The Ability to Remap your Controls In Game is Not Optional

If you have not been paying attention to my blog in the last couple weeks, you are probably not aware that I have been streaming on Twitch (shameless self-promo here), and more specifically I have been streaming Sifu. Let me start by saying that I think it's an incredible game in terms of design, aesthetics, and gameplay, and I think everyone should have the chance to play it. That's where I'm taking issue now; not everyone can play this game as the developers intended while playing on PC.

I downloaded this game about a month ago now, and as soon as I went into it, I felt that the default control scheme was not ideal for how I wanted to play the game.

"Oh good!" I thought, "I can remap the controls to be how I like! No need to strain my hands and fingers unnecessarily!"

Unfortunately, it wasn't until a couple weeks later that I found out something had gone wrong. I was unable to activate the Special Moves that the game gives you.

"Ok," I thought, "maybe I have to unlock something in game before I can use them."

But when I looked back into the keybinds menu, I noticed that the button to activate them had simply been unbound, and would no longer accept any inputs for changing the control. I came across a small Reddit thread of people complaining of the same issue, and it seems to be locked as a PC only complaint.

The issue is that when you switch to custom mapping on PC, it automatically unbinds the Special Move buttons, and completely locks them out of use.

This is completely unacceptable for such a major game release in the year 2022.

"Well it's not the biggest issue," you might say, "you don't need to use the Special Moves to beat the game," and you're right. It doesn't stop you from playing the game at all, but it certainly does make it significantly harder. I am at this point willingly using custom controls, knowing full well it locks away some of my most powerful attacks, but I really shouldn't be forced to take a large handicap in order to play this game the way I want to play it.

Imagine you play on PC, but you have some reason to need to remap any number of controls. You are so excited for Sifu to release, cause you can't wait to feel like a total badass, mowing down grunts like Daredevil in a hallway, and you go in and realize "Oh, I can either be forced to play with a huge detriment, or I can't play at all."

Can you imagine how disheartening that would be? To require accommodations in order to experience the game, and then have this absolutely neutered experience?

Sloclap studio, this is a message directly for you. This game is 40 dollars on the Epic store, and I Know a lot of people are playing it. I love your game, and would love to finish playing it, but until everyone can enter into it on level ground, I cannot do so.

For everyone else, my full playthrough of the game is up on my Youtube channel, with my the start of me discovering the glitch in my fourth stream. Please read this, watch the video, and spread this around. I want people to play this game, and I can't in good conscience recommend people do so until this issue is fixed.