日人
Hebei, China
 
 
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174 Hours played
Sifu turned my life around

Trigger warning: depression and substance abuse, light spoiler

I was mentally in a very bad place a few months back. Since the age of 15, I have left China due to some traumatic events, and been going to boarding schools in Europe. Because of Covid, I could not go home for 4 years straight. I did not see my family, and lost touch with my friends. Then things turned normal again in 2023, and I went back to China, having to face things from the past one way or another. I met up with my dad, who did not get custody, and whom I have not talked to for around 5 years.

At that point, I have been flying leaves (Chinese slang for zaza). Ofc there was a pause during the trip to China. But it ended the moment I got back to Europe. I have started to smoke even more.

During the last year of middle school in China, my homeroom teacher publicly humiliated me. In sifu terms: she pulled me out of class into a hallway similar to the one in the squats, I blocked until my structure bar broke, while withstanding enemy taunts. After that, I stopped going to school. In a desperate attempt to still let me have an education, my family decided for Europe, where students are not known for committing suicides, or getting caught up in a school shooting.

I confronted my mom during my trip to China, asking why they didn't do anything about the teacher. She was shocked, and angry. As it turned out, apparently I had just gone mute since the incident, never told them, and never talked much about anything. Maybe so I guess, my memory of that period in life is just a blurry fuzz.

After coming back to Europe, one day I was scrolling on xiaohongshu, and came across a short video on Sifu. I was intrigued by the way it conveyed the process of revenge. And the art style! It just hits such a sweet spot for me. I learned about the story, and the fact that Wude is such an important element. Here's my thought on a piece of work: a great piece can never be tainted by spoilers, same goes for books and movies. Knowing what happens next does not hinder the experience of seeing how it happened. And I wanted to try this game.

After smoking, I no longer just lay on the sofa half dead and watch whatever there is on Netflix. I was playing Sifu instead. I started with the disciple difficulty, and man it was tough. I died so often. I watched some videos, and learned that button mashing doesn't work, I have to stay focused. Gradually, I practiced, and died, and practiced, and died less. Up to a point where I think weed is getting in my way of improvement. So I quit it. And I progressed faster sober.

I first finished the game killing all, because I wasn't able to do it otherwise. And the cut scene.. the rage and intensity went through the monitor screen, and I felt every hit of the chain punches.

And I went back to attempt the true ending of Wude. I must say, after defeating Yang, the squats was really a piece of cake. And I practiced, and died, and practiced, and died less. And this time, I know I can do it. Patience and focus, that's what Jingfeng taught me.

When I finally defeated and spared Yang, I felt this sense of achievement like never before. It was peaceful. When I got to the top of the mountain and saw the dragon, I saw the protagonist close her eyes, and I also closed my eyes.

It's okay.

I'm at peace.




As of the time I'm writing this review, I'm ~80hrs in. I have done the Wude ending on master difficulty. Now I'm trying to perfectionize my control, and make every move a conscious decision.

I have been mostly playing shooter and racing games before Sifu. But once I started Sifu, I played nothing else. Nothing else feels as rewarding as Sifu. Even when I achieved platinum rank in R6S, the sense of accomplishment was short-lived. Maybe due to the prolonged gratification of the Sifu experience, I feel content after achieving something. Truly rare to come by in a market filled with dopamine. Sifu has also made me discover my new love for action games, although nothing else quite hits the same way Sifu does.

Sifu has taught me to just learn from mistakes, and improve, and repeat, and that it's always okay, no matter how tough it originally seemed.

At the beginning I used to get frustrated often. My girlfriend said that sometimes she didn't like me playing Sifu because I would get upset. But the more I played, the better I got at controlling those emotions. Now it's a regular day to just brush it off and try again.

There are some issues with authenticity though. Sometimes the text looks weird, or looks like Midjourney 3.0 text. Eg the pendants, the texts don't make much sense apart from the top two. But very minimal, I could go enjoy the experience ignoring them.

Also could we have multiplayer for Sifu? Pleeeease? I have successfully convinced two friends to play sifu, it would be great if we could play together. PvE and PvP like in Absolver would both be great!




I have been clean for a few months now. I have grown to enjoy life as it is, and play Sifu. I restarted therapy, this time with a Chinese therapist, whom I don't have to explain China to. I have started doing Kendo, a discipline I wanted to do as a kid but never got the chance to.

Thank you, Sloclap!
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Comments
Othcar777 10 Jun, 2024 @ 1:15am 
+rep Your review was an extremely moving story, I hope you are still doing good
⚛️Fire✝️☯️ad🐵😇 13 Apr, 2024 @ 11:52pm 
+rep for smoking weed as a homosapien male
Renstring 10 Apr, 2024 @ 1:01pm 
+rep was already gonna get Sifu, but your review made me want to get it even more
zan 8 Apr, 2024 @ 8:29pm 
+rep free of zaza good job
PeterGriffinTV 4 Apr, 2024 @ 2:38pm 
+rep free of zaza good job