The original soundtrack for Sifu is a rollercoaster of momentum within the heat of battle. This is a soundtrack that is a completely different experience when listening to it alone, compared to hearing it while playing the game. (This is true for nearly every game, but I find this one particularly notable.) When playing Sifu, Howie Lee’s music flows effortlessly in and out of different “game states” or sections of a track depending on your progression in a given level; as soon as you defeat a wave of enemies, or cross through a door into a new room, or a bit of dialogue concludes, subtle musical elements are added or subtracted from the track, creating an aural sense of continuous progress within each level. During my time playing through the game, I found this extra exciting during the second level, where you fight your way through an underground club. The music is thumping endlessly, giving that drive to the player, but individual layers of the overall sound palette go in and out many times throughout the entire hideout; it’s a really cool effect, and I didn’t even notice it happening at first. As you listen through the Sifu original soundtrack (or the selected highlights), try to guess where these changing game states might be indicated in the music itself!
– Sy Anderson
Game Summary:
“Sifu is a third person action game featuring intense hand-to-hand combat, where you are in control of a young Kung-Fu student on his path of revenge throughout the city.
Sifu’s brutal learning curve and unique structure that requires you to beat it in just one lifetime are significant barriers to overcome, but on the other side is truly one of the best modern action games around.”
(Source: https://www.ign.com/games/sifu)
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