With its isometric view and graphics reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening Remake, you might assume that TUNIC is simply an indie Zelda clone. But in reality, the game has the now unique identity that makes it a perfect choice for certain types of players – but at a cost of wider accessibility.
Everything to Know About TUNIC
TUNIC is a 2.5D action-adventure game built mostly around slow-paced exploration. It is a very atmospheric title, where the art style and environmental storytelling play a key role. This comes at a cost of a strong narrative. However, don’t expect to get a better context for what you’re doing than “you’re a fox stranded on a beach” for the first couple of hours.
Exploration
The main portion of the game is exploring the semi-open world. Through it, you will be obtaining more and more items to enter previously inaccessible areas. Each new item you’ll obtain usually has two roles: helping you avoid obstacles and fight enemies, as well as being a metaphorical “key” to a new location. Of course, this means that a huge portion of the map is not accessible to you from the start. This might annoy some modern open-world fans.
Combat
Where TUNIC shines the most is in its approach to combat. Almost every enemy has a health bar and poses some sort of a challenge. You deal with them using the sword (or a stick, early on), shield, and a dodge rollability. Every enemy encounter is tense, thanks to their well-designed attack patterns. And the game, though not terribly hard, isn’t afraid to punish you for sloppy fighting.
Presentation
The game looks gorgeous, using the lighting and its color palette to create very pleasing imagery. The graphics serve the atmosphere very well, and some design choices are particularly fascinating. For example, most of the text in the game is presented in an unknown language, with only some text pieces including random, English words. This makes the entire experience very ambiguous, but It also means you’re not given clear instructions on what to do.
That’s everything you need to know before buying TUNIC. Hopefully, you now know whether or not the game will match your tastes, as it is a very unique experience.