Sifu Dev Sloclap on the Game World's Silver-Screen Inspirations
Playing through the first level of recent brawler Sifu, which takes place in a dimly-lit, mazelike apartment complex, even casual fans of martial arts cinema can see how heavily developers Sloclap were inspired by Indonesian police flick The Raid. The pop culture references don’t stop there — the game is chock-full of callbacks to famous movie scenes and environments.
French studio Sloclap is not shy about admitting how much its game has been inspired by cinema. Both eastern martial arts classics and modern Hollywood action movies have influenced moments throughout the game. Game Rant sat down with the developers to talk about how exactly those inspirations materialized in Sifu.
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Sifu’s first level isn’t just inspired by The Raid’s apartment complex setting. Halfway through, the player character enters a long hallway filled with enemies. The camera angle switches to a side view, and the player recreates the infamous hallway fight scene from 2003 Korean revenge fantasy Oldboy.
Both Oldboy and The Raid were inspirations for Sifu’s design and art teams, Sloclap said. The latter in particular was central to the game’s feel. “With Sifu, we wanted to show authentic kung fu in a serious and credible setting,” Sloclap said. “The goal was to achieve an immersive experience as a kung fu expert confronting dangerous situations.”
The game is also filled with references to other action movies. The game’s second stage, at first, takes place on the dance floor and back rooms of a seedy nightclub, in a scene that feels straight out of John Wick. Other films, like China’s Sha Po Lang/Killzone and Thailand’s Tom-Yum-Goong/The Protector, also influenced Sifu, Sloclap said.
There’s also a fantasy element
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