Sloclap’s kung-fu action game launched last week and has already become notorious for its high difficulty level. Looking through trophy data rustled up by PushSquare, however, shows just where those difficulty spikes are: namely, the second level. The game’s Prologue has been completed by around 97 percent of players (easy enough, considering you can’t die), and the first level has been completed by 82 percent of players. That then drops to just 34 percent of players finishing the second level - clearly a huge brick wall for many. Completion of the subsequent level then drops by almost half to 17 percent of players, and then down to 11 percent for the next. Beating the final boss has been done by 6 percent of players, while the platinum trophy remains ultra rare at 1 percent. Of course, players aren’t expected to breeze through any game to platinum in such a short time. But that drop in percentage for the second level proves the game’s high difficulty perhaps hasn’t quite been balanced. It also proves the importance of accessibility. While Sifu is undoubtedly a game about honing your skills to enact revenge, that difficulty spike is clearly off putting for the majority of players. In an interview on Twitch, Sloclap co-founder Pierre Tarno said that accessibility options will be coming in a post-launch update, including an easier difficulty mode. Initially, Tarno confirmed the game would not be receiving difficulty modes, with the intention to “challenge players and to encourage them to learn, improve and adapt”. It seems the team are now backtracking on this. Sifu is “a brilliant, eccentric fighting game” we said in our review, that “expects close attention and patience, and rewards you with scuffles of incredible intensity”.
