Sifu is available right now; if you need some 3D action and hardcore challenges in your gaming lifestyle, this indie title from SloClap is for you.

Here are some tips to deal with the brutal and challenging bouts of Sifu. All inputs are on PC using an Xbox controller; X is light attack, Y is heavy.

Get Used To Parrying & Avoiding Stuff Coming Your Way

First learn stand, then learn fly. You cannot get far into Sifu by button mashing. You need to learn how to parry attacks and avoid them while still being close to an opponent.

To parry, just press the Left Bumper/L1 as soon as an opponent’s hit lands. If timed improperly, you block but get Structure damage on your character. If you time it right, you stun them, leaving you to do a nifty throw move (X+A) or follow up with your own attacks. Plus, you deal more Structure damage to opponents when they’re parried.

Also, holding the Left Bumper/L1 and pressing either up or down lets you do a quick evade. Up avoids sweep & low attacks, Down avoids high and mid attacks. This is essential as some moves like the fat enemy’s power throw can only be quick evaded.

Sure, you’ll eat more punches than parry them at the start, but with a lot of practice and deaths, you’ll be sure to walk through a stage unscathed and parry-savvy.

Enemy KOs & Takedowns = Health

To get back life, you need to knock down enemies. When you see the Y+B prompt, that’s when you finish them off in style with a fancy takedown and get back some health. Best of all, you cannot get interrupted when in this special animation, so abuse it when you can.

Get Used To Dying & Restarting

You will see this top screen a lot.

When you get KO’ed, you get a bump in age and 1 point in the Death Counter. Consecutive KOs mean you rack up the age & wrinkles while the Death Counter piles up. Defeating an elite enemy takes a number off the Death Counter.

A word on age: if you get older, you deal more damage but your life bar gets lower. When you’re in your 60s and 70s, your punches and kicks will hurt and deal more Structure damage, but you will get downed faster and stunned quicker with little to no surefire way to recover quick.

Shortcuts; Use Them

By playing levels and exploring them, you’ll unlock keys that give you access to effective shortcuts. Use these to get back to the boss fights quick without going through the rank and file.

When In Doubt, Just Hard Dodge Out Of The Way

When you’re cornered or in a tight spot, just Right Trigger your way out of trouble. Whether you run or do a dodge, get some breathing room.

Note that you cannot use this move as a substitute for the Left Bumper quick evades. The Right Trigger dodge has a bit of a cooldown, meaning that by the time you try to counterattack after this, your opponent(s) is in a ready state. For close-up attacks and counters, you have to parry and use quick evades instead.

Sifu Stage Walkthroughs

Intro Stage

Stage 1: The Squats

Stage 2: The Club

Stage 3: The Museum

Stage 4: The Tower

Stage 5: The Sanctuary

All Boss Fights Walkthrough

Tips On How To Get “Prodigal Child” Achievement/Trophy

The Prodigal Child achievement is perhaps the hardest achievement/trophy to get because of how difficult it is. You have to beat the game while being 25 years old or less. This means you need to die a lot less, or not at all, for ALL FIVE STAGES of the game.

Here are a few tips to get you closer to this from Stage 1 to the last. We’ll add more in the future:

-The most straightforward tip is: don’t die in the first four stages. Easier said than done, right? Well, if you unlock the shortcuts for all five stages, you’ll have less challenges to deal with at the cost of less Dragon Shrines to get upgrades. At the very least, you can get past Stage 1 without any deaths just fine especially if you have a lot of moves and skills permanently unlocked in previous playthroughs.

-Replay all the stages until you get your route and plan of attack down pat. The easiest replay is most likely Stage 3, because you can go straight to Lady Kuroki via the lift after dealing with the two weapon-carrying goons at the start.

-Permanently unlock half your skills. Replay the game for XP, then unlock them when prompted. Permanent skills and moves carry on regardless of whether you restart your playthroughs or continue onward at your current age.

-The toughest part of Stage 2 is the Endurance Test just before fighting Sean the boss. You’ll be fighting two of Sean’s disciples; the female disciple has a low red attack sweep you should watch out for. Generally, they’ll do a three-hit attack that ends with a red fist attack that you can dodge away from and counter.

-Even so, Sean’s second phase is pretty tough because you need to react to the animations of some of his damaging moves like his low sweep and the fact that he will break attack sequence when he’s low on health. Use your Focus attacks more during his second phase.

-In Stage 3, you can get a Dragon Statue upgrade at the top of the museum complex just before the waterfall door at the top, and a Dragon Statue after taking the lift to Lady Kuroki’s snow garden.

-In Stage 4, just take the second lift to the right at the lobby to go straight to the underground section. You’ll be fighting Sean’s disciples and the long leg fighters mostly, along with the usual starter goons.

-Do not take the shortcuts (ie: the one where you jump down from the high ledge you’re on) because they will KO you, adding 1 or more to the Death Counter.

-Jinfeng has a long-reaching rope dart with a low sweep at the end of her combo attacks, so get ready to dodge up when that happens. When you’re up close, she will try to retaliate with a one-punch attack. Anticipate and bait this move (via jabbing her once or twice while she’s blocking), dodge accordingly, then punish her.

-Jinfeng’s second phase adds extra attacks to her one punch up-close combo. Just avoid/parry three/four of them and you can counter. Also, her timings for her high/low rope dart sweeps have delays, so watch out for that and don’t spam dodge immediately. One of her rope dart attacks drags you in ala Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion; watch out for the telltale glint then time your dodge.

-In Stage 5, you can take the shortcut to the outside area to Yang’s place from the Sanctuary lobby. You’ll be fighting a fat guy, two regular goons with weapons, the long leg female fighter, a Sean disciple who has a surprise throw attack, and another Sean disciple with a bo staff who can low sweep you.

-You’ll most likely die a lot fighting the last boss Yang because he’s a tough nut to figure out, especially in his second phase. Plus you can’t use Focus attacks on him; you have to play it clean and parry most of his non-red attacks. This is the part where you will age up to 25 from 20 just from the second phase alone.

Tips On How To Get The True Ending

Sifu has a true ending. To get it, you just need to beat all 5 bosses once to get the first ending, then do it again. The first ending basically shames you for your killing spree, but there is a way to redeem yourself.

When you fight them a second time again (yes, you can use shortcuts and alternate routes you unlocked), just before you deliver the killing blow in their second phases, you’ll be given an extra prompt to spare them (via the Left D-pad). Press the Left D-pad when prompted and you’ll spare them. After sparing all 5 bosses, you’ll unlock the true ending. Enjoy!