Sifu's incredible Batman mod is just the tip of the iceberg

Martial arts game Sifu certainly delivers on the premise, delivering a unique and flowing combat system that is arguably the closest a game has come to recreating the feel of watching old kung fu movies. Our mostly-glowing review says "the cohesiveness of the moveset comes through brilliantly" and "Sifu's focus on kung fu tradition is a success." You don't need to play the game to understand that, just watch a 30-second clip of it.

The game's been out since early February, and the focus of modders thus far has been an understandable one: switching out the game's somewhat generic protagonist for a wide range of famous kung fu stars and superheros. Earlier today I saw a new mod in action by NosbornGG that adds the Robert Pattison iteration of the Batman to the game, which looks absolutely incredible. Turns out, if you don't like that particular caped crusader, you can play as the Telltale one instead.

There's a genuinely impressive number of these mods now available, many of which are down to the skills of modder HalfMillz. They're responsible for a mod that lets you make the lead character Neo:

And one that lets you turn every enemy in Agent Smith to fit that theme, as well as a reshade that makes the game's world more Matrix-y.

Modder AmooryKSArab, meanwhile, looked to the real world for their inspiration and put the legendary Bruce Lee in the game, probably the most Sifu of Sifu mods there will ever be.

There's really too many to list, but a quick highlights reel would include: classic Spider-Man, Rorschach, Goku, the Power Rangers and, mainly for my old housemate who used to binge the show: it's Naruto!

The single best Sifu mod I could find, however, does nothing less than replace the protagonist with Phil Collins. As the description says, "Phil is in the air tonight, but not in the way you expected."

Phil Collins in Sifu. — (Image credit: Sloclap)

There's an absolute raft of these mods spanning videogame characters, superheros, and other random additions over at the game's NexusMods page. And if you need any help fighting more like Neo than Mr Anderson, here's our guide to mastering Sifua's combat.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."