Game Pass: Rated 81 on Metacritic, this old PS5 exclusive arrives in the Microsoft service

Game news Game Pass: Rated 81 on Metacritic, this old PS5 exclusive arrives in the Microsoft service

Somewhere between Drunken Master and Dark Souls

In 2015, former Ubisoft Paris developers decided to found their own studio, still in the heart of the capital. Named Sloclap, the studio reveals itself to the world with Absolve, a hybrid game mixing fighting game, MMO and beat’em all. Published by Devolver Digital, the first production from the young studio made a strong impression when it was released in 2017, notably thanks to its solid artistic direction and its remarkable integration of various martial arts in a gaming system that pushed the player to vary styles.

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Indeed, the gameplay ofAbsolve was built around a “combat deck” system allowing players to customize their character’s movements and combos, all in an enigmatic world in which it was possible to randomly meet other players. After a few years of support (including the development of a free extension), Sloclap has ceased development ofAbsolve to devote himself to his next project: Sifu.

The low-cost brawl

In many ways, Sifu appears as the logical continuation of what Sloclap offered with his previous game. Still focused on martial arts and 3D brawling, the title abandons the multiple styles and the almost-MMO ofAbsolve for a solo, linear story with a unique fighting style with the choice of Pak Mei, a Chinese martial art. Despite this, the Parisian studio succeeds in creating a game just as rich and inspired as its introductory workdrawing on numerous action films to create a game which, upon its release in March 2022, was equally praised by the press and the public as a whole. After its release, as with Absolver, Sloclap continued to support the game, regularly providing updates and additional content. And if he had avoided Microsoft consoles until March 2023, the game has just recently joined Game Passthe opportunity for subscribed Xbox and PC players to discover this revenge story mixing fighting game, Asian martial arts and action cinema.