It will take you a while to learn the ropes of Sifu — until then, death is inevitable. Progressing through the game will eventually get you to a game over screen. But before then, you’ll encounter the Sifu Death Counter mechanic. This guide explains how it works in detail, including the max age and how to reduce the counter to prevent aging too fast.
If you’re in need of more help, we have several additional guides on Sifu, covering the true ending, male or female choice, shortcuts, dialogue options, best skills, altar locations and best perks, detective board, and a list with 15 tips.
How the Sifu Death Counter Works
In essence, Sifu works similarly to a roguelite, but it has a twist involving age. If you’re wondering how the Sifu age system works, your main character starts at the age of 20. Every time you die, the Sifu Death Counter will gain one number, which is added to your age. So, dying at age 20 will turn your character to age 21 (if you choose to revive as opposed to giving up and restarting the stage from scratch). The problem is that each subsequent death adds to that number. If you’re not careful, you’ll get to a point where every time you revive, you’re gaining three, four, or more years.
The main consequence of getting older comes with each decade (30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 years). For every 10 years, your health will be reduced but you’ll do more damage, which is a good trade-off; however, it means you’ll be weaker and more prone to death the older you get. Neither your character’s speed nor any other gameplay aspect is affected by growing old aside from health and damage.
The other consequence comes down to stages. Every time you finish a stage by taking down the final boss, your current age and Death Counter are recorded for the next stage. This means that if you die at The Squats at the age of 48 with the Death Counter at 3, you’ll begin The Club with the same values. The only way to decrease these numbers is to repeat the previous stage and perform better, ending up with a lower age and Death Counter by the time you defeat the final boss.
What Is the Max Age in Sifu?
The max age in Sifu is above 70 years old. If you get to any age from 70 to 78, you’ll have one last life. If you die when you’re 70 or older, you’ll automatically be hit with a game over screen.
Once you hit a game over screen, you’ll have the chance to retry the current stage or give up. If you give up, you’ll lose all your altar rewards and the skills you haven’t permanently unlocked, so be mindful of this if you decide not to restart a stage and instead go back to an older one.
All of this may sound discouraging, but the more time you spend on the game, the better you will fare in previous stages. I recommend going back to them if you end up in a stage with a high Sifu Death Counter or old age in order to get leverage for future runs.
How to Reduce Sifu Death Counter
There are two ways to reduce your Death Counter in Sifu:
- Redeeming a specific altar reward
- Defeating special enemies
Bear in mind that there isn’t a way to reduce your age in Sifu, so the only way to not become older is to survive and not die.
Whenever you find an altar, you’ll have the chance to reset your Death Counter to zero. This costs around 1,000 XP, and it’s best used when you have a Death Counter of 3 or more deaths, as well as right before final boss fights.
Sadly, altars aren’t everywhere, but you can reduce your Death Counter by one number for each special enemy you defeat. This includes specific one-on-one encounters, special groups of two enemies, and enemies that are enraged. You will notice an enemy become enraged as they’ll have a smoke effect around them, and will usually counter-attack a takedown attempt. If you survive the fight, you’ll reduce your Death Counter by one. As long as you don’t die, you can continue taking down special enemies to reduce the number even further.
