Sifu mentioned 🫵😳 I feel like when a game becomes a genre, youre inevitably going to get this dilution of the concept (like with roguelike) as people take what inspires them about the game, identify that with the concept ("campfire systems are Souls-like"), and reimplement those things in their own games. How much can you take away and what things must you leave in for your game to remain "-like"? What i personally "expect" from a Souls-like are rhythmic fights that feel like theyre on equal footing. You could take the world design, the campfires, the souls, and maybe even bosses out of your game, but if the combat has Souls-like rhythm, reaction, weight, and intimidation (another tall guy in armor gonna kick my ass), thats enough for someone to convince me theyve made a souls-like. Thats just me! While i wouldnt call Sifu a Souls-like, because now im scared 😂 i think FromSoft games were clearly a huge inspiration for it, as much as Hack n Slash games like Devil May Cry were.. DMC-likes?? Its weird. Its just a matter of how much you crib, and some games are... More cribbed from than others, and people start pointing it out
You make a good point that games get diluted when they become a genre. I think that’s almost part of the process, the genre has to be more than the game itself based on. I always felt sifu was closer to something like the arkham games which I always felt was a more refined version of the first assassins creed combat.
