Sifu may be getting difficulty modes after all
The team will "announce something to that end pretty soon".
Sloclap has committed to improving the accessibility of its new fighting game, Sifu.
Talking to accessibility advocate and blind gamer Steve Saylor on a recent Twitch Gaming stream, Sloclap co-founder Pierre Tarno said that Sifu will be getting accessibility updates post-launch, including improved captioning, a high contrast mode for PS4/5 as well as PC, and difficulty modes (thanks, Can I Play That?).
The commitment to introducing difficulty modes is an interesting one, and contradicts the studio's previous claims that instead of easier modes, the team wanted the game "to challenge players and encourage them to learn".
"We want Sifu to challenge players and to encourage them to learn, improve and adapt," Tarno said back in November. "The ability to rise up from death will help new players by allowing them to fail and try again multiple times when they face difficulty. But the price of mistakes will rapidly increase, and in order to fully complete the game they will have to master the combat system."
Although Tarno stopped short of detailing when the accessibility features will be implemented, they said the team is "considering and planning for" difficulty modes, and will "announce something to that end pretty soon".
Some players are responding to the news exactly as you may well expect. "Easy mode shouldn't have a Platinum trophy route IMO. Get Gud", insisted one Twitterer said in response to Saylor's tweet, whilst another opined: "Having an easy mode defeats the idea of learning and adapting, I hope they rethink this, and keep the difficulty intact".
"Sifu is a brilliant, eccentric fighting game," Eurogamer's Edwin said in his Recommended Sifu review. "It expects close attention and patience, and rewards you with scuffles of incredible intensity.
"Its campaign structure is bizarre but engaging, coaxing you to replay levels not just for additional moves or to shed a few decades, but to enjoy what you've painstakingly committed to muscle memory."