Tunic has so much familiarity to it yet it feels so interesting and unique still. So full of other classic game DNA like Legend of Zelda, Tunic takes these familiar styles and kinda pumps up the difficulty across the board to make it feel just different enough where calling it a LoZ clone would probably be a disservice to the game.
Tunic is the adventure of a cute little fox and it's up to you as the player to figure out this strange world and guide your fox friend to complete his ultimate task. Much like Legend of Zelda, you'll need to complete a series of puzzles in order to achieve this, along with any items that'll prove useful to opening up parts of the map that may not be reachable with your basic move set.
The puzzles are definitely in the similar vain of the original LoZ game, where you are just dropped in your location and told nothing, you just gotta figure it all out. The main game puzzles were not terribly difficult to figure out. Areas to go to are laid nicely and they definitely gently push you into exploring these areas to help, while never feeling like it's holding your hand. When you get into a new area to explore, you feel like you're fully responsible for figuring it out and all the rewards that come with it.
The game also has manual pages (think old school video game instruction manual type) that are going to be key to figuring out future secrets, including some of the harder, end game things that are more optional. These pages are scattered throughout the locations and in no specific order, pages will be added with info on bosses you may not get to immediately, or have already beaten, you can also get area maps or other key hints. Exploring is key to getting these items and thus, getting farther in the game.
These clues aren't always obvious too. The game uses a language that you will not be able to read for the most part. Some words here and there will be translated to a readable language but you'll have to rely on pictures and other factors at times to figure them out. These clues never feel impossible (at least the ones needed to get to the end of the game) so for my personal playthrough, this never felt tedious or annoying, though results may vary depending on your puzzle solving skills.
The side quest puzzles though that are just there for completionist reasons or to get the "true" ending of the game though are brutal. Guides are your best friend if you want to do these end game tasks without taking hours and hours to do it.
Tunic isn't just about puzzles though, the game does feature bad guys that you'll need to fight your way through, all with their own strategies to make disposing of them easier and quicker.
These encounters can be really tough, especially if you're coming up against enemies you've never come across before. Nothing terribly frustrating luckily, a few boss battles from time to time were pretty crazy, especially the final boss of this game. The final boss was really the only one though that felt like it was too difficult and just brutal for the sake of being brutal.
The one thing that kinda made some of these encounters even more difficult is the item system Tunic uses.
First, it's not all bad. Tunic uses a somewhat custom button layout system where three of the four buttons you'll be using can be fully customizable at any time. Want to have a sword attack with the X button? You can do that. Prefer to have it as the B button or the Y button? You can do that too. You don't even need to put a sword in one of these button layouts if you don't want to as well. It's great for the most part.
It only gets tricky when you want to swap anything out because the game uses an in-game item menu, meaning anytime you are re-configuring what items you have assigned to what buttons, you can be attacked at any time. Most of the time this is easily avoidable but, if you run out of something like mana and didn't assign mana replenishing items to one of your hot keys, you'll have to either go the rest of the battle without magic attacks or try and duck and dodge while re-assigning your buttons quickly. Personally, I'm terrible at doing this kind of thing, trying to find where the item is while getting attacked by a boss or multiple bad guys is just not fun and lead to a few very frustrating moments.
A personal pet peeve of mine that this game features is items that get used in a battle you die in being gone forever being a bit annoying as well, especially since those items are finite and cost money (also which is not unlimited) in order to re-stock. Sometime re-stocking at an item store is not always the most convenient as well.
Tunic is still really good though despite some of these issues. The gameplay is tight and crisp, it's gorgeous to look at and the music is the perfect compliment to the style and vibe this game is shooting for. The "figure it out yourself" style is not too difficult and very rewarding when you do move forward and overall, I had a really good time with it.
Tunic is the adventure of a cute little fox and it's up to you as the player to figure out this strange world and guide your fox friend to complete his ultimate task. Much like Legend of Zelda, you'll need to complete a series of puzzles in order to achieve this, along with any items that'll prove useful to opening up parts of the map that may not be reachable with your basic move set.
The puzzles are definitely in the similar vain of the original LoZ game, where you are just dropped in your location and told nothing, you just gotta figure it all out. The main game puzzles were not terribly difficult to figure out. Areas to go to are laid nicely and they definitely gently push you into exploring these areas to help, while never feeling like it's holding your hand. When you get into a new area to explore, you feel like you're fully responsible for figuring it out and all the rewards that come with it.
The game also has manual pages (think old school video game instruction manual type) that are going to be key to figuring out future secrets, including some of the harder, end game things that are more optional. These pages are scattered throughout the locations and in no specific order, pages will be added with info on bosses you may not get to immediately, or have already beaten, you can also get area maps or other key hints. Exploring is key to getting these items and thus, getting farther in the game.
These clues aren't always obvious too. The game uses a language that you will not be able to read for the most part. Some words here and there will be translated to a readable language but you'll have to rely on pictures and other factors at times to figure them out. These clues never feel impossible (at least the ones needed to get to the end of the game) so for my personal playthrough, this never felt tedious or annoying, though results may vary depending on your puzzle solving skills.
The side quest puzzles though that are just there for completionist reasons or to get the "true" ending of the game though are brutal. Guides are your best friend if you want to do these end game tasks without taking hours and hours to do it.
Tunic isn't just about puzzles though, the game does feature bad guys that you'll need to fight your way through, all with their own strategies to make disposing of them easier and quicker.
These encounters can be really tough, especially if you're coming up against enemies you've never come across before. Nothing terribly frustrating luckily, a few boss battles from time to time were pretty crazy, especially the final boss of this game. The final boss was really the only one though that felt like it was too difficult and just brutal for the sake of being brutal.
The one thing that kinda made some of these encounters even more difficult is the item system Tunic uses.
First, it's not all bad. Tunic uses a somewhat custom button layout system where three of the four buttons you'll be using can be fully customizable at any time. Want to have a sword attack with the X button? You can do that. Prefer to have it as the B button or the Y button? You can do that too. You don't even need to put a sword in one of these button layouts if you don't want to as well. It's great for the most part.
It only gets tricky when you want to swap anything out because the game uses an in-game item menu, meaning anytime you are re-configuring what items you have assigned to what buttons, you can be attacked at any time. Most of the time this is easily avoidable but, if you run out of something like mana and didn't assign mana replenishing items to one of your hot keys, you'll have to either go the rest of the battle without magic attacks or try and duck and dodge while re-assigning your buttons quickly. Personally, I'm terrible at doing this kind of thing, trying to find where the item is while getting attacked by a boss or multiple bad guys is just not fun and lead to a few very frustrating moments.
A personal pet peeve of mine that this game features is items that get used in a battle you die in being gone forever being a bit annoying as well, especially since those items are finite and cost money (also which is not unlimited) in order to re-stock. Sometime re-stocking at an item store is not always the most convenient as well.
Tunic is still really good though despite some of these issues. The gameplay is tight and crisp, it's gorgeous to look at and the music is the perfect compliment to the style and vibe this game is shooting for. The "figure it out yourself" style is not too difficult and very rewarding when you do move forward and overall, I had a really good time with it.