"Ohhhh woooow, that really is a puzzle huh? Hidden in plain sight. That's neat."

"..."

"Yeah. No way in hell I'm doing all that."

"A Zelda-like open world action-adventure game that pays homage to a nearly lost era of video game history when games came with a manual, and you find pages of the manual in the game, so that's pretty cool... "

This was about the extent of my knowledge of Tunic, aside from one person's exhortation to go in blind. Boy, was I unprepared for the depth and creativity of what I understand is a really small indie team. I cannot stress to you how amazing it feels to complete this game. As a fanatic for the Legend of Zelda series of video games, I love each and every individual title for what it brings to the franchise. However, as someone who started their journey after the release of the 3D games, I didn't really have a chance to appreciate the first two games in the series. From what I understood, Tunic was supposed to be a sort of love letter to the original Legend of Zelda game on the NES that it would evoke similar feelings to playing that game. It is so much more than that, and in my opinion, it blows Zelda 1 out of the water. Tunic has become one of my favorite video games of all time. I truly cannot describe the feeling I had as with each successive discovery, more and more of the game began to open up as I learned ways to interact with the world. It is just so satisfying. I always cherished the idea of taking notes for a video game, drawing your own maps, and working out solutions to a puzzle, and this game will get you to do just that in a very real and effective way. And when the final lightbulb lit up and I finally put all the pieces together, I cannot tell you just how excited I was, hastily looking for a pen and paper. I do not think I have ever lost my mind to the extend that I did while playing this game, nor do I think many games have ever been as exciting to me as this one. Over and over, I was floored with the creativity of the developers and I will probably never forget how I felt as I uncovered the various secrets in this game. Tunic rules school in a big way.

Now, I know that no one person's opinion is the rule and not everyone might have the same experience or joy while playing this game. The combat can be quite difficult at times, and the game is also designed with a learning curve built in, as you must play the game to get the instructions, and I could understand how some might not be into that. While I personally enjoyed figuring everything out myself and I am glad that I forced myself not use a guide, there are certain things that I would understand being too obtuse for some gamers who may not want to pour over an in-game manual looking for answers. After completing the game for the first time, I caved and learned online how to translate the mysterious language that you will discover throughout the game, and while there is almost no way players would be able to learn to do so given the information in the game, it does not prevent you from being able to figure anything out.

All in all, Tunic is an absolute must-play for me, and I would recommend anyone try this game. The combat was a satisfying challenge with a tangible sense of progression, the puzzles were unique and an absolute joy to discover and solve, it is awesome to explore the world and continue to discover new areas and hidden paths, the soundtrack is amazing, and I am astounded by the creativity and implementation of ideas throughout the entirety of the game. I love this game!

This is the best love letter any series can receive from their fans, and I mean that wholeheartedly. Without getting into spoiler territory, the manual mechanic is one of the most beautiful, interesting and ironically innovative mechanics I've had the pleasure to tinker with in all my years of playing.
The gameplay is silky smooth, filled to the brim with divulgative secrets (some of these feel like the mew truck, and I mean that in the best way possible), it has good pacing and a story that, while not necessary to enjoy this game, can reach your heart if you are in the right mindset.

If you loved A link Between Worlds, Minish Cap or any other 2D Zelda title, please try Tunic. Hell, if you played the original Zelda in the NES, this game is specifically a love letter to you, too.
It's that good

Cool art style, nice soundtrack and pretty tough difficulty level. Some bosses were annoying (reminded me a lot of Dark Souls 3 with its stupid delayed attacks, meh) and the camera was all over the place at times. The game had a few glitches (enemies disappearing into walls, teleporting into an object etc.) and some of the optional puzzles were really over the top (Golden Path WTF^^).
Overall a cool but somewhat mediocre game with good level design, a nice progression system and a really cutesy ending :)

On the surface this looks like a typical Zelda-like, and in some ways it is very reminiscent of older Zelda titles like A Link to the Past. What makes this game stand out however isn't in it's similarities to Zelda games, but rather in it's differences.

Much like Outer Wilds, this is one of those games where I can't give you too much information without spoiling major aspects of the game. In fact, that is the very premise the game is built around. Despite the Zelda-like layout and Souls-like combat, the core of this game revolves around information. Everything in this game is written in an undecipherable wingding language, leaving the player guessing as to what signs mean throughout the world. More importantly though, as you go through the game, you'll find pages of the game's "instruction manual", being very reminiscent of the manuals in older NES/SNES titles. This manual is also mostly in this wingding language, forcing the player to decipher meanings from the pictures, other pages, and context clues. While you may think this sounds annoying upon reading this review, let me assure you that this is excellently pulled off, making you want to find these manual pages and keeping you thinking about what some enigmatic riddle could mean long after you've put the game down. When you do figure something new out, the "Ah-Ha!" moment is unparalleled and you feel like a genius.
The only time these manual puzzles become really over the top to solve is in the post-game for the "good" ending. I did not actually manage to solve all of these, but despite it, I never found it too frustrating to go on, and if anything makes me even more determined to eventually go back and solve that mystery.

Beyond that, I can tell you that while there aren't that many boss fights, they are quite enjoyable and visually pleasing. The exploration in this game is top notch. The items are very fun to use, and combat in general is fun. The skills you get as you go through the game, as well as how you get them, are also a blast. I will say, while the story is pretty decent, it's probably the weakest part of the game overall.

Truly this is a game I would recommend to nearly everyone. One of the best games in every genre it falls into.

Confession moment: the Zelda games I have finished can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Their structure, at least when I was younger, sometimes confused me and, a mix of not reading where I had to go and inexperience, made me abandon them.

Tunic stands as a Zelda-like game but with a twist that everyone knows by now: the game starts very much like the very first Zelda, but gives the player no objective, no instructions. Instructions are provided to the player with pages from a game manual of the game itself, a meta idea that really made me smile and created that sense of 'let me check the instruction booklet' in me that I haven't had in a long time. The game is fluid, fun and a real pleasure to explore, precisely because it doesn't tell the player much about what to do. The story, despite not having ONE line of dialogue, is perfectly expressed with the environment and the short videos, which never cut through the action.

The game is a treat for those who like to find hidden secrets that require pen and paper to find. Without making spoilers, you'll reach the end of the game wanting to find every secret and, as mentioned, you'll have to take notes to do so, much like FEZ players did at the time.

Absolutely recommended game to generate in everyone that sense of passion for discovery that few games give us anymore!

I can't describe this game in any way besides "genius." I was already having fun discovering the beautiful world's secrets and overcoming its satisfying bosses, but more and more information was slowly revealed via the unlockable in-game manual, and I fell in love. It's amazing how many things are hidden in plain sight throughout the entire game, and rather than requiring a specific item to unlock them, you just need the knowledge that the game slowly gives you. It allows for a magical first playthrough with many awe-inspiring moments. All this culminates into the masterful puzzle that is the mystery of unlocking the mountain door, which is easily one of the most unique and incredible puzzles I have ever seen.

MAGNÍFICO!!! Uma carta de amor para os Zelda antigos, o jogo não pega na sua mão e te leva para os lugares, você mesmo tem q ir aprendendo sozinho com o manualzinho muito lindo desse jogo, que ta numa língua muito esquisita ( como na nossa infância com os jogos em inglês e nós não entendíamos e a gente ia tentando resolver só vendo os desenhos e ilustrações, e na tentativa e erro ) Esse foi o melhor jogo que eu joguei em 2022 depois de Elden Ring. Simplesmente uma obra prima no mundo dos jogos. EU SUPER RECOMENDO!!!|
Obs: zerei e platinei ( com muito prazer ) em 20h

What Tunic sets out to do, it does incredibly well. Rather than being a Zelda-like, Tunic is aiming to be more like Fez and if that means something to you, this comes with a glowing recommendation... with the caveat that the combat is actively shit and you'd be better off playing it on Easy.

The highlights of Tunic are definitely the visuals, the world and the exploration, the non-verbal ways in which the story is slowly doled out to you, the puzzles, the secrets that are pervasive and everywhere and the incredible music to accompany it all. Slowly exploring the map and opening up more and more pathways as you grow stronger and more daring made me feel enraptured with what was going on and I could scarcely put the game down in favor of going for just a few more minutes over and over. There was always a pathway that you'd remember you left behind and you'd yearn to go back there, only to be distracted yet again by another path. There are secrets within secrets and puzzles that slowly reveal their mechanics over time and you keep on trucking. I won't spoil some of the more wonderful elements of the game but the game perfectly merges exploration with everything else.

Except the combat. The combat is just actively bad. You have a fair few options but the player character just feels incredibly clunky the whole way through. I don't have any objective way of expressing this. The combat just felt really bad. One of the more egregious things I can point to is a lack of any animation cancel which means every swing of your sword, every dodge, every shield raise is a commitment and it's so sluggish and horrid when after you swing you raise your shield to deflect the incoming attack only to have it hit and stun you. There are bosses that were so annoying I relented and turned the difficulty down. But the saving grace is the combat is serviceable enough since most of the time you're just fighting grunts and most of your time is not really going to be fighting enemies. The game definitely prioritises the exploration factor over combat but it does feel crummy that combat wasn't more of a focus or there weren't more ways to improve it.

Tunic is far, FAR more than the sum of its parts, most of which were already stellar. The whole package comes together in a wonderful way even if the singular piece doesn't fit well enough. I'll once again name drop Fez, with all that that entails. There's a lot that I didn't actually bother with because I got the true ending and stopped. There's a decent chunk of puzzles that I didn't touch cause I'd just be reading guides to solve them.

Tunic is a game that is clearly inspired by Zelda and Fez, and yet stands proudly on it's own with it's innovative and unique catch.

Tunic's main difference from other games is how it forces the player to undergo self-discovery on how to play the game and navigate the world.

Tunic has no straight tutorial. Everything you have to know, from controls to enemies to navigation, all come through little snippets of information from scattered pages of a retro game manual. However, Tunic also has it's own self-invented language, so even the pages of the manual can seem like indecipherable gibbersh (unless you spent hours deciphering it), forcing players to make assumptions using images, or experiment around with different interactions.

This makes the game itself an integrated puzzle - having satisfying moments where the player feels like they have discovered mechanics by themselves or even ahead of when they were meant to. It lets the player feel accomplished in little victories of self-discovery.

Furthermore, this sense of self-discovery is amplified by the overwhelming amount of secrets in the game. While some may not be significant, such as a secret shortcut or hidden item, it makes the player always feel accomplished, and promotes the player to keep looking out for small hidden details and interactions.

The manual itself is gorgeous (as well as the rest of the game), and always keeps the player engaged and interested by teasing them with future enemies and areas which they have yet to see. It's also extremely charming, being a callback to the nostalgic game manuals that older generations would get with their games during their childhood.

The game has tight combat, and does require a surprising amount of mastery to overcome bosses and enemies. A personal favourite part of combat is how the game will promote the use of bombs, a limited-use item within your inventory. While normally I might've hoarded them and eventually, never actually used them, Tunic rewards you with a system that gives you additional permanent bombs if you use enough, promoting and rewarding the player in using up their limited resources in regular encounters, making the combat much more interesting and dynamic.

Midway, the game takes a massive shift in gameplay. If the start was like Zelda, the end is like Fez. You backtrack to past areas with newfound knowledge and abilities to clear out remaining secrets, becoming much more puzzle-oriented in the late-game, including one of my personal favourite puzzles.

I have no real complaints about Tunic. Some end-game puzzles did end up quite similar to each other but I still enjoyed them thoroughly. Tunic is a game I would recommend to most people, and am excited to see what surprises the sequel might bring.

This is the type of game where I think everything I could say has probably been said already and agreed on by most people. Tunic is a very solid throwback at old school zelda and a very fun game to go through, culminating in one of the best video game puzzles I've ever seen and I'll never forget it.

I think combat sucked, though. Giving the bosses the ability to dodge with i-frames. made every encounter infuriating. It's also a shame that some areas were inaccessible into the second part of the game and weren't integrated in it, cutting the game a little shorter of what it could have been.

Tunic is a very unique experience, that almost felt like two different games packed together. The first game is a loose adventure game, that lets you figure out everything on your own and has some really satisfying exploration and combat. The manual system is great as well. On top of a wonderful atmospheric soundtrack and a memorable visual style, it's a great game.

The second is a complex puzzle game that requires a lot more brain power than I have to offer. There were certainly moments of this section I was able to solve, although to see the true ending required an unfortunate amount of looking stuff up. Through this and Obra Dinn I've learned that cryptic games that require scouring a lot of information aren't exactly my thing, even if I can appreciate them.

It was a smart call to put the cryptic stuff after being able to get an ending, since dumb idiots like myself can at least get some closure. Anyways, cool game.

If you enjoyed The Witness but wish it had more of a story to grasp onto like Braid, then you might find Tunic weirdly cathartic. This is a really special puzzle game that inspired a sort of lean-my-head-back-and-stare-at-the-ceiling-since-I-can't-comprehend-how-cool-what's-on-screen-is wonder that I hadn't felt in a very long time - not even while playing Outer Wilds.

There's also passable Souls-style combat if you enjoy that, but if you don't then don't be afraid to use the difficulty modifiers! The game's not perfect but it's worth the struggle - don't look anything up and if you do make sure it's a gentle spoiler free guide.

Also the soundtrack is god-tier. Lifeformed already had some bangers on the Dustforce soundtrack but they really outdid themselves here (along with Power Up Audio's gorgeous sound design). "Flux Is On" has been top of the playlist for over a year now.