A Sifu 2 Would Be Wise to Wield the Ferocity of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man

Highlights

• Authenticity in combat and homage to iconic action movies set Sifu apart in the gaming world.
• Monkey Man’s emotional depth and unique approach to action storytelling allowed it to shine, and Sifu 2 could learn from it.
• Balancing combat mastery with storytelling depth could elevate a Sifu sequel to new heights.

Sifu came and went as one of the more stylish action games to date. There’s no telling now if there’ll be a sequel for Sifu, though potential games are basically limitless as long as characters are afflicted by a similar age manipulation feature and have gameplay authentically centered around those systems. Sifu certainly wasn’t an easy action game, demanding that players learn an intricate mastery of directional mixed martial arts to meticulously dismantle different enemies and improvise with tools and environments at their disposal.

Sifu was wholly original in its aesthetic and storytelling approach even if the story itself wasn’t remarkably unprecedented, and a lot of what made its combat exceptional were the iconic set pieces and action movies it paid unmistakable homage to, such as the panning corridor shot in Oldboy. This provoked many players to indulge in fan-made mods where Sifu’s protagonist was reskinned to look like Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, Keanu Reeves’ Neo, and Robert Pattinson’s Batman, for instance, and if a Sifu sequel was ever on the table it’d be wonderful to see it take inspiration from Dev Patel’s Monkey Man and its titular Kid.

Monkey Man’s Action is Fueled by Impassioned Violence and Improvisation

Monkey Man’s Kid certainly knows how to handle himself in a fight and can make somewhat of a living doing so, but where Monkey Man is most unique apart from action movies like John Wick, aside from its obvious and profound cultural roots, is in Kid’s lack of prestige as a careered and storied assassin. Kid is rather a man seeking vengeance for a wrong he suffered as a child, and like Bruce Wayne’s Batman he’s sacrificed whatever semblance of a ‘normal’ life he could’ve had in order to pursue his own brand of bloodied justice.

Monkey Man twists the knife emotionally as well, which makes Kid’s rampage that much more palpable, especially in the beginning when he’s scheming his way into Kings to get near Rana and kill him. However, the action itself doesn’t disappoint as it’s far more authentic and visceral than most traditional action movies and includes some of the most original killing blows imaginable, such as Kid biting the handle of a knife to press its blade into a man’s neck while they’re claustrophobically entangled in an elevator.

Unlike John Wick, Kid also fails to kill Rana with the handgun he purchases and never attempts to use firearms again after that instance. Instead, he uses his fists until he comes across any ordinary items as impromptu instruments, which are already match-made for Sifu’s action cinema-inspired gameplay.

A Sifu Sequel or Successor Needs to Understand the Raw Emotion of Monkey Man

Monkey Man definitely isn’t the only action movie where empathy toward the protagonist and their plight is vital. Still, the fact that it takes a risk by putting a huge lul between its initial and final Kings infiltrations for Kid to recover and train is narratively and emotionally impactful, let alone necessary for the storytelling to be as meaningful as it is.

Interestingly, Sifu never offers that respite to players. The story always looms and each boss is central to the ongoing goal of the protagonist; yet, the story can easily fall to the back burner with arresting gameplay being Sifu’s sole takeaway. In a sequel, it would be phenomenal to see Sifu’s Detective Board interactions extrapolated more with gameplay where players could explore and immerse themselves in more than a lone hub.

If a
Sifu
sequel stripped combat away for as long as
Monkey Man
does, it would allow for a greater appreciation of the story, protagonist, and combat itself when enough distance is put between it and the player.

Of course, part of Sifu’s charm is developing a mastery of its elaborate combat. But if for even a single scripted sequence players were whisked away from the repetition of battling enemies it could provide much more depth and attention to everything else the game has in store.