The Legend of Zelda, while an interesting story for another day, is a franchise so massive that just about anyone should be able to recognize it just by hearing the name or looking at a picture of the main character. Zelda has seen a lot of ups and downs over the years, but when the series witnesses a high point it’s extremely high. Each game slams an interesting idea of the table and attempts to innovate on the last. Expanding the universe and getting us to care for what happens next. Not just for what can occur in the story, but just how bizarre and colorful each world you explore is. The Legend of Zelda has also had a lot of influence in the gaming landscape. Changing how developers viewed exploration, dungeon crawling, puzzle solving, progression, and third person combat when Ocarina of Time rolled out on the Nintendo 64. Sure, Zelda didn’t invent half of these ideas, and other big titles would do what Zelda did but better. However, Zelda is what got the development train going, and if I were to take a game you like and connect the ideas it had to the past some of those lines should lead back to The Legend of Zelda. Sadly, today we’re not talking about Zelda. We’re actually discussing a small indie game which took heavy inspiration from Zelda, and the rest coming from Darks Souls. Which you should know by now is a heavily influential game I constantly reference on this site. Honestly, I could have started the introduction sequence by explaining how important Dark Souls is again, but you readers are probably sick of hearing about it. I’m starting to sound like those game journalists who have no other references to work with and solely rely on Dark Souls.
Today’s subject is Tunic, an isometric action adventure game which was developed by one man named Andrew Shouldice. He used to be one of the many developers at Silverback Productions, but after participating in several Ludum Dare events and looking over his career, he decided to quit the company and become an independent developer. He looked back at the games he grew up with, and mainly thought about the original Zelda on the Nintendo Entertainment System. He wanted to make what would feel like a successor to it, but he didn’t want to nail down to just being a clone or a mimic. Ideas, mechanics, and uniqueness were required and his thoughts baked in the oven for a while until genius struck him. He remembered loving the art design and descriptions of game manuals for NES titles, specifically The Legend of Zelda, and noticed how game’s of today lack physical instruction manuals or teach everything the game has to offer through a tutorial or constant hand holding. That’s when Shouldice decided to make a Zelda-like centered around mystery and discovery, more so than actual Zelda. The game would plop the player into the world, but not explain how certain mechanics and rules worked. Everything was up to them, but over the course of their journey they would piece together an actual game manual hinting to them how certain elements worked. This was the stroke of genius that helped Tunic stand out from other genre contemporaries and put it up there on the pedestal.
Tunic was revealed during a Microsoft presentation back in 2018, but development on the game was tricky. The game didn’t come out until recently, almost four years after a small bit of footage got out. When the game finally released it was well praised. Critics loved the exploration and art design of the game and it quickly became one of the best indie games of 2021, maybe even one of best releases of the year. Tunic is brilliant and I can understand why people think this, because I too fell in love with Tunic. I’ve been meaning to play this game for awhile and was considering getting it at launch, but my backlog and schedule got busy so I focused more on other titles. Plus the game was exclusive to the Xbox One, which I haven’t touched in a longtime since I don’t find as much use in it as my other consoles. During May, I picked up a Game Pass subscription and now I’m starting to find more purpose to use my Xbox One more often. One of those being to finally Tunic and cover a more recent release. Did Tunic live up to expectations? Yeah, I say it did. Tunic is a really good game, and while it does fall short in some areas it stands tall for how well it executes ideas and delivers one of the more charming experiences out there. Today we’ll be talking about why I liked Tunic and why it deserves your attention. So wake up on the quiet shores, pick up your blad-IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS!
Story
There’s not much of a story going on in Tunic. Actually, you aren’t offered any explanation as to what is happening at all, and the real story doesn’t begin until halfway through the game. It’s a pretty interesting story, but it’s one best experienced through your own discovery. Instead of spoiling the entire plot for you I’ve decided to just narrow down the first few minutes of Tunic. Are we good? Okay, so the main character who looks like a fox trying to cosplay as Link wakes up on the shores of a large island. He has no idea of how he got there, but by venturing further he discovers he’s in a mystical land. All of the inhabitants are gone, the world is empty of life, and any living beings that are there turn out to be monsters or these creatures overrun with madness. Attacking you on sight and making sure you end up stone dead. Following the path forward we find a golden door sealed shut, and this is what leads us to explore.
The fox follows a trail which leads to the Eastern Forest, unlocks a legendary sword to fight off against enemies, and learns that two bells located on opposite sides of the land have to be rung to open up the golden door. Am I sensing a little bit of Dark Souls right now? Ring two ancient Bells of Awakening so that the path forward may be open. The tiny green tunic fox proceeds to venture forward, but along his travels he may get slain. He’s then transported to this spirit realm where a blue light guides him towards a taller majestic fox. She’s trapped within this crystal and the fox is soon chased away by a darkening force. The fox is then respawned at a bonfire he rested at, another Dark Souls influence, and by looking at the statue we find the figure is heavily resemblant of the majestic fox trapped in the prism. Our goal afterwards is to figure out who this fox is and how to get her out of the prism. Maybe by then we’ll discover what happened to the other inhabitants of the world and why there aren’t any more foxes like us.
Gameplay
I’ll explain more later as to why the story and presentation of Tunic works, but for now let’s just talk about the game design which is what Tunic prioritizes in. It’s one of those Zeldalike games where you’re plopped into an interconnected world full of secrets to uncover, baddies to fight, and treasure chests to open. Possibly containing upgrades and items for you to use. However, some areas and pathways won’t be available from the start, so you’ll have to wait until you either activate a switch to proceed or unlock an item that allows you to interact with the environment.
Weapons and equipment can be equipment can be assigned through a menu screen, and three of them can be active at a time. You have a stick from the beginning, but quickly unlock a sword to perform a three hit combo on enemies. A sideway swipe, another swipe, and then a thrust that launches you forward. Items include a wand to fire projectiles, an ice rod which freezes enemies no matter how big they are, and a grappling hook to either pull enemies towards you or hookshot to grappable points. All elemental and magic based items rely on a magic meter, and this meter can only be replenished at checkpoints or by collecting blue dots of energy which are dropped by certain enemies. You also have health potions which can be used to regain health whenever it’s running low. These potions can run out during exploration, but can be refilled by resting at a bonfire. Wait a minute, that’s another influence from Dark Souls! Seems like Tunic takes more ideas from Dark Souls than Zelda, which is terrible to admit halfway through this review. What are you going to tell me next?
In Tunic you have a stamina meter, but just listening to readers it’s different. Attacks don’t utilize stamina, but dodge rolling uses stamina up. If your stamina runs low then our inari starts to get out of breath. Struggling to move around efficiently, performing weak hops instead of dodge rolls, and being more susceptible to damage. You can’t just dodge spam during combat, but rather pay attention to enemy attacks so that you may roll at the right time. Another action which uses stamina is blocking with your shield. This is only good for negating weak projectiles, and using it as a last minute decision during busy fights. Otherwise, get good at the combat especially when enemies often come in hordes. It’s like Bloodborne placing you against hordes, but unlike that game the combat here is very finicky and we’ll explain more later on why.
Whenever you die or open up certain treasure chests you pick up experience, but they aren’t used in the same way as Dark Souls uses them. This could be considered a spoiler as you don’t figure out how leveling works until you pick up a manual page suggesting it, but it’s nothing related to the story so I think we’re good. Scattered across the world are certain materials, and combining them with experience points at bonfires allows you to upgrade one of six stats. Attack power, maximum health, maximum stamina, maximum magic, defense, and magic damage. If you die while a plentiful amount of experience points are in your pocket you lose a fraction of them. Yet, they can be recovered if you return to the area you lost them in. It’s a risk-reward system which forces the player to learn from their mistakes. Dark Souls influence? Yes.
I should describe to you the most important mechanic of Tunic, which I just hinted at a couple of seconds ago. The instruction manual is a physical object you carry around the world. It’s not a table of contents you can open in the options menu, but rather a series of pages scattered across the world. The first piece you pick up are only two pages, and it’s your job to find more of them. By discovering new pages you can learn how certain systems work, or discover mechanics the game didn’t show you from the beginning. What makes the instruction manual genius is that discovery is what builds the player’s intelligence. Not only that, but a majority of dialogue in the instruction manual and in the world is done through a made up language. Meaning the player will have to piece information together using the images and careful analysis rather than have the game dump it into their face. It’s a brilliant idea that worked better than it had the rights to. Besides that there isn’t much else to say about Tunic. There are the occasional bosses with large health pools and attacks who require skill, practice, and multiple attempts to beat. That’s it really. Hopefully you can unravel the mysterious truth.
Thoughts
Tunic is a really good game and when you add all the elements up you find yourself with a beautiful product made by another passionate solo developer. There’s so much to love, and even when the lows are low the game makes up for it with some truly breathtaking moments. One of which being the story and how it’s presented. The story, as stated earlier, isn’t much and what the player is given is not a lot to work with. Tunic relies on the vague worldbuilding Dark Souls had and being able to piece the information together on your own and form a bit of the puzzle. It’s not the best form of this storytelling, I mean I wish there were some item descriptions, but it’s one of the more unique takes on this type of storytelling. The main narrative is enough to pull you along and there’s a huge twist later on that gets the player to think. I won’t spoil that either, but it does what Dark Souls does and makes the player consider if what they are doing is right. We think we’re some hero in this fantasy land, but the game never calls us one. The more you unravel the truth and witness the horrors underneath the more you become afraid of what happens next. What happens when the mystical fox is freed.
The gameplay is good for the most part. There are a couple of downfalls, but let’s address what is done right. The exploration is top notch and looks towards the design philosophy of the original Zelda. Could have made another Dark Souls comparison, but no. It gives you no direction on where to go next, but by doing this you force the player to wander on their own. Not be held by the hand, and actually feel like an adventurer. Uncovering the mysteries of the world and getting their minds blown when they finally discover the solution forward. All the secrets in this game are really cool, and it feels rewarding to just poke around and go in areas other games wouldn’t normally want you too. The wide selection of equipment you unlock is fun to use, and you get to see how strong your character has gotten by the end through all the upgrades you’ve picked up. I also like how the game takes place from an isometric view. As with Hades and several other titles alike, I like a set camera because it gives us a clear view of what is happening around our character. Battles can get pretty crazy and what you don’t want is a camera struggling to readjust itself amongst all the chaos. The artstyle is another outstanding feature of this game. It’s colorful and has the polygon papercraft style of titles like Death’s Door and Ashen. It makes Tunic feel like a project a child made for their art class and luckily won first prize with it. I like seeing games which look unique rather than do the usual realistic visuals and physics.
Tunic is good, but we do have to address a couple of it's flaws. Dear lord, there is quite a bit to complain about despite the charming nature of the game. The exploration and world design is great, but playing Tunic itself is not very good at times. While movement feels tight, the buttons to perform actions and dodging don’t feel great. It’s either the action is performed too late or it feels stiff. The dodge roll feels clunky, and it’s hard to follow up with an attack when the transition from dodging to attacking isn’t smooth. Now, Zeldalikes don’t normally prioritize combat and I have to admit that you don’t play Tunic for combat. However, the game throws you into a lot of horde fights and the 2nd boss in the game forces you to get good at reacting quickly. In fact, every boss after the first one is really aggressive, and your slow moveset isn’t enough to actually match up with them. This is made even worse when your sword has a small hitbox, and you can’t even close the distance on an enemy because remember: your attacks are finicky. The game can be unfair at times because it places you at a disadvantage, and does a really horrible job at pacing you into ever scaling boss fights. One second you’re exploring an interconnected world and the next you are being crushed by a giant mechanical spider. I had to go to the options menu and turn on the accessibility option which makes you invincible, because I could not dealing with half the overly difficult boss fights. The Librarian specifically is harder than it should be, because it’s a flying boss and more than half the time she spends the fight avoiding the player. Meaning they never get a chance to attack and if so it’s risky. Final complaint with the gameplay is that I don’t know why a run can only be done after a dodgeroll, because it feels really awkward when transitioning into a run with another command would have felt more natural.
These complaints should be discouraging a majority of you from playing Tunic, but I do really recommend this game. It’s the Transistor scenario again where the game isn’t great to play, but has great ideas and what it does well is done tremendously. The art design, story, presentation, world design, and exploration of Tunic is some of the best I’ve seen from a Zeldalike. Well, the game feels more soulslike to be honest, but it is a really well made one. In fact this is one of the more accessible ones in the adventure focused soulslike genre. That’s right, I'm admitting it. You win readers. You win. Tunic lasted roughly around ten hours for me which is a great runtime for this sort of game, and it’s sold for around thirty dollars which is a fair price point. You can also get it for free through Xbox Game Pass and it’s the perfect title to pick off through the service. In the end I give Tunic a 9/10 for excellence at best. By the time of writing this I’ve discovered this is the 149th game I have reviewed. Outside of the redo I did of Sekiro, the essay followup for Bloodborne, and any other article. I didn’t celebrate the 100th reviewed game, but I am thinking of doing something special for the 150th. Stay tuned.
Kommentarer