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My very strict rule of revenge plots spare/kill endings: if i killed 7777 underling to get to the boss, it would be unfair to them to let it live.

Remember, killing poor people is okay, but if you kill the powerful person, that's mean.

"I killed every man, woman and office worker in this building to get to you just to say... I forgive you." [Good ending acquired]

Sifu taught me that enlightenment was when you kill 100 people and sap decades of your life away to only to flex on your revenge targets a bit instead of just staying home and catching up on reading. The actual gameplay in addictive AF though

yeah, that really annoys me where in a game or movie the protagonist suddenly decides to spare the life of the big bad guy after just killing a few dozen guards who've done a lot less evil.

To all those scriptwriters who are so damn sure revenge is not the answer, I say don't knock it til you've tried it.

“Flip-out spanky-wanky”: yet another subgenre name that the industry really should adopt.

"Revenge is bad" only holds weight if the villain isn't committing numerous atrocities with the threat of more if he isn't stopped and the hero has not racked up a huge body count on their way to get to the villain. But sure, let's make the player feel bad every time a hero wants some righteous justice.

Only Yahtzee would make me click on a review for a game I played 4 months ago

“It’s bad for a revenge story to have the main guy kill all the underlings and spare the bad guy!” Well it’s a good thing that unless you’re using a very specific weapon none of the underlings are ever actually killed…

The good ending taught me bosses lives matters more their underlings who actually done nothing wrong to the main character.

Reversing time is only done on easy mode right? Where enemies are also less aggressive and you age less, so no wonder most of the design elements don't come through.

I swear I had read "stfu" as the title and thought yahtzee was full of our shit and about to spill the tea

Since Yahtzee is clearly angling for some praise, let's all take a moment to appreciate what an uncommonly talented wordsmith he is.

I actually quite like the background bits of the story. You can uncover some intrigue if you pick up the collectibles that give the antagonists some character. They largely aren’t even bad dudes. The big bad built a clinic that heals people, and even sends letters to his mute machete psycho mate telling him to take his pills. The rich lady constantly builds community improvements and gives to charity. You could even argue their motivation at the end was very valid, where the old masters were hording power out of fear of abuse, the same power the player abuses to fight the baddies.

I'll admit there is a fine line between cliche and homage but I think Sifu toes the line well. It doesn't innovate on any of the kung fu movie tropes but it executes them perfectly from writing to set pieces. I think for that reason it felt more like the full realization of a kungfu movie-game to me than it did a cliche rehash

I used to watch these videos back in 2012 so it brings me great joy that I have 10 years of content to catch up with

Honestly I love this game so much! Been playing it non-stop since I got it trying to get smoother and smoother runs. Feels like it falls into that category of games where it's not a new genre and does not introduce any significant technical innovation, but it is a really solid execution of this type of game and by far my favorite of the year. Also really appreciate that Sloclap added more difficulty modes to the game than the initial release. I find it quite fun after practicing a bunch on disciple mode to drop into a student save and tear things up. I get that it's From Software's "thing" not to have difficulty options, but I hope that doesn't become a standard.

To be fair, both videogames and movies peaked early this year. I don't think there's a release that's beating Elden Ring until December(Callisto Protocol, please don't let me down) and I don't know if there's a movie this year that's gonna amaze me like Everything Everywhere did.

If the theme for your violent video game is that violent revenge isn’t worth it, perhaps you should write a different story.

"Fist of the East Bay" I would pay to see Yahtzee, make such a film

How about a non-revenge story where a martial arts student *doesn't* avenge his master because he was kind of a dickface?

Been looking forward to this one for a while actually, thanks Yahtz

I do believe Dipper Pines said it best "Revenge is so underrated, that felt awesome"

Unwittingly, Yahtzee has outed himself as playing on easy mode. The normal mode doesn't allow you to de-age and you get significantly less lives as the years start to mount as you focus on managing special enemies that make death less punishing.

why is it always presented as "moral" to mow down dozens or hundreds of mooks but to spare the boss man?

I used to think revenge was a dish best served cold. Now, I know it means getting back at somebody.

Every game writer ever: "Before you go on a journey of revenge, dig two graves" Every gamer ever: "Or...hear me out...I could plan on NOT doing that???"

god i love yahtzee, he makes entire videos for a single punchline that will keep you rolling for half an hour, golden stuff

I do think that more games need to have an aging mechanic, if only to wake up Chester to the fact that he isn't 17 anymore, and may actually want to go outside and do something in the real world for one.

I always thought the 2 d reference was referencing the classic old boy scene

I thought this game was a love letter to kung fu movies and action set pieces like raid, oldboy etc etc. Hence the camera angles were more references to specific fight scenes in those movies. If you enjoy those kinda movies, it's a really fun play through as you try to pick out parts that you recognize.

Aren't there some martial arts movies where avenging the protagonist's master depicted as totally worth it, if only to stop the evil guy from doing more evil stuff? But yeah, the hero sparing his enemies thing seems pretty stupid if you killed a hundred nameless mooks to get to the boss. There are good odds that the big bad deserves it more than at least some of the mooks and killing the boss will do more to disrupt future evil plans more than some low-level thug. If they don't have a name and face, their life is worthless.

The buying years back as well as you only ageing one year on a death are both products of playing on easy mode. Not that there's anything wrong with playing on easy but this one isn't implemented that well, leading you to never really having to fix your mistakes instead easily being able to pass any challenge by just dying and respawning enough times.

1:33 I'm pretty sure the reference went over YOUR head Yatz. The hallway sequence is a reference to the South Korean film 'Old Boy', not sidescrolling street brawlers. Edit: It could be that it WAS the reference you were implying, but whoever makes the animations put a pixelated brawler thinking you meant that.

I am so glad you made this video because I have been on the fence about buying this game since it came out

It is genuinely weird when games try to go all "no no no, you must spare this relentlessly violent ponce's life or you're the REAL monster" after significant boss battles, because you've almost certainly just spent half an hour mowing down their henchmen without the game batting an eyelid. Kinda hard to see how killing a couple of dozen people doesn't make you a bad person as long as you spare the one that begs - in fact there's a whole Doctor Who monologue about pretty much exactly that. Show me a game where a protagonist wrestles with notions of revenge, remorse and forgiveness if you want, but surprise and impress me by having the protagonist realise that sparing a genocidal maniac who has destroyed countless lives and will destroy countless more, purely because I think it might not be as fulfilling as I hoped... would be both selfish and irresponsible. He can feel remorse *after* he gets the job done, but reducing revenge against injustice to "yes, but will it make YOU feel any better?" is the kind of thing I'd expect from a villain, not to be affirmed by the game's procedural rhetoric.

I love this game so much, it's my GOTY 2022. Love the combat, love the environments, love the soundtrack, the story is functional and gets out of your way. Everything feels so well tuned and precise. Excellent game Sloclap!

You could do a week of Factorio if you have a dry spell again, provided you manage to put it down again after a week.

Oh yes, Sifu. I’m sure the 50-odd people you left bloodied and broken in your wake last level really appreciate your hard-won life lesson, that revenge isn’t worth the sorrow and pain it takes to get it, and that the perpetrators are as human and flawed as the rest of us. The exhibit janitor’s gonna have his work cut out for him tomorrow, picking all the knives and broken sticks out of people’s guts.

"Man, revenge is underrated that felt awesome." Dipper (Gravity Falls)

I’m not able to play this game yet but I so want to for a specific reason. While beat em ups are not unheard of, there are fewer that focus on the skill and aesthetics of Kung Fu. And among them, none that I can think of have that same “keep doing it to attain mastery” mechanic that fits perfectly with a martial arts theme.

Very timely review Yahtz very timely

Shenmue could have had an aging mechanic by giving Ryo a few more tree rings.

This review makes me wonder if anyone remembers jet li rise to honor. It was also a 3d beat em up for the ps2 that was actually pretty good. And for some reason may be the only time I wasn't annoyed by the right analog stick being used to attack

5:00 Oh Fistmas Tree! Oh Fistmas Tree!..

To Yahtzee's point, I found the dialogue much more enjoyable when switched to Chinese.

play viscera cleanup detail its relaxing and fun

yahtzee brought out his inner Andy when he said change the fucking record I love it

I honestly liked Sifu, but I do agree that it didn't bring much new to the table. The aging gimmick was interesting, but often times I feel like giving you more attack power and less life as you lose lives kind of feels like the equivalent of losing a bit of your life every time you die on a Souls-like. The story was a *very* cliché martial arts revenge arc story, seen in almost every major martial arts film to the point where even the Simpsons made an Itchy and Scratchy about it. The amount of times I tried to get the spare function and ended up accidentally killing the bosses out of sheer force of habit was annoying, too. It's a game that is stylish, and fun for the most part, right up until you die enough that you start to lose the will to live. The martial arts is quite impressive, the use of Bak Mei was an interesting choice. But Yahtzee does have a point. The majority of the enemies in the game have exactly the same fighting style as the last people, they only mix it up for certain special enemies; kickboxers in the club, fat dudes starting from warehouse, bodyguards in the museum, etc.

See the difference between Dishonored and Sifu is in Dishonored (other than the big bads actually getting comeuppance ) is that in Dishonored you can go through the whole game with no one getting hurt except the big bads. One minute you're just guarding them and they're just sipping wine, and the next minute one of them is now a tard or a heretic.

aaaah the good old southamerican operation condor..... jajajajja love the jokes and the content jatze, love from Colombia

the shenmue big tree reference in the credits is an S tier in-joke

Watching this at two times speed is the ultimate challenge

How has Yahtzee been making these reviews for so many years and yet they are never bad and just get better

The title makes me think of that bad joke: I'm on a seafood diet. When I see food, I eat it.

impressive, Englishman living in USA was told Sarajevo was in former Yugoslavia, never expected such elite geography. That shuts up what's left of Yahtz doubters

I'm on a sifu diet right now, I sifu and I teachfu a lesson in humility oh yes

I was vaguely aware of this game's existence but it didn't got my attention before so I only knew it was a brawler, but I must admit than that aging gimmick is quite intriguing as a story telling tool.

3:16 Oh my god, I'm laughing so hard I think I'm gon-

Looking forward to another instalment in the "Occasional Guide to VG History." I mean, it's inevitable by this point, right?

Undertale did the "killing is bad" concept right, which is to say, there was never a person it was ok to kill. it stood by its message and themes the whole way through rather then waiting until the very end to remember it was supposed to be saying something. (Deltarune might be doing something different from what I can see, but it's certainly got the same if not more heart in it so far.)

Nice end line

I really thought that I missed watching this episode months ago xD

Surely it would make a lot more moral sense to spare the goons, and kill the bosses who directly made choices that wronged you. Yet writers always go the other way around. Kill all the nameless goons you like, they don't count if you don't know their names.

"Flip Out Spanky Wanky" is the name of my new three piece slam band.

I like the game a lot. I never got into stuff like the souls-games, because i don't have the patience. But here, it's "arcady" enough for me to get into it

First playthrough: "you killed too many people and lost yourself to the spirit of revenge. So you get the bad ending!" Second playthrough: "you spared these exact specific people. You are not a mindless killer consumed by revenge and therefore get the good ending!" Player: "what about the hordes of nameless faceless goons I killed on the way up to those specific people?" Game: "they probably molested kittens or something Don't worry about it here's your achievement.'

Any chance we might get a review out of Shredders Revenge?

If you're looking for games to play around this period, I imagine the recently released Swansong might fill that gap for new releases.

Yeah playing on easy let's you rewind time which is the most unfortunate thing they've done as it removes all challenge. On other difficulties it just resets your death counter to 0 which is far better.

Thank you.

In Shenmue it isn’t the destination, It’s the friends we punched along the way.

I'm surprised that Yahtzee mistook the Old Boy hallway scene reference for a beat-em-up reference.

Hello from former Yugoslavia and Sarajevo :D

the old boy hallway reference was obvious but nice

Do V Rising! It’s in alpha but already feels pretty polished.

"Much the same way I gave up binge drinking, I didn't want to waste my 20s" Brilliant line

So you spare the bosses, each of whom is far more responsible than all the henchmen you DO murder indiscriminately?

From the mind that brought you "Spunkgargleweewee" comes "Flip-out Spanky-wanky"

Less "Killing you won't bring (x) back, so there's no point" stories and more "You can't bring (x) back, so there's no reason not to kill you" stories. Like The Princess Bride!

That's great

I'm surprised I missed this one when it first dropped. But I'm a little sad that there was never a ZP made for their first flip-out-spanky-wanky game: Absolver. 😔

I never thought Yahtzee would mention the garbage bin I call my home city.

When are we going to get the game where revenge is not only the answer but awesome and the hero feels great about it?

Shows your writing talent. I think "flip out spanky-wanky" will be in the Oxford's by the end of the year, really.

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge next, please!

I always love games that have these moments where they make killing a boss into a melancholy thing, like they forgot about the run up to the boss where you're a spree killer bigger than any american mass shooting could ever dream off.

The way you pronounced "Sarajevo" I'd never guessed what you mean.

Do a mash up review of dusk and some other fun shooters

I think the Oldboy reference went over your head

1:48 - hot damn yahtzee making some biting commentary

*Zero Punctuation prog rock album of the week:* *Whirling Through Empty Air* by the *Ballistic Velocity Diamonds*

I still have small hope he'll review Kerbal Space Program, or finish his review of Outer Wilds >v

In Shenmue's case, if it takes much longer, Ryu Hazuki will end up being a petrified statue in the main bad guys zen garden.

I've opened for that rhino.

Game developers pushing the "killing is not the answer" mantra should really remember what happened to the boy a priest saved from drowning in Austria.

im surprised yatz didnt reference god hand even once

sounds like my kind of game