As soon as you finish Sifu‘s prologue, which serves as a broad tutorial and a glimpse of what’s to come, you’ll be introduced to the main character. As developer Sloclap confirmed early last year, there is a Sifu male or female choice to make before the story begins. This guide explains whether or not this affects anything gameplay-wise, or if it’s just up to personal preference.
If you’re in need of more help, we have several additional guides on Sifu, covering the true ending, Death Counter, shortcuts, dialogue options, best skills, altar locations and best perks, detective board, and a list with 15 tips.
Sifu Male or Female Choice – Are There Any Differences?
No, there are not. Whatever you pick during the Sifu male or female choice after the prologue has no effects in the story or gameplay.
Everything from cutscenes and the interactions you have with other characters to using the dialogue system remains unchanged regardless of your pick — both characters share the same script in terms of writing. As for gameplay, you can expect to see the same movements for both.
The only difference is purely visual, which can be perceived in detail as either character grows old. The male protagonist will start showcasing a beard after a few years. As he ages, it will grow while he also gets longer, greyer hair and wrinkles. The female protagonist shares similar features as she ages but the changes are more subtle. Since she isn’t given facial hair, they’re more noticeable in her hair instead.
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The fact that the Sifu male or female choice doesn’t have an actual impact in either story or gameplay may be disappointing to hear, depending on your preference. A few other recent games, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6, have been adopting the same philosophy (although Valhalla is a messy case of strange marketing decisions and complicated narrative twists). But at the end of the day, if you’re looking for a substantial difference, Sifu just isn’t the game for it.
In case you’re curious, there aren’t customizable options for either character choice. The biggest visual difference comes with age, as this will affect the protagonist’s clothing over time, but there isn’t a way to switch between outfits or even change colors. Again, they’re a rather fixed main character, so what you see is largely what you get.
Personally, I’d love for games to start drifting away from purely “male or female” options in the future. Even complex RPGs with deep character creators continue to be at fault for this, so I’m not expecting a complete change to happen anytime soon. To an extent, one could celebrate that folks can choose to not be a guy every now and then — though this feels like the bare minimum. When I see examples such as OlliOlli World, where you’re free to tweak the body size of your character and customize them further through hairstyles, clothing, and accessories without any gender-locked options, it gives me hope that something as binary as “boy or girl” won’t be the absolute norm anymore someday.
