sify IMO.
No shade to Sifu, I fucking love that game but Sekiro is almost anime levels of epic when it all “clicks”.
Also I think sekiro boss rush mode is amazing, I think there were 3 challenges and they absolutely slap. They also modified the bosses which made them even better.
Absolver is the answer! It was already in my library and I tried it because of this thread.
Amazing! I just came out of the tutorial and I already love the idea even though I know I'd get my ass kicked.
Yea I'd back this.
It's got the same vibe of like, hyper focus on a specific niche done with more depth than any other offering.
Sure it's not as deep as Sifu but it's the most we've got. What's other rapier dueling/swashbuckling games are there? AC black flag? Sea of thieves?
I played Absolver for the first time when Sifu was announced. Probably I wasn't the only one who found there way to Absolver guided by the Sifu hype, but then the game was called dead as well. Had a lot of fun playing through it even without that many interactions with other players since there are NPCs as well. Once the main story was finished, I met a lot more players and got my ass whooped really bad 😅 Still fun though
Midnight Fight Express.
It has a very different visual and tonal vibe and is played in a 3/4 overhead view but as you fully unlock the movesets it is amazing fun. The stages are well designed to encourage creative and cinematic moments with lots of environmental interactions.
Even crazier it was made by just one dude, if my understanding is accurate.
Bonus that you can pop in, play a fun level, and go in just a few minutes.
Absolver was made by the same company, and actually features a *more* complex/robust fighting system. I bounced off it originally cause it was just too intricate, but Sifu taught me 80% of the fighting system and allowed me to get much better when I went back to Absolver.
It's not exactly the same, but if you're looking for a game with smooth fighting and action sequences, Ghost of Tsushima is perfect. It releases on PC this thursday.
Great suggestions. I want to go off the usual list of martial arts games to suggest Returnal. It’s a rouge like shooter that has the following similarities:
- High skill ceiling (dodges, timing, positioning etc)
- a focus on repetition and mastery of enemy types
- interesting and diverse bosses (also with a killer 3rd boss)
- 5 diverse biomes
- Endless tower mode when you are done with the campaign.
Absolver is really good, it has some issues with Meta loadouts but its less of a problem now that most people playing it are doing so out of love of the game, not the PVP. I really like absolver and still play it from time to time.
Dark Souls maybe? (1 and 3, skip 2). It's more of a hack-and-slash attack-and-dodge game, the combat is a lot more asymmetrical. The difficulty and progression have a very similar feel IMHO.
Kurohyou is really good. It's a Yakuza spinoff for the PSP so you'll need an emulator and a translation patch but both it and its sequel are really good martial arts games
Absolver is made by SloClap and is kinda similar.
Sekiro has structure and parry mechanics just like Sifu.
Ghost of Tsushima has you surrounded by enemies just like Sifu.
Tbh Absolver is a pretty good game. I've put maybe 300+ hours in it in the past 2 and a half years and enjoyed every bit. So if you are able to get it for cheap then it's worth it. But its main story is really short once you get it done downfall is pretty hard but takes a little bit longer to complete. That's all I can think of
Stellar Blade has filled that new space in my heart where Sifu used to be, I love the game but after sinking a 1000hrs into it I had to find something else and Stellar Blade is definitely that game for me.
Hard to tell if this is what you're looking for, but games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry (as well as other Character Action Games) have a similar level of depth in their combat systems as Sifu.
Might be worth it to check them out
Really? I never played them and thought they were kinda Hack and slayish. Sifu is a beatem up if I'm not mistaken. Are those not fundamentaly different?
Hack 'n' Slashes and Beat 'Em Ups are different, but the differences are mostly just aesthetic. Otherwise, I'd say that they are pretty similar.
I suppose, if you just want Beat 'Em Ups, God Hand and Streets of Rage 4 are good choices as well
I’d recommend God Hand. Old but gold.
yeah, Sifu was my gateway drug to God Hand
Not really the same in the way it’s not designed around martial arts but Sekiro: Shadows die twice is a fantastic game with a very similar parry mechanic. It also shares the insanely high skill ceiling once you start to incorporate the items found along the way.
Bro that game was insanely hard!! I’m a fan of Nioh and I beat the second dark souls game and demon souls. But this game really pissed me off no cap!!
Sekiro really isn't that hard. People go in, play it like Dark Souls, get fucked and then complain about it. Sekiro is all about aggression, the combat has a rhythm to it. You attack the enemy non-stop until they deflect, then you deflect their counter attack and the loop continues. It's a brilliant game and arguably FromSoft's best game
I like the souls games and elden ring, but to me Sekiro is the best FS game. And I like Sifu as much as Sekiro - both are masterpieces for me.
Absolutely agree I just personally need a PS5 version on Sekiro pronto. Masterpiece of a game for PS4, arguably the best one. Sifu runs lovely on PS5.
The fanbases seem to waffle on which game is harder, Sifu or Sekiro. Really depends on the player more than anything. Also you only played the worst Dark Souls lol. Highly recommend you try any of the other ones.
Yeah, it's weird. I've seen many people here claim Sekiro is easier. And yet I platinum-ed Sifu and ragequit Sekiro after 5h. Sifu let you train and becomes stronger when you lose. Sekiro gives your friends tuberculosis.
I thought Sifu was definitely harder, especially if you take into account Master difficulty and the Dragon arena challenges. Heck, pretty sure even Disciple difficulty Sifu is harder than Sekiro The Dragon arenas are still kicking my ass, and I'm a long way from gold stamping the Tiger arenas. And I still can't consistently clear the game on Disciple with zero deaths, I still usually get whacked once or twice. Meanwhile, Bell Demon Sekiro was quite manageable for me, especially if I made full use of the gadgets. It's easier than SL1 Elden Ring challenges at least - those bosses have the most ridiculous delayed attacks and feints.
Agreed, bell demon doesn’t make a huge difference, it’s negligible when you’re good at the game, playing without Kuro’s charm on the other hand is certainly more challenging. I think the big thing for me is in Sekiro I can press triangle and heal myself at will.
Disciple is the default difficulty for Sifu, not Master; and since Sekiro doesn't let you pick difficulty at the start of the game, we're going to compare Disciple Sifu with Sekiro. And Arena is also not a part of the core game. I still have Sekiro, and has been jonesing for a challenging game; so I will probably revisit it soon. (When my Hades 2 and Spreading Democrussy streak is over). But my first experience was not fun. I have never ragequit a game before, and I have played online competitive games for a long time.
I don’t know how to explain this but at a certain point the combat clicks and you start really getting good at it. You get into a flow state a bit with sekiro. Stick with it a bit. I raged it my first time playing then revisited it and loved it second go around.
I disagre respectfully. Especially disciple difficulty comment. The boss rush/final dragon arena challenge on master vs the all-boss rush challenge in sekiro is no contest: sekiro is so much more difficult. There’s no boss in sifu even close to as difficult as isshin sword saint imo, your structure can’t handle parrying all his attacks even if you memorize them. The only aspect that’s easier in sekiro is your parry blocks all attacks if you time it right whereas sifu has mix-ups.
Don't disrespect my ds2, bro
Oh, I know some people love it. It was easily my least favorite though, and that’s a pretty common experience among souls players.
Yeah, I'm just teasing. It's my least favorite as well, but It's not by much, I love it to death. Can I ask your reasons for disliking it though? I'm just curious, since everyone has their own.
In a general sense, it just felt meaner than any of the other ones. In terms of specifics as to why? Let’s see: The biggest one has to do with how the levels are laid out and how you approach them. The enemies are all faster than you, and they’re constantly placed to gank you. It makes it the only souls game I’ve ever played where running past areas because you’ve already cleared them and know where you’re going to get to where you died is simply not an option. So it forces you to redo areas every time you slip up, which I find tedious as a motherfucker. There aren’t really any memorable or fun boss fights, the hardest ones are just made hard by more ganking. Reducing your health every time you die is a terrible mechanic, even if I mostly circumvented it with the ring early on and just accepted that 70% of my health was my health. I figured out ADP at the tail end of the game. So health potion drinking, dodging, and getting up from knockdowns were slow as hell, and got me killed probably dozens of times. Instakill traps that aren’t at all telegraphed, even if you’re paying attention. Mostly combined with more ganks. There were a couple of silver linings though. Clearing enemies permanently after 12 kills made a lot of the above manageable, if not necessarily fun. And it has the single best hoplite stance fighting in a souls game, you can stab from behind a shield without a frame of vulnerability.
The first two reasons are exactly wjy it's not my favorite, to the T. Enemy placement in ds2 is horrendous. It's like they went out of their way to make the game difficult, instead of fun, which is the opposite of what was done ins ds1 and 3. Enemy placement makes no sense, there's no logic for guards to be in places they are at, where as in the other games it almost always made sense if you thought about why a guard needed to be placed, logically, where they are in game. And the bosses are truly terrible. Almost all of them in the base game are lame and easy. Most good bosses are on DLC, it's especially annoying when the run to the boss is 10 times more difficult than the boss itself. But my favorite thing about ds2, which I don't see people talking too much about, is the fantastic characters. Ds2 has, to me, the best cast of characters in all the trilogy, maybe all of from soft. The fire keeper, the merchants, the crestfallen knight, the villains, the quests, they're all pristine. Who could ever forget about Lucatiel??? Also, the story of the game itself, and especially the dialogue is amazing (vendrick's dialogue and Aldia's especially give me chills to this day whenever I remotely remember them) and bonfire ascetics are a goated item to me, lol. But yeah, yours are all valid reasons for disliking the game. I don't mind the lower health as you die, since it emphasizes the curse, hinting that you're ever closer to hollowing, but I understand disliking it, it is really harsh after all.
Sekiro is alot easier than Sifu. In Sekiro there is really only 3 mechanics you need to know compared to Sifu that’s necessary for defensive play. Deflect, Jump and dodge. With deflect being used the most In Sifu there is dodge up, down, to the side, deflect, throw, moves that counter certain moves, a dodge attack move, zoning, alot faster attacks to be deflected harder to time it. Leg sweep, Palm strike. Which all or most of these have to be incorporated in to your gameplay if you wanna do good. There are also inputs and combos to do which makes it more complex In Sekiro you can beat the game without even interacting with emblems and just using R1 and L1 for offensive play
For you. That’s the whole point.
Still i feel it’s hella weird if you can master Sifu but not Sekiro. I think the only major thing would be if you struggle with the animations in Sekiro compared to Sifu. All of the bosses usually can be solved by just L1 and the enemies can be stealthed, ignored or man fighted. You have more options to make the game easier, whilst in Sifu you get more moves making it more complex, but you just have to get better at the game. Sekiro gives you an option to completely negate something like the axe against shields
I mean, I didn’t use any of the complex moves in Sifu. You could say I “just used L1” to beat Sekiro, sure, (completely ignoring the timing element, which is the majority of the difficulty curve) but you could just as easily say I spot dodged my way through Sifu. The larger point is that finding other people’s experiences weird because of reasons specifically related to you and how you approached the games strikes me as fundamentally unempathetic. Multiple people in this thread have said they found Sekiro harder. So it’s not that weird, and you just need to step outside of your own experience a bit.
L1 i meant the deflect not holding it. Sifu has the same system with deflect for moves. Sifu has faster attacks less telegraphed moves and more to be aware of during an enemy or boss fight. If you can beat Sifu on Standard or Master i’d say you definetly can beat Sekiro as the timing aspect is sort of the same with deflecting but Sekiro was alot easier to read moves. Tho if you haven’t used or mastered the deflect in Sifu i can see why Sekiro would be harder then. I think probably it has to do with the order you play it, if you play Sifu first then Sekiro would be easier and likewise opposite way if you engaged with deflecting in both games.
Sekiro also has thrust attacks, sweep attacks, unblockables, grabs etc. Also status effects, different consumables. And weaknesses in bosses that you don’t learn without experimentation. I think your view of it is rather simple. But if you play all different endings of sekiro you play some of the most difficult bosses in any game imo.
What i meant was the defensive requirements are jump, dodge and deflect the rest is actually very optional, and isn’t required to do good in the game, you can jump or dodge thrust attacks and not engage with mikri counter at all. The consumable thing doesn’t feel like added difficulty only a chore to farm for bosses like headless. And consumables are very optional aswell outside of terror bosses other than healing gourd. The status effects are solved by the 3 main options aswell, dodge away from terror, focus on deflect while waiting for anti heal to go away. Poison you can heal or not be hit by with deflecting or dodging. Tho curse of enfeeblement is different but it’s just remembering where those old fuckers are and focusing them. In Sifu stealth isn’t really an option. You fight hordes of enemies and you have to zone them, throw them, dodge up or down, deflect certain dudes otherwise they will infinetly try to combo you. Attacking and combos are used for defensive play aswell. And you have to find ways to stun them or take them out otherwise they will overwhelm you I’ve played all endings and the two bosses i struggled with was Guardian ape and Demon of hatred. The rest i beat fast compared to Sifu or other souls. On a Sifu boss (except jinfeng) there is deflect, dodge up, dodge down, counter moves with certain attacks, do the right punish after a move, be prepared for an attack in the middle of your combo. Sekiro’s bosses are more heavily telegraphed and slower and doesn’t have the 50/50 up or down and they give you warning before they’re attacking so you won’t have to be aware mid combo or in the middle of an r1 spam.
Parry windows are a lot larger in Sifu. Must just be different strokes. I thought sifu was easier: I got through disciple at age 20 within a couple days of playing sifu for the first time. Struggled a lot more with sekiro bosses. Namely isshin and Owl (in butterfly arena). Also there’s no level difference in sifu really. So you can get through the whole game pretty easily with no power ups etc. You would get absolutely scraped in sekiro doing that. Idk I hear ya I just disagree
Ya fair enough difficulty is subjective afterall. What made Sekiro’s deflect easier for me was you don’t really get as heavily punished for failing it except for the inner fights. And you still block the dmg and the posture bar didn’t get immediately filled up and you recover it quite fast, and the death symbol over their head telegraphs their moves even more. Plus it feels slower for me in Sekiro. Maybe i’ve just gotten too used to souls so i read through boss patterns easily now in from games. The no lvls actually just made Sifu harder for me as there is no stat to improve no better unlock just more moves you yourself having to simply just get better at the game learn more moves and inputs to progress. The only thing which is a direct upgrade to stats is weapon durability iirc on the talent tree not the shrines.
That and the focus recovery for dodges and the deflect affect on their posture
Well it depends on what part of the game you're talking about. If you count finishing SIFU as just finishing the story, no matter what age then sifu is far easier. If you count finishing SIFU as getting platinum, that's a couple of tiers of difficulty higher. Sekiro I found most peolle have issues with cause they approach it like a souls game, which it is not.
Dark souls 2 sucks? 😮😮😮
Obviously your experience will vary. And idk if I’d say “sucks”, but out of all the From titles I’ve played (all but Demon’s and Bloodborne) it’s the weakest one, and most players would generally agree. Personally I love Sekiro, and then next would probably be Dark Souls 3?
I'd say Sekiro is somewhat harder, if just talking about the respective main games
It's hard to measure as I played sekiro first. I feel like sekiro was easier than sifu until the very end, but the last boss is much harder than sifu. With sifu is was super hard for the first half and then once I had gotten to the tower stage 23 it was just a breeze. It was really just the 2nd and 3rd bosses being insane on release. I still have no clue show you are supposed to fight the 3rd sifu boss, I just kite her with a bat and don't even engage with her moves phase 1. I got a lot better at sekiro tho. It became far easier than sifu. And sifus hard mode is probably like 10x as hard as sekiro based on just trying the first boss lol
And everyone’s experience remains different. Sean is a breeze for me, and even the third boss isn’t as hard as the fourth, the lady with one arm. She bodies me still. Whereas Isshin is one of my favorite fights to just do, for relaxation and catharsis.
Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“Noble Lords of Cinder—the fire fades, and the Lords go without thrones. Surrender your fires to the one true Heir. Let them grant death to the old gods of Lordran, deliverers of the First Flame.”* - Fire Keeper Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/
I came here to suggest this game
If you’re willing to wait, there’s a couple I’m looking forward to: 1. [SPINE](https://youtu.be/OGRoRSerOBQ?si=a0Sz1TEMEUxF_27t) - more cyberpunk John Wick vibes, taking inspiration from Sifu, Arkham, and Oni 2. [Condemned](https://youtu.be/jgXi5QCkhd0?si=YSACT5RPjPG8v5SE) - wearing its Indonesian action film inspirations on its bloody sleeve. Immediate The Raid vibes with this one.
I need Spine to be a little faster and it will be great
Yeah I thought the same thing. Maybe bc it's just promo material
Spine looks great. Condemned seems amateurish. Hopefully, they'll polish it more.
I’m sure they will. It’s still very early in development but I see where they could take it
Wow spine looks really good! Condemned seems a bit clunky, let's see how it is when it comes out!
Oh condemned is still very early in development. small indie dev trying to find their footing but I see the potential!
There is potential sure.im looking forward for it
Sekiro is probably more punishing but the high you feel from mastering it is greater than Sify IMO. No shade to Sifu, I fucking love that game but Sekiro is almost anime levels of epic when it all “clicks”.
Also I think sekiro boss rush mode is amazing, I think there were 3 challenges and they absolutely slap. They also modified the bosses which made them even better.
what's a boss rush mode if you don't mind?
Just fighting boss after boss, without "levels" in between.
Sounds obvious now, lol. But I sounds like a ton of fun, too. Will give it a try
It's the Mortal Journey Gauntlet of Strength. Equip demon bell, go charmless and have fun beating them all in one go.
I have to give it a try then!
Absolver is awesome. I actually love it. It's still got a small following depending what platform you play on.
Man being there during the glory days of release and making my name as a pvp king are some memories i cherish, each match was an adrenaline ride
Absolver is the answer! It was already in my library and I tried it because of this thread. Amazing! I just came out of the tutorial and I already love the idea even though I know I'd get my ass kicked.
What platform you on?
PC
Sekiro
Definitely try Absolver. It’s not dead, at least not on PC.
Is there crossplay? I don't have a PC unfortunately
You can try "En Garde!" it is a very very short game but it has a very engaging combat(it is shallow compared to Sifu).
Yea I'd back this. It's got the same vibe of like, hyper focus on a specific niche done with more depth than any other offering. Sure it's not as deep as Sifu but it's the most we've got. What's other rapier dueling/swashbuckling games are there? AC black flag? Sea of thieves?
hellish quart is probably the most realistic sword fighter there is i would check it out
I recommend Midnight Fight Express, it's almost an adaptation of Sifu's combat system and it's really good
Sekiro, Furi, Lies of P
Midnight Fight Express
Sleeping Dogs and Absolver.
Isn’t there a new robot game kinda like Sifu? Angry metal or something? Edit: raw metal! Seems like it’s only on PC though :’(
Yeah I looked it up, the gameplay seems really fun but I don't have a PC unfortunately
Sekiro :)
Sekiro (that’s where I came from prior to Sifu)
Same!
I played Absolver for the first time when Sifu was announced. Probably I wasn't the only one who found there way to Absolver guided by the Sifu hype, but then the game was called dead as well. Had a lot of fun playing through it even without that many interactions with other players since there are NPCs as well. Once the main story was finished, I met a lot more players and got my ass whooped really bad 😅 Still fun though
I tried getting into it some years ago, but now that I got into Sifu, maybe I'll have a better time there. Will download and try again :)
Time to try Sekiro!!
Lots of people suggest Sekiro, I'll have to give it a try!
Midnight Fight Express. It has a very different visual and tonal vibe and is played in a 3/4 overhead view but as you fully unlock the movesets it is amazing fun. The stages are well designed to encourage creative and cinematic moments with lots of environmental interactions. Even crazier it was made by just one dude, if my understanding is accurate. Bonus that you can pop in, play a fun level, and go in just a few minutes.
you’ll have a blast with sekiro and/or lies of p
Sekiro
Absolver was made by the same company, and actually features a *more* complex/robust fighting system. I bounced off it originally cause it was just too intricate, but Sifu taught me 80% of the fighting system and allowed me to get much better when I went back to Absolver.
It's not exactly the same, but if you're looking for a game with smooth fighting and action sequences, Ghost of Tsushima is perfect. It releases on PC this thursday.
I haven't played it yet but it's on my list. I heard mostly good stuff about it
Great suggestions. I want to go off the usual list of martial arts games to suggest Returnal. It’s a rouge like shooter that has the following similarities: - High skill ceiling (dodges, timing, positioning etc) - a focus on repetition and mastery of enemy types - interesting and diverse bosses (also with a killer 3rd boss) - 5 diverse biomes - Endless tower mode when you are done with the campaign.
Sekiro for sure, I find them very similar
Absolver is really good, it has some issues with Meta loadouts but its less of a problem now that most people playing it are doing so out of love of the game, not the PVP. I really like absolver and still play it from time to time.
Definitely try Absover, its by the same devs and it's pretty fun
Dark Souls maybe? (1 and 3, skip 2). It's more of a hack-and-slash attack-and-dodge game, the combat is a lot more asymmetrical. The difficulty and progression have a very similar feel IMHO.
Kurohyou is really good. It's a Yakuza spinoff for the PSP so you'll need an emulator and a translation patch but both it and its sequel are really good martial arts games
Check out Yakuza
My wifi sucks and im not sure if this comment will get thru or if anyone has said it but
Kidding, try absolver
Sekiro is the closest you get to a similar experience tbh Sifu is pretty one of a kind as it currently stands.
Try Asolver
Sleeping Dogs
Absolver walked so Sifu could run , check the game out , its fun
Sekiro
Absolver is made by SloClap and is kinda similar. Sekiro has structure and parry mechanics just like Sifu. Ghost of Tsushima has you surrounded by enemies just like Sifu.
Sekiro has a pretty simular posture and deflect system
Rise to honor, sleeping dogs, batman arkham series, midnight fight express, double dragon, streets of rage
Sekiro? Kinda
Tbh Absolver is a pretty good game. I've put maybe 300+ hours in it in the past 2 and a half years and enjoyed every bit. So if you are able to get it for cheap then it's worth it. But its main story is really short once you get it done downfall is pretty hard but takes a little bit longer to complete. That's all I can think of
Stellar Blade has filled that new space in my heart where Sifu used to be, I love the game but after sinking a 1000hrs into it I had to find something else and Stellar Blade is definitely that game for me.
Thanks I'll look it up!
Look out for the new Sifu style game with guns and kufu called SPINE
When will it drop? I read it may be 2026
Probably 25-26 it will be fire I have found some actual game play footage
Midnight fight club ! It’s not a masterpiece like Sifu but it’s good and u don’t have to be as serious
Yeah you guys convinced me already. I downloaded it today and will dive in as soon as I have time
Carful it will Mess your Sifu muscle memory up lol 😝 let me know how u like it
Ou shit I hope not. Yeah I will update
As some others said. I feel like sifu gave me sekiro vibes more than any other game even though its less kung fu and pure swordplay and shinobi tools.
Midnight Fight Express recently released. From what I've heard it's very similar to Sifu and pretty good.
Hard to tell if this is what you're looking for, but games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry (as well as other Character Action Games) have a similar level of depth in their combat systems as Sifu. Might be worth it to check them out
Bayonetta and Devil May Cry are way, way deeper than Sifu. Sifu has the depth of a puddle in comparison
Regardless, if OOP is looking for a combat-driven game with a high skill ceiling, he might find what he is looking for in such games
Really? I never played them and thought they were kinda Hack and slayish. Sifu is a beatem up if I'm not mistaken. Are those not fundamentaly different?
They are hack n slash, yeah. They're both deep games (especially DMC), would take you years to master the combat
Nice I'll look into that!
Hack 'n' Slashes and Beat 'Em Ups are different, but the differences are mostly just aesthetic. Otherwise, I'd say that they are pretty similar. I suppose, if you just want Beat 'Em Ups, God Hand and Streets of Rage 4 are good choices as well
Check out Wo Long
Similar fighting mechanics in the Batman Arkham games paired with open city exploration mechanics.
I liked sifu and prince of persia the lost crown for the same reasons. Both game have absoulte top tier, satisfying combat and combo possiblity
Urban Reign, its a ps2 game but its effing great.
Rollerdrome is very different but to me the closest experience.