How to find every Shrine in Shifu

Sifu shrine locations are an integral part of upgrading your character and streamlining each run. Sifu is all about perfecting your attacks, dodges, and skills, so seeking out shrines, otherwise known as altars, should crop up high on your list.

But where can you find the shrines? How many are there? And what do they even do? We'll answer all and more in our Sifu shrine locations guide. 

• If you are keen to get better, then have a read of our Sifu tips guide. 

The Squats is the first level and home to four Sifu shrine locations. Most of these are easy to come across, but only three are available in a full-level run, and just two if you take the shortcut. 

The first Sifu shrine location can be found shortly after the big hallways fight. You will take the stairs, traversing through a hallway with enemies in rooms to your left and right. Immediately after you will encounter a fight out on the rooftop. Following the path forward you will go through a door to a room, which you will need to scale a wall to get out of. However, before leaving, the Sifu shrine can be found to your right, sitting on a shelf. 

The second Sifu shrine location in The Squats is guarded by the Skull Brothers. After beating your first Juggernaut, you will head down an elevator shaft. This will lead you to a room full of enemies to defeat. You will exit this room and find a hallway with one door to the left, and a locked gate ahead. Enter the room to the left where you must face the Skull Brothers, and the Sifu shrine can be found sitting by the window. The Skull Brothers will also give you the key to open the gate if this is your first playthrough. 

The third Sifu shrine location is actually only accessible via the shortcut. Once you come through the Avenue Door, thanks to the key you got from the Skull Brothers in your previous run, you'll come up against three enemies, two of which jump down from the small ledge under a shelter. Defeat them, and climb under the shelter to find the third Sifu shrine location on a desk. 

The last Sifu shrine location in The S quats can be found in the alleyway on the run-up to the fight with Fajar. It comes almost immediately after defeating a juggernaut and two standard enemies in a room full of hanging plants. After taking a right and a left in the alleys you'll spot the Sifu shrine on a table on the right. 

Next up is The Club, which is again home to three Sifu shrine locations. Luckily, it doesn't matter whether you take the shortcuts, as all Shrine locations are easily accessible. 

The first Sifu shrine location is on the dance floor. You will need to beat a whole load of enemies, and eventually face off against the mini-boss, who sits up by the DJ during your first fight. However, once you have defeated her, the shrine is just sitting by the speakers on the dance floor. 

Next up is the gym area, which comes after Sean's disciple mini-boss fight if you are going through the full level. If you are taking a shortcut through the access door to the right of the dancefloor, you will take the next immediate door and then the one to your right which requires a keycard. Once inside, look to your left and you'll see a woman stretching. Turn left again and the Sifu shrine location is by the wall. 

Lastly, this Sifu shrine location is impossible to miss. It is found in the small room immediately before you enter the Sean boss fight. This comes after you defeat the last of the three trials, which comes in the form of two insanely tough enemies. In the room, the Sifu shrine is on the right. 

Moving onto the third level we have the Museum. The first two Sifu shrine locations can be accessed only if you go through the entire level. However, the third is available even if you take the elevator straight up to the Kuroki boss fight. 

The first Sifu shrine location is found on the second floor. If you've already got access to the stairway keycard, you can take the stairs up one floor. This floor will see you face off against two tougher fighters in a room full of colorful bulbs. After that, a bunch of enemies in a room with a swinging ink well must be defeated. Once you have done that and before exiting the room, the Sifu shrine can be found tucked behind a partition. 

If you continue fighting up the floors, the next Sifu shrine location is on the fourth floor just before you jump over the railing to proceed to the final stretch before the boss. It can be found on the small table against the glass barrier. If you don't want to fight through all the levels, you can just take the stairs all the way up to the top floor to collect this shrine and the final one. 

Speaking of that final Sifu shrine location, this one is the easiest to pick up. Regardless of whether you take the elevator to the top or fight through the whole thing, the final Sifu shrine is found on the snowy walkway as you approach Kuroki. 

• Want to know why we think Sifu is a game of the year contender? Give our Sifu review a read. 

The Tower is the fourth mission in Sifu and home to the CEO of "The Corporation". Very ominous. There are three Sifu shrine locations here so let's get into it. 

The first Sifu shrine location will drive you a little mad if you've been struggling to spot it. You can't take the shortcut if you want to collect this one. Once you reach a stairwell where the elevator shaft is visible through the glass, you'll hear an enemy speculating that you may be in the stairwell. Once you leave the stairwell, you'll enter a thin hallway. Head all the way down that hallway and the Sifu shrine can be located at its end, and the door to proceed is around halfway along the hallway. 

Next up is another mandatory Sifu shrine location. You'll have to face the first mini-boss of the underground rift, in the conspiracy room. The Sifu shrine can be found next to the glowing wall. 

Lastly, we have another Sifu shrine located just before heading into the boss fight. In this case, you'll be dropping down steps, going lower and lower, before eventually concluding that you have to drop all the way down into the black pit. However, before you do that the last step is holding a Sifu shrine.

The Sanctuary is the last of the level and contains three Sifu shrine locations. With two available even when taking the shortcut. 

The first can be found in a restaurant area, which is accessed via a door to the left immediately after leaving the lobby area. You'll have to fight through a number of enemies before you can access the Sifu shrine, which is located to the left of the restaurant against the wall. 

The second requires that you fight your way around the level until you reach the aromatic garden. On your first run, a double door is locked, and you'll have to fight through the two enemies in one room, traverse the garden area, into another building to fight three more. They will give you a key, but before you progress, the Sifu shrine can be found at the other end of the garden from the gate, in the center of a small water feature. 

Lastly, as is tradition by this point, the final Sifu shrine location is right before you go to fight Yang. Once you've fought your way up the stairs to his office, you'll come into an empty room full of antiques. The shrine can be seen clearly on the right on top of one of the counters. 

That's every one of the Sifu shrine locations, so start to plan out your route across each run to see how many upgrades you can afford to squeeze in. If you are going to risk aging up to collect some additional upgrades, be sure you are clued up on Sifu parry timing. 

Sifu shrine locations are scattered across each of the five levels you must fight through. However, there are only a limited amount, and they can only be used once. Shrines allow you to upgrade elements such as a weapon's durability, resilience, and health gains. However, it can also increase your focus bars for additional attacks, or even reset your death counter. You can learn more about upgrades and shrines in our Sifu upgrades explained guide. 

The catch with Sifu shrine locations is that most of them require you to play through the majority of the level, meaning you have to decide whether to fast-track to the boss and miss your upgrades, or risk potentially aging up to smaller enemies to find the shrines. 

• If you are looking for more collectibles, check out our Sifu detective board guide.