Like Quenten Tarantino’s 2003 movie Kill Bill, Sifu is an unapologetic homage to the classics of martial arts cinema.
Jordan Layani, Sifu’s creative director, describes himself not as an expert on these movies but as a fan. He grew up in France watching Bruce Lee, and then, as a teenager, obsessing over Jackie Chan. Later, he discovered the works of famed director Tsui Hark, pioneer of the “heroic bloodshed” genre. These influences course through the output of the studio he leads, Paris-based Sloclap, which debuted in 2017 with innovative multiplayer martial arts brawler Absolver. In that game, the bruising encounters were set against painterly open-world ruins whose raw, intestinal structure evoked Dark Souls. Sifu is altogether more furious, claustrophobic, and cinematic. You’ll punch, kick, and grapple your way through apartment complexes, drug factories, and nightclubs, each space a carefully crafted ode to a classic film set.
