Good:
World building was interesting and intriguing, made me want to find more about the world.
Instruction manual was gorgeous and the highlight of the entire game. The whole concept and execution was great and it really reminded me of old instructional manuals on SNES games.
Graphics is stylized in a very nice way and the overall aesthetic of the game was pleasant.
Neutral:
Did not care for the obtuse language of the game overall. I know it may be a big selling point for a lot of people but I think that a majority of gamers that are playing Tunic are never going to come close to solving the language without external help. In that way it only serves to act as a deterrence to explaining in game mechanics for the sake of world building. I think the player experience greatly suffers for this because there is a lot of neat mechanics that a player won't find because of the language.
Enjoyed the puzzle solving elements of the game but the instruction manual hints got way too vague for the puzzles that were needed for 100% completion and ending B. I think the puzzle difficulty before the end of the game was completely fine. I certainly don't mind having to think a little but a game that requires collaboration to solve puzzles is not a game that I'm interested in.
When the story got interesting with the Ziggurat and the Cathedral, the game basically ends right there. All that is left at that point is treasure hunting / fairy hunting through the same areas you've been through and I really wish the game built upon more of the interesting world it built. Souls games can get away with little in game story telling because a large part of the lore is built into the items and the item descriptions. Without that, Tunic provides you this interesting world with no real explanations and answers.
Negative:
Combat was not good. I don't think Tunic gained anything from having souls-like combat because the moveset of the player is so limited. A three hit combo and a parry and a stab out of a roll is your entire sword moveset. A lot of enemy encounters basically ended up being swing once and then roll backwards. It really didn't add anything to the experience. Not being able to sprint during lock-on is very annoying either, a lot of times I break lock-on specifically to sprint. The enemies not resetting aggro also means the game is forcing you into combat because the enemies will never stop chasing you unless you find a ladder.
Bosses were way too overturned and I think a lot of players are gonna struggle. The camera acts in such a strange way versus bosses when you're locked on because of the bosses constant movement. I don't think the game really gained anything from having difficult Souls-like bosses. The cathedral gauntlet especially is a point where a lot of players will consider either turning on no-fail mode or outright quitting because of how difficulty it can get. While yes, invincibility and stamina modes exist to help with the difficulty, there needs to exist better options for difficulty that is simply "never fail" and "extremely difficult."
The lighting and background of the game often obscures pathing and passages through out the game. While it is fun to find a secret passage obstructed by the view of the game the first few times, it basically forces the player to press up against each wall for the fear of missing out on a treasure chest behind a hidden passage. There needs to be better sign posting for a lot of the secret passages instead of asking the player to press up against every wall in a room in order to find a secret passage.
It was a fun romp, flawed but unique. I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to but it's definitely worth trying especially on Gamepass. I think it focused too much on the obtuse elements of a Souls game without finely crafting the experience around it and for that it suffers. It's a game where the designer vision took priority over the player experience. It's finely crafted but it's definitely not going to be a lot of people's cup of tea.
World building was interesting and intriguing, made me want to find more about the world.
Instruction manual was gorgeous and the highlight of the entire game. The whole concept and execution was great and it really reminded me of old instructional manuals on SNES games.
Graphics is stylized in a very nice way and the overall aesthetic of the game was pleasant.
Neutral:
Did not care for the obtuse language of the game overall. I know it may be a big selling point for a lot of people but I think that a majority of gamers that are playing Tunic are never going to come close to solving the language without external help. In that way it only serves to act as a deterrence to explaining in game mechanics for the sake of world building. I think the player experience greatly suffers for this because there is a lot of neat mechanics that a player won't find because of the language.
Enjoyed the puzzle solving elements of the game but the instruction manual hints got way too vague for the puzzles that were needed for 100% completion and ending B. I think the puzzle difficulty before the end of the game was completely fine. I certainly don't mind having to think a little but a game that requires collaboration to solve puzzles is not a game that I'm interested in.
When the story got interesting with the Ziggurat and the Cathedral, the game basically ends right there. All that is left at that point is treasure hunting / fairy hunting through the same areas you've been through and I really wish the game built upon more of the interesting world it built. Souls games can get away with little in game story telling because a large part of the lore is built into the items and the item descriptions. Without that, Tunic provides you this interesting world with no real explanations and answers.
Negative:
Combat was not good. I don't think Tunic gained anything from having souls-like combat because the moveset of the player is so limited. A three hit combo and a parry and a stab out of a roll is your entire sword moveset. A lot of enemy encounters basically ended up being swing once and then roll backwards. It really didn't add anything to the experience. Not being able to sprint during lock-on is very annoying either, a lot of times I break lock-on specifically to sprint. The enemies not resetting aggro also means the game is forcing you into combat because the enemies will never stop chasing you unless you find a ladder.
Bosses were way too overturned and I think a lot of players are gonna struggle. The camera acts in such a strange way versus bosses when you're locked on because of the bosses constant movement. I don't think the game really gained anything from having difficult Souls-like bosses. The cathedral gauntlet especially is a point where a lot of players will consider either turning on no-fail mode or outright quitting because of how difficulty it can get. While yes, invincibility and stamina modes exist to help with the difficulty, there needs to exist better options for difficulty that is simply "never fail" and "extremely difficult."
The lighting and background of the game often obscures pathing and passages through out the game. While it is fun to find a secret passage obstructed by the view of the game the first few times, it basically forces the player to press up against each wall for the fear of missing out on a treasure chest behind a hidden passage. There needs to be better sign posting for a lot of the secret passages instead of asking the player to press up against every wall in a room in order to find a secret passage.
It was a fun romp, flawed but unique. I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to but it's definitely worth trying especially on Gamepass. I think it focused too much on the obtuse elements of a Souls game without finely crafting the experience around it and for that it suffers. It's a game where the designer vision took priority over the player experience. It's finely crafted but it's definitely not going to be a lot of people's cup of tea.