This review contains spoilers
Tunic feels like two separate games to me - in one, I'm a little fox roaming around, swinging my sword, trying to do something heroic. In the other, I'm myself, on the couch, zooming in on symbols, scribbling things down in a notebook, trying to crack a code or solve a puzzle.
I wish those two games were either better integrated with each other or distanced from each other a little more, because I feel like I hit the seam between them at exactly the wrong angle. There was a solid 5-6 hours in here where Tunic was expertly scratching the handheld Zelda itch, and I was thrilled by the "turns out just unlocking a bunch of ancient seals willy nilly when you can't read anything inscribed on them might not have been a good idea" twist. I loved that experience and I feel like it never really got the resolution it deserved.
I got my body back, I went into the final battle, I defeated the Heir, and I got the "bad" ending. I wasn't surprised that there was more game to be had - I'd never figured out what that door in the mountains was about, or the area behind the waterfall north of the town ruins. Surely there was more to discover. And there was! It was just...all aimed me on my couch, not for me the fox.
I hit the bad ending with three pages left to find. And this is on me, the game didn't MAKE me rush to get those last three pages, but I felt like I was on a roll! Surely I'd just overlooked a couple of chests! I wanted to press on and see how the story really ended! So I was not in the mood to...slowly and painstakingly figure out how to find ten fairies just to get one of those pages. I googled the hell out of those fairies, I just didn't want to slow down like that. The Golden Path, though...that I figured out almost entirely on my own. And I was excited! I'd been wondering what was behind that mountain door all game! Obviously there'd be one last scrap of paper back there, but what ELSE? Something that could restore the destroyed world? Some kind of ability or item that would change the course of my fight with the Heir? (The ability could be like a cool sword attack but it could also just have been basic fox literacy.)
Yeah, no, it was just the cover of a video game instruction booklet. And then the "true" ending of that video game ended up being that my nemesis and I...looked at the instruction booklet together? I just feel like the game cast aside me-the-fox in favor of me-the-player earlier than I was ready for.
I would have loved a stronger and cleaner narrative ending, leaving me free to focus on puzzles in a more leisurely replay. Because that's what I did! I finished and I went right back in to find the secrets, decode the language, and make sure I wasn't missing any chests. But by that point I'd already hastily burned through a lot of puzzles out of a need to see an ending that didn't even feel like anything.
Being a fox in a throwback to handheld Zeldas felt great. Sitting on my couch figuring out the Golden Path, finding a hidden secret, or realizing I was starting to be able to read some symbols by sight felt great. I just wish the game had found a better balance between those two experiences.
I wish those two games were either better integrated with each other or distanced from each other a little more, because I feel like I hit the seam between them at exactly the wrong angle. There was a solid 5-6 hours in here where Tunic was expertly scratching the handheld Zelda itch, and I was thrilled by the "turns out just unlocking a bunch of ancient seals willy nilly when you can't read anything inscribed on them might not have been a good idea" twist. I loved that experience and I feel like it never really got the resolution it deserved.
I got my body back, I went into the final battle, I defeated the Heir, and I got the "bad" ending. I wasn't surprised that there was more game to be had - I'd never figured out what that door in the mountains was about, or the area behind the waterfall north of the town ruins. Surely there was more to discover. And there was! It was just...all aimed me on my couch, not for me the fox.
I hit the bad ending with three pages left to find. And this is on me, the game didn't MAKE me rush to get those last three pages, but I felt like I was on a roll! Surely I'd just overlooked a couple of chests! I wanted to press on and see how the story really ended! So I was not in the mood to...slowly and painstakingly figure out how to find ten fairies just to get one of those pages. I googled the hell out of those fairies, I just didn't want to slow down like that. The Golden Path, though...that I figured out almost entirely on my own. And I was excited! I'd been wondering what was behind that mountain door all game! Obviously there'd be one last scrap of paper back there, but what ELSE? Something that could restore the destroyed world? Some kind of ability or item that would change the course of my fight with the Heir? (The ability could be like a cool sword attack but it could also just have been basic fox literacy.)
Yeah, no, it was just the cover of a video game instruction booklet. And then the "true" ending of that video game ended up being that my nemesis and I...looked at the instruction booklet together? I just feel like the game cast aside me-the-fox in favor of me-the-player earlier than I was ready for.
I would have loved a stronger and cleaner narrative ending, leaving me free to focus on puzzles in a more leisurely replay. Because that's what I did! I finished and I went right back in to find the secrets, decode the language, and make sure I wasn't missing any chests. But by that point I'd already hastily burned through a lot of puzzles out of a need to see an ending that didn't even feel like anything.
Being a fox in a throwback to handheld Zeldas felt great. Sitting on my couch figuring out the Golden Path, finding a hidden secret, or realizing I was starting to be able to read some symbols by sight felt great. I just wish the game had found a better balance between those two experiences.