Asklemmy

(holy wall-of-text. Sorry for writing an essay, but maybe indulge me? Lol thanks)

Oh man, you're in for a treat. If you haven't permanently rage-quit Sifu, then I think Sekiro will be perfect for you. It's similar, but far more polished and rewarding. So rewarding.

The boss fights are incredible, and nearly all of them seem downright impossible (looking at you Demon of Hatred and Sword Saint Isshin) at first, and that's not an exaggeration.

But you persist. And then you start to steadily feel yourself progress; you will continue to die over and over, but you start remembering the timing of their moves, and seeing the cracks in the enemy's defenses, etc. And it feels great. Sometimes you'll feel that progress stall, but if you take a break and come back the next day, you're often shocked at the improvement (not sure if sleeping has anything to do with cementing that muscle memory or something?) when you come back to it.

e.g., I spent probably 4+ hours on the final boss one night and quit in frustration to go to bed. Next morning before work I was like "I need to try this one more time"... I literally beat him on my first try. Wish I had a video or something.

Next thing you know, you're making that boss your bitch. You know their tells and time your counters perfectly. To your surprise, you find that you not only survived each boss transformation, you did it without even being touched... And the dopamine rush is second to none (well aside from some drugs probably). It makes you feel like a god, and it truly feels like an accomplishment when that classic From Soft "ENEMY SLAIN" text pops up .There's just something so gratifying about it.

And that's not even getting into the wonderful setting/visual style, level design, and movement/traversal. You get a grappling hook right away, and I still think it's the best implementation of that in any game I've played.

When you get into that flow state in this game, it can almost feel like a rhythm game of sorts. And I'm not the biggest fan of that genre, but it all works so well.

I will just say: I enjoyed Sifu, but every time I started it up, it just made me want to play Sekiro instead (and I usually did). I'm trying to think of a better metaphor than "Sifu is Sekiro's stylized John Wick-Loving little brother"... I'll probably think of something randomly 6 hours from now and won't care anymore by that point...

Anyway, I really REALLY love this game if you couldn't tell lol.

If you're new to FromSoftware games, don't be intimidated by Sekiro and any people who may tell you it's too hard or complain that it doesn't have the usual Souls/Bloodborne/Elden Ring build-focus and weapons/equipments. I think this aspect can make Sekiro a great entrance into the series/genre as it allows you to focus on gameplay and story (that actually exists and is comprehensible)

As someone who attempted to start games of DS1 and Bloodborne on multiple occasions without "getting" it and giving up, Sekiro was their first game that sucked me in. And boy did it suck (me in). I was hooked.

Not only that, but it's like riding a bike. I go back to the game at least once or twice a year now since first beating it, and I can still beat the final boss with only a handful of deaths..

Anyway... Lol

Once again, i cannot recommend this game enough. It's probably my favorite game ever (at least of games I've completed). At risk of sounding cringe, I would say the gameplay loop had very positive effects for me in terms of letting things go, and controlling anger.

Just play it. Sifu on steroids.

While I enjoyed Sifu, I probably enjoyed Absolver more. I also loved the mechanic of learning moves from fighting people using those moves and was somewhat disappointed they didn't have a similar mechanic in Sifu. Though it likely wouldn't have meshed well with the leveling mechanic.

I did really like the unique aging on death mechanic though. I love seeing unique ideas like that in games.