modernjester
6 reviews liked by modernjester
OpenRCT2
2014
Music highlight. Estimated read time: 3~ minutes for OpenRCT2, 3~ minutes for venting. lol.
"Do I put my review on RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 or RollerCoaster Tycoon 2? And which version..." I don't know why I fretted over this when I played the entirety of both base games via OpenRCT2. It's also with this that I break my oldest "running gag" (implying it's funny) with this account, which is that I'm always playing RollerCoaster Tycoon 2; by unmarking it as "playing" and replacing that status with this. More on this later.
I could gush endlessly about RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 & 2; they're in my mind the best jumping-off point for getting into management games, which in turn would make the entry into things like RTS easier for many. They're not without their flaws, though; I'll knock those out immediately. The most obvious one is that many things aren't explained to the player, but 95% of the time they are shown; the remaining 5% can ruin your scenario play, though, such as guest weight or ride requirements to avoid stat penalties... wait, hold on, don't go anywhere, I know that sounded like nerd shit... okay, it kind of is, but it's not that involved, I swear. "Learning" these games is incredibly easy if you observe interactions; though one plugin/mod I see people use is automatic price manager, and I personally think it takes a lot out of the game; you can find out how much you can sell something for by simply raising the price until people stop buying, or the inverse by lowering until people start buying. I mention this interaction specifically because this is how most things go with the game; if you're not sure, just do something and observe; it's not a particularly obtuse game except in some edge cases. That said, I'll recommend some very basic plugins for OpenRCT2 that help immensely with onboarding; they do not make the game easier, they just integrate relevant information that you would be wiki diving for in the first place.
Where these games shine is in the sheer player expression they allow for completing the scenarios, or in ride recreation, or scenery/decor, just general theming. The scenario difficulty scales fairly linearly in RCT1 with enough wiggle room to allow most players to not only learn but also express themselves (reasonably; don't spam too much or you'll go broke!). RCT2 had the problem of inexplicably ordering scenarios within each difficulty category alphabetically, meaning for many, they had an arduous first scenario in the form of Crazy Castle, which more experienced players almost unanimously agree should’ve been placed in Intermediate rather than Beginner anyways. OpenRCT2 now defaults to a difficulty sorting for RCT2's scenarios I believe, which essentially everyone recommends. Of course, this is mostly irrelevant if you played one or the other to completion and then started on the others' scenarios, as you'd already be accustomed to it, but it's yet another tweak OpenRCT2 makes that improves the experience for everyone.
...
"More on this later.": There is a weird fetishism from the more.. "niche" side of game review/criticism/analysis, a patriotic sense of obligation and pride in always playing, reviewing, and talking about The Original Version of something, often knowing full well that better versions of the game exist, and to not just make it a matter of preference but to actively disregard or dissuade playing games or such projects. To a degree, I felt this rub off on me from about 2015-2018 when I started collecting retro consoles like the PlayStation 3 and my dozens-long list of CRTs (essay on this some other time)
This isn't wholly unjustified, however, as for years and still going, many gamers will wholesale write off anything older than them as being outdated and not worth playing. In the case of OpenRCT2 all it really does is make the game playable on modern operating systems with the utmost basic quality-of-life changes (such as raising and lowering single tile placements without having to adjust the terrain first; things people far more into the game back in the day would enable tile editor for anyways, or one more significant, immensely helpful thing; but I'll let you see if you can figure out what that is in my playthrough of Micro Park. (timestamped to nudge you closer to it)
Somewhere along the way, I feel like the relatively young medium of video games skipped from being underbaked to overcooked in their analyses; a lack of brevity and/or concision, often over-analyzing every minute gameplay interaction for seemingly no reason other than to point out that they notice these things exist. It really shouldn't be warranted as a baseline component to a review unless you're clarifying something in active debate; most of it comes off as petulant bickering for little reason other than wilful disengagement.
To make matters worse, it's often coated with almost twice as much wordage trying to justify its position in the first place, as if the opinion piece of a cold, pessimistic burnout─the alphabet soup concocted in a flurry with more passion than any second given to the actual piece being discussed─ever needed one to begin with. It's just an opinion, after all. But maybe that's what's most upsetting from that perspective? That it is just that, and even if influential to a degree most can only dream of, still ultimately means little towards swaying the perception of the object of discussion.
O hypocrite that I am, for herein lies borderline word salad lamenting such an angle in the first place; oh well. It all wraps around to being fetishistic about things deemed historically significant, assigning them prestige and sacrality to be both immune from criticism and ammunition against that which deviates even a little.
Perhaps a more concentrated example is the inconsistency in perception around Minecraft (2009), specifically ""old"" Minecraft, where a very loud minority decry the game as having fallen off, being altered too much, etc.; the inconsistency of when it fell off would be hilarious if it weren't so depressing and laden with real-time demonstrations of parroting and a density of nostalgia bias so immense it makes Ocarina of Time look like a contrarian's pick. A defense of the old does not need to be propped up with slander of the new; that's just conservatism for video game art hoes.
Video games died in 1999, they'll say, which is news to me, but if that's true, then I'm pretty happy playing whatever this software is called from 2002, 2012, and 2022 as well.
Where to buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 1: GOG or Steam
Where to buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: GOG or Steam
OpenRCT2 project, for playing the games on modern operating systems: OpenRCT2
Launcher/updater for OpenRCT2/OpenLoco: OpenLauncher
Recommended OpenRCT2 plugins: Stat Requirement Checklist, Live Ride Measurements, Park Rating Inspector.
"Do I put my review on RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 or RollerCoaster Tycoon 2? And which version..." I don't know why I fretted over this when I played the entirety of both base games via OpenRCT2. It's also with this that I break my oldest "running gag" (implying it's funny) with this account, which is that I'm always playing RollerCoaster Tycoon 2; by unmarking it as "playing" and replacing that status with this. More on this later.
I could gush endlessly about RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 & 2; they're in my mind the best jumping-off point for getting into management games, which in turn would make the entry into things like RTS easier for many. They're not without their flaws, though; I'll knock those out immediately. The most obvious one is that many things aren't explained to the player, but 95% of the time they are shown; the remaining 5% can ruin your scenario play, though, such as guest weight or ride requirements to avoid stat penalties... wait, hold on, don't go anywhere, I know that sounded like nerd shit... okay, it kind of is, but it's not that involved, I swear. "Learning" these games is incredibly easy if you observe interactions; though one plugin/mod I see people use is automatic price manager, and I personally think it takes a lot out of the game; you can find out how much you can sell something for by simply raising the price until people stop buying, or the inverse by lowering until people start buying. I mention this interaction specifically because this is how most things go with the game; if you're not sure, just do something and observe; it's not a particularly obtuse game except in some edge cases. That said, I'll recommend some very basic plugins for OpenRCT2 that help immensely with onboarding; they do not make the game easier, they just integrate relevant information that you would be wiki diving for in the first place.
Where these games shine is in the sheer player expression they allow for completing the scenarios, or in ride recreation, or scenery/decor, just general theming. The scenario difficulty scales fairly linearly in RCT1 with enough wiggle room to allow most players to not only learn but also express themselves (reasonably; don't spam too much or you'll go broke!). RCT2 had the problem of inexplicably ordering scenarios within each difficulty category alphabetically, meaning for many, they had an arduous first scenario in the form of Crazy Castle, which more experienced players almost unanimously agree should’ve been placed in Intermediate rather than Beginner anyways. OpenRCT2 now defaults to a difficulty sorting for RCT2's scenarios I believe, which essentially everyone recommends. Of course, this is mostly irrelevant if you played one or the other to completion and then started on the others' scenarios, as you'd already be accustomed to it, but it's yet another tweak OpenRCT2 makes that improves the experience for everyone.
...
"More on this later.": There is a weird fetishism from the more.. "niche" side of game review/criticism/analysis, a patriotic sense of obligation and pride in always playing, reviewing, and talking about The Original Version of something, often knowing full well that better versions of the game exist, and to not just make it a matter of preference but to actively disregard or dissuade playing games or such projects. To a degree, I felt this rub off on me from about 2015-2018 when I started collecting retro consoles like the PlayStation 3 and my dozens-long list of CRTs (essay on this some other time)
This isn't wholly unjustified, however, as for years and still going, many gamers will wholesale write off anything older than them as being outdated and not worth playing. In the case of OpenRCT2 all it really does is make the game playable on modern operating systems with the utmost basic quality-of-life changes (such as raising and lowering single tile placements without having to adjust the terrain first; things people far more into the game back in the day would enable tile editor for anyways, or one more significant, immensely helpful thing; but I'll let you see if you can figure out what that is in my playthrough of Micro Park. (timestamped to nudge you closer to it)
Somewhere along the way, I feel like the relatively young medium of video games skipped from being underbaked to overcooked in their analyses; a lack of brevity and/or concision, often over-analyzing every minute gameplay interaction for seemingly no reason other than to point out that they notice these things exist. It really shouldn't be warranted as a baseline component to a review unless you're clarifying something in active debate; most of it comes off as petulant bickering for little reason other than wilful disengagement.
To make matters worse, it's often coated with almost twice as much wordage trying to justify its position in the first place, as if the opinion piece of a cold, pessimistic burnout─the alphabet soup concocted in a flurry with more passion than any second given to the actual piece being discussed─ever needed one to begin with. It's just an opinion, after all. But maybe that's what's most upsetting from that perspective? That it is just that, and even if influential to a degree most can only dream of, still ultimately means little towards swaying the perception of the object of discussion.
O hypocrite that I am, for herein lies borderline word salad lamenting such an angle in the first place; oh well. It all wraps around to being fetishistic about things deemed historically significant, assigning them prestige and sacrality to be both immune from criticism and ammunition against that which deviates even a little.
Perhaps a more concentrated example is the inconsistency in perception around Minecraft (2009), specifically ""old"" Minecraft, where a very loud minority decry the game as having fallen off, being altered too much, etc.; the inconsistency of when it fell off would be hilarious if it weren't so depressing and laden with real-time demonstrations of parroting and a density of nostalgia bias so immense it makes Ocarina of Time look like a contrarian's pick. A defense of the old does not need to be propped up with slander of the new; that's just conservatism for video game art hoes.
Video games died in 1999, they'll say, which is news to me, but if that's true, then I'm pretty happy playing whatever this software is called from 2002, 2012, and 2022 as well.
Where to buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 1: GOG or Steam
Where to buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: GOG or Steam
OpenRCT2 project, for playing the games on modern operating systems: OpenRCT2
Launcher/updater for OpenRCT2/OpenLoco: OpenLauncher
Recommended OpenRCT2 plugins: Stat Requirement Checklist, Live Ride Measurements, Park Rating Inspector.
Dream Medicine
2022
In the unholy hours of 2-4AM, the snowstorm finally started to subside, leaving only the howling winds, soakingly humid and blistering at -29C/-20F, and about 1m/3ft of both powdery and wet snow covering 100m^2.
The only thing more numb than my hands was my mind, hardly a spark left to even be upset about the record-setting blizzard; but something else was there that had compelled me to wait so late into the night, logically I saved my energy for when the storm died down, but that was half of the truth. I didn't know what the other half was, and I still am uncertain. But I shoveled nearly all of it by myself, alone with my thoughts, the chorus of winter sweeping across the ice, and the very real threat of frostbite as I lose feeling past my wrists; only assured that they're okay because they weren't in pain and they still moved.
Then, after the front of the house was 3/4 cleared, at 3:30~AM, everything fell silent. The wind in the immediate area stopped, snow wasn't falling, nature held its tongue as the ice sat upon its throne. A courtyard I was never invited to, in which my presence felt actively unwelcome on a fundamental level, a place that I persisted through and rearranged for myself.
A primordial, humbling feeling of insignificance washed over me as the sigh of winter pushed us to the brink, that the only reason we had anything for it was due to the time we were born in, having the technology to forecast; but dangerous when the plow you rely on spontaneously broke down the week prior.
I would have cried at a time I'd forgotten how to, had I not known better to protect my face from frostbite. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
"A young bunny dreamt of a cold, open expanse, blanketed with white snow the color of their fur. It was night and the stars sung beautifully across the faint blue dusk. The bunny was the most alive in this place."
The only thing more numb than my hands was my mind, hardly a spark left to even be upset about the record-setting blizzard; but something else was there that had compelled me to wait so late into the night, logically I saved my energy for when the storm died down, but that was half of the truth. I didn't know what the other half was, and I still am uncertain. But I shoveled nearly all of it by myself, alone with my thoughts, the chorus of winter sweeping across the ice, and the very real threat of frostbite as I lose feeling past my wrists; only assured that they're okay because they weren't in pain and they still moved.
Then, after the front of the house was 3/4 cleared, at 3:30~AM, everything fell silent. The wind in the immediate area stopped, snow wasn't falling, nature held its tongue as the ice sat upon its throne. A courtyard I was never invited to, in which my presence felt actively unwelcome on a fundamental level, a place that I persisted through and rearranged for myself.
A primordial, humbling feeling of insignificance washed over me as the sigh of winter pushed us to the brink, that the only reason we had anything for it was due to the time we were born in, having the technology to forecast; but dangerous when the plow you rely on spontaneously broke down the week prior.
I would have cried at a time I'd forgotten how to, had I not known better to protect my face from frostbite. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
"A young bunny dreamt of a cold, open expanse, blanketed with white snow the color of their fur. It was night and the stars sung beautifully across the faint blue dusk. The bunny was the most alive in this place."
Palworld
2024
the video game counterpart of The Avalanches - Since I Left You. Takes a bunch of inspiration from the most popular, generic shit that exists and creates something new with it. An actual postmodern game that ironically oozes with creativity, especially when compared to the masses of survival and cozy slop that pollutes the steam store.
This is BOTW but good, pokemon without the insufferable fanbase, and pretty much what any "cozy" game wants to be. And yes, it uses the unfunny "what if cute things edgy haha" joke as a marketing tactic, but this time it's actually based because it gets people mad about it for some reason.
So far, for the price tag and taking into account it's still an EA product, it's pretty solid. Basically an enhanced craftopia with a better direction and budget, with fairly good optimization and less jank (but just enough so that it's still as soul).
I'm probably gonna play more with my friends on my dedicated server and keep enjoying myself by making my pals army work on the "super hard working" setting. 🗿
This is BOTW but good, pokemon without the insufferable fanbase, and pretty much what any "cozy" game wants to be. And yes, it uses the unfunny "what if cute things edgy haha" joke as a marketing tactic, but this time it's actually based because it gets people mad about it for some reason.
So far, for the price tag and taking into account it's still an EA product, it's pretty solid. Basically an enhanced craftopia with a better direction and budget, with fairly good optimization and less jank (but just enough so that it's still as soul).
I'm probably gonna play more with my friends on my dedicated server and keep enjoying myself by making my pals army work on the "super hard working" setting. 🗿
Thief 2 is my favorite game of all time, I fucking love everything about it. Even if I admit that there's a handful of levels in here that I think completely suck, it's a game I consider perfect with a straight face. Soulforge and Casing the Joint, as well as the return level to the Lost City all suck ass (though I have some defenses for Soulforge)
However, I think there's something in particularly Soulforge that is genuinely enjoyable. It's a lengthy level but it feels like the true end of the whole game. Putting your skills you learned from every level prior to the ultimate test and setting you out in this large and albeit too long level that leads into one of the best endings in gaming.
I love the cutscenes in both this and Thief 1 but 2 definitely steps it up a ton I feel. The way everything is framed, how the scenes themselves are planned. It's so good.
Overall this game to me is amazing, while also being flawed in a handful of ways. But said flaws I can easily overlook. Therefore, Thief 2 is my favorite game of all time.
However, I think there's something in particularly Soulforge that is genuinely enjoyable. It's a lengthy level but it feels like the true end of the whole game. Putting your skills you learned from every level prior to the ultimate test and setting you out in this large and albeit too long level that leads into one of the best endings in gaming.
I love the cutscenes in both this and Thief 1 but 2 definitely steps it up a ton I feel. The way everything is framed, how the scenes themselves are planned. It's so good.
Overall this game to me is amazing, while also being flawed in a handful of ways. But said flaws I can easily overlook. Therefore, Thief 2 is my favorite game of all time.
King's Field II
1996
Convoluted NPC questlines, a huge open world, an understated but verbose backstory told through environmental cues and text dumps, and secrets that reveal themselves to you like layers on a video game onion, or at least ones you make note of for the next time you decide to take a bite through the tears. Sorry, but you were late to the party the second you passed up the spark that kicked off perhaps the most earth-shatteringly loud three consecutive days in gaming history:
June 21, 1996: King’s Field III,
June 22, 1996: Quake,
June 23, 1996: Super Mario 64.
Simultaneously a key collection simulator more nightmarishly hellish than any Doom WAD could ever aspire to be, a Soulslike more hideously obtuse than any happy-go-lucky Onion-in-armor could ever prove to you, and an aural assassin as insidiously persistent as the drippiest faucet; King’s Field II (US), hereafter referred to simply as King’s Field III is definitively the worst “exploration/action game with a deep backstory” that I still somewhat enjoyed playing. In contrast, I did not enjoy my time with Demons’ Souls, nor did I enjoy the second time; but I would hazard a guess and say I would somewhat further enjoy a second playthrough of Kings Field III. As a child sizing up which variety of cough syrup to gulp down to appease a mother resolved to declare me “too sick to play videogames”, I found myself reaching out to garish Bubble Gum instead of the grizzled statesman that was Robitussin when given the choice. Bubble Gum as a medicinal flavor just had an air of mystery to it, and while I don’t think anything purporting itself to taste like Bubble Gum while simultaneously being good for you ever accomplished either with aplomb, it’s the attempt at not sucking that would stick with me and embolden me to return the next time I told mother the can of beef mushroom soup I emptied out into the toilet bowl came out of my body. All this to say that for all the trauma King’s Field III would inflict on my soul, it challenged and surprised me more than the solved quantity of Demons’ Souls ever possibly could; the most comprehensive resource for Kings Field III at the time of this review is a half-working neocities archive of a now kaput fansite, whereas Demons’ Souls has been documented and analyzed to death, most famously by Sony who commissioned one of their own studios to assemble a multi-million dollar diorama of it for it’s winning entry at the science fair titled: Most Exploitable Fanbase. King’s Field III is the first time developer FromSoft united nearly all of these now familiar trappings of success in one compact disc; a bouillabaisse of then unconventional game design that every YouTuber who wore their choice of game difficulty as a personality would yearn for on as close to a yearly basis as they could get it. (NOTE: I did not originally intend to insinuate that Demons’ Souls fans are “tripping” but it would explain A LOT.)
Unfortunately for all it’s ambition it never really executes it’s MO of being a groundbreaking console open-world RPG, and FromSoft probably didn’t originally aspire to such grandiose status either. If King’s Field II was the rebirth of mechanics established in the previous game as Dark Souls would be to Demons’, King's Field III like Dark Souls II sought to prioritize expansion of the game’s world and mythos over massive rehauls to an already proven formula. Say what you will about Dark Souls 2, (I will: IT’S GREAT), it’s varied landscapes complemented by a thoughtful approach to emulating the passage of time/distance with environmental setpieces once relegated to conceptual art cement it as a grand adventure across an entire country befitting of the status of sequel. Tragically however, King’s Field III is ugly. Like, hairy butt ugly. Grand its world may be on paper, 1996’s open world is largely made up of slabs of vomit lined with trees leading to caves lined with vomit wallpaper like some sort of nightmarish creepypasta Animal Crossing village. The framerate does not scale upwards with the amount of butt-ugliness on display either, choosing to run lower almost as if in an act of defiance. “Mind-boggling graphics” indeed. As the fucked up kid who’d peer out upon a foggy day and think Superman 64 before Silent Hill, this game would have rocked my world by wiping the slate clean of either from the foggy games discourse - ushering in an age of King Fieldlian faux pas amid stifled giggles from the gamers in the crowd. This all sits opposed to the labyrinthian approach to level design FromSoft embraces in King’s Field III, resulting in exploration that ends up feeling monotonous and soul crushing at times as the player is sparsely provided with landmarks to anchor their compass at. To their credit, FromSoft did provide an item that automatically maps out the layout of their maze-like playgrounds, as well as provide an in-game log of NPCs spoken to and their dialogues: both quality of life improvements the Souls series would do well not to shy away from. These elevate 1996’s “Hammerfell at Home” to tolerable status, and I’d dare say they would have enhanced the experience of FromSoft’s later games as well, with Elden Ring the first to begin to shed busywork and obfuscation for obfuscation’s sake as what it really is: a waste of time.
June 21, 1996: King’s Field III,
June 22, 1996: Quake,
June 23, 1996: Super Mario 64.
Simultaneously a key collection simulator more nightmarishly hellish than any Doom WAD could ever aspire to be, a Soulslike more hideously obtuse than any happy-go-lucky Onion-in-armor could ever prove to you, and an aural assassin as insidiously persistent as the drippiest faucet; King’s Field II (US), hereafter referred to simply as King’s Field III is definitively the worst “exploration/action game with a deep backstory” that I still somewhat enjoyed playing. In contrast, I did not enjoy my time with Demons’ Souls, nor did I enjoy the second time; but I would hazard a guess and say I would somewhat further enjoy a second playthrough of Kings Field III. As a child sizing up which variety of cough syrup to gulp down to appease a mother resolved to declare me “too sick to play videogames”, I found myself reaching out to garish Bubble Gum instead of the grizzled statesman that was Robitussin when given the choice. Bubble Gum as a medicinal flavor just had an air of mystery to it, and while I don’t think anything purporting itself to taste like Bubble Gum while simultaneously being good for you ever accomplished either with aplomb, it’s the attempt at not sucking that would stick with me and embolden me to return the next time I told mother the can of beef mushroom soup I emptied out into the toilet bowl came out of my body. All this to say that for all the trauma King’s Field III would inflict on my soul, it challenged and surprised me more than the solved quantity of Demons’ Souls ever possibly could; the most comprehensive resource for Kings Field III at the time of this review is a half-working neocities archive of a now kaput fansite, whereas Demons’ Souls has been documented and analyzed to death, most famously by Sony who commissioned one of their own studios to assemble a multi-million dollar diorama of it for it’s winning entry at the science fair titled: Most Exploitable Fanbase. King’s Field III is the first time developer FromSoft united nearly all of these now familiar trappings of success in one compact disc; a bouillabaisse of then unconventional game design that every YouTuber who wore their choice of game difficulty as a personality would yearn for on as close to a yearly basis as they could get it. (NOTE: I did not originally intend to insinuate that Demons’ Souls fans are “tripping” but it would explain A LOT.)
Unfortunately for all it’s ambition it never really executes it’s MO of being a groundbreaking console open-world RPG, and FromSoft probably didn’t originally aspire to such grandiose status either. If King’s Field II was the rebirth of mechanics established in the previous game as Dark Souls would be to Demons’, King's Field III like Dark Souls II sought to prioritize expansion of the game’s world and mythos over massive rehauls to an already proven formula. Say what you will about Dark Souls 2, (I will: IT’S GREAT), it’s varied landscapes complemented by a thoughtful approach to emulating the passage of time/distance with environmental setpieces once relegated to conceptual art cement it as a grand adventure across an entire country befitting of the status of sequel. Tragically however, King’s Field III is ugly. Like, hairy butt ugly. Grand its world may be on paper, 1996’s open world is largely made up of slabs of vomit lined with trees leading to caves lined with vomit wallpaper like some sort of nightmarish creepypasta Animal Crossing village. The framerate does not scale upwards with the amount of butt-ugliness on display either, choosing to run lower almost as if in an act of defiance. “Mind-boggling graphics” indeed. As the fucked up kid who’d peer out upon a foggy day and think Superman 64 before Silent Hill, this game would have rocked my world by wiping the slate clean of either from the foggy games discourse - ushering in an age of King Fieldlian faux pas amid stifled giggles from the gamers in the crowd. This all sits opposed to the labyrinthian approach to level design FromSoft embraces in King’s Field III, resulting in exploration that ends up feeling monotonous and soul crushing at times as the player is sparsely provided with landmarks to anchor their compass at. To their credit, FromSoft did provide an item that automatically maps out the layout of their maze-like playgrounds, as well as provide an in-game log of NPCs spoken to and their dialogues: both quality of life improvements the Souls series would do well not to shy away from. These elevate 1996’s “Hammerfell at Home” to tolerable status, and I’d dare say they would have enhanced the experience of FromSoft’s later games as well, with Elden Ring the first to begin to shed busywork and obfuscation for obfuscation’s sake as what it really is: a waste of time.
Tunic
2022
The presentation of Tunic is unassuming, initially looking like yet another flat-stylized medium-sized indie game (see: VR games), but slowly I realized that it's not "just another", but is extremely intricately designed where every little detail that does exist does matter. It's masterful in art direction and sound design, quickly rolling its way into my favorite soundtracks as well.
I'll split gameplay up into two distinct sections here as many do, but I want to clarify now that this is as deliberate from me as it is from the game.
Combat-wise it's somewhere between any Zelda or Souls, feeling more like the former with some mechanics of the latter (stamina management etc.); actual encounter design is pretty firmly in the middle, at first feeling very much akin to something like Link's Awakening but evolving into something a bit meaner and a lot more thoughtful like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. (further elaboration in log notes, those will contain outright spoilers for mechanics just forewarning) This is one thing I've seen begroaned fairly often and I just don't get why? It's honestly pretty solid and opens up a lot as the game keeps going, though by the back half it then becomes kind of irrelevant; which, not to sound all "just trust me" but it becoming basically irrelevant is not at all a bad thing, it's just not the focus anymore, and I'd be willing to bet it was a deliberate metanarrative decision to reinforce this next segment. Before that though, worth noting that somewhat recently(?) they added better accessibility options in regards to difficulty; before it was basically default or god mode, but I think 2D Zelda fans refusing to level with Tunic will be happy they got their wish with the infinite stamina option. (In all seriousness, settings like these are great)
If you look at my log dates, you'll see I started Tunic over a year prior to what I'd consider my actual playthrough from Nov. 12th-16th, because frankly I find most puzzle games to be daunting. Not because I think I'm incapable of solving them, I eventually will for most things aimed at general audiences, but because I can never really escape feeling anxious around them. Tunic was different though, its navigational puzzles were always welcoming to get into and felt like natural evolutions. But I knew there was more, the entire language (which is no mere alphabet swap), the drip feeding of some key word info. Truthfully, I had hints at about 4 points, but like 3 of those were me somehow missing a manual page in plain sight like 10 hours ago and a friend chiming in where it was. I felt very out of my depth at the beginning, but once things started to click, it kept rolling and was exciting; frustrating at times, but nothing some deep breaths and short breaks didn't bring me back around to fixing.
My favorite part of the game though, enough to make stingy ol' me want to break a habit or beg for a bday present, is the in-game manual. The manual is an absolute masterstroke of game design and I refuse to elaborate further. I cannot stress how utterly incredible it is, made with such care by itself that most games blush at the task of detailing something so much while also giving it so much purpose. I wish I had a physical copy of the manual.
And now we reach the point where I feel talking about things much further would be too spoilery, and I had to keep things vague in other areas I normally wouldn't like doing in so as not to ruin the mystique entirely. Maybe just an excuse, I don't know; I feel Tunic deserves more words, though. It has this absolutely unparalleled sense of exploration and discovery, which will likely take even the most experienced puzzle game enjoyers by surprise. Barring only a couple puzzles that lack even a clue to their solution aside from "that one thing you forgot you could try 10 hours ago", the rest of them hit it out of the park and the game punched surprisingly well thematically for me.
One last thing, HLTB clocking in "12 hours" makes me mad and people who've completed the game will know why... They will never experience transcendence...
In one word: Knowledge.
Favorite tracks (3 hour long album btw, awesome.)
Redwood Colonnade
This Is The Wrong Way
Crouch Walker
Snowmelt
<spoilery 1>
<spoilery 2>
<spoilery 3>
<major spoiler>
I'll split gameplay up into two distinct sections here as many do, but I want to clarify now that this is as deliberate from me as it is from the game.
Combat-wise it's somewhere between any Zelda or Souls, feeling more like the former with some mechanics of the latter (stamina management etc.); actual encounter design is pretty firmly in the middle, at first feeling very much akin to something like Link's Awakening but evolving into something a bit meaner and a lot more thoughtful like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. (further elaboration in log notes, those will contain outright spoilers for mechanics just forewarning) This is one thing I've seen begroaned fairly often and I just don't get why? It's honestly pretty solid and opens up a lot as the game keeps going, though by the back half it then becomes kind of irrelevant; which, not to sound all "just trust me" but it becoming basically irrelevant is not at all a bad thing, it's just not the focus anymore, and I'd be willing to bet it was a deliberate metanarrative decision to reinforce this next segment. Before that though, worth noting that somewhat recently(?) they added better accessibility options in regards to difficulty; before it was basically default or god mode, but I think 2D Zelda fans refusing to level with Tunic will be happy they got their wish with the infinite stamina option. (In all seriousness, settings like these are great)
If you look at my log dates, you'll see I started Tunic over a year prior to what I'd consider my actual playthrough from Nov. 12th-16th, because frankly I find most puzzle games to be daunting. Not because I think I'm incapable of solving them, I eventually will for most things aimed at general audiences, but because I can never really escape feeling anxious around them. Tunic was different though, its navigational puzzles were always welcoming to get into and felt like natural evolutions. But I knew there was more, the entire language (which is no mere alphabet swap), the drip feeding of some key word info. Truthfully, I had hints at about 4 points, but like 3 of those were me somehow missing a manual page in plain sight like 10 hours ago and a friend chiming in where it was. I felt very out of my depth at the beginning, but once things started to click, it kept rolling and was exciting; frustrating at times, but nothing some deep breaths and short breaks didn't bring me back around to fixing.
My favorite part of the game though, enough to make stingy ol' me want to break a habit or beg for a bday present, is the in-game manual. The manual is an absolute masterstroke of game design and I refuse to elaborate further. I cannot stress how utterly incredible it is, made with such care by itself that most games blush at the task of detailing something so much while also giving it so much purpose. I wish I had a physical copy of the manual.
And now we reach the point where I feel talking about things much further would be too spoilery, and I had to keep things vague in other areas I normally wouldn't like doing in so as not to ruin the mystique entirely. Maybe just an excuse, I don't know; I feel Tunic deserves more words, though. It has this absolutely unparalleled sense of exploration and discovery, which will likely take even the most experienced puzzle game enjoyers by surprise. Barring only a couple puzzles that lack even a clue to their solution aside from "that one thing you forgot you could try 10 hours ago", the rest of them hit it out of the park and the game punched surprisingly well thematically for me.
One last thing, HLTB clocking in "12 hours" makes me mad and people who've completed the game will know why... They will never experience transcendence...
In one word: Knowledge.
Favorite tracks (3 hour long album btw, awesome.)
Redwood Colonnade
This Is The Wrong Way
Crouch Walker
Snowmelt
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