The "Chinese" Non-City: Thematic (In)Coherence and Level Design in Sifu

This paper examines whether Sloclap's 2022 action game Sifu, which is built from discrete side-scrolling combat stages, can construct a coherent urban environment, and whether that environment genuinely articulates the "Chinese" cultural identity the game claims as its theme. Its central contribution is an analysis of level design as the mechanism through which spatial congruence is attempted. The author positions the study against critics such as Khee Hoon Chan, who argued that Chineseness in Sifu is reduced to a palette swap and that the game's world-building submits to a Western "sinological orientalism," and situates the inquiry within broader debates on ethnic and cultural representation in video games.

The analysis argues that Sifu attempts a level of cohesion uncommon in the beat 'em up genre, where settings are often treated as interchangeable backdrops. The wuguan, or martial hall, functions as a central hub resembling a stage-selection node, while the "wuguan board," an evidence board that fills as players collect items, serves as a fragmentary visual synthesis of narrative and spatial structure. The paper frames these choices through level design theory and world-building concepts, prioritizing the design process and aesthetic decisions behind the game's structure.

Methodologically, the study combines an examination of publicly available developer accounts and interviews, annotated gameplay focused on environmental analysis, and direct inspection of extracted environment models rearranged in Blender, with emphasis on the "Wuguan" and "The Sanctuary" levels. This approach allows the author to test critical claims about cultural authenticity against the concrete decisions made during production.