This is the first game I bought after getting my Steam Deck; it seemed like a good one to play portably (feels weird marking Platform as Windows PC in this review, since there's no Steam Deck option).

In short, Tunic is an isometric 2D-Zelda-meets-Fez, with a nostalgia-inspired twist.

I spent 3 quarters of the game totally in love; the art style is gorgeous and impressive and the fantastic music creates a unique atmosphere. Gameplay-wise, I loved the world and the focus on exploration. The combat was fine; I mostly enjoyed it during the Overworld and dungeons explorations, but it bordered on frustrating during the Boss fights.

Most importantly, the instructions manual. The unequivocal core mechanic of the game and center of its story. It's brilliant. Having to figure out the game's mechanics, skills, locations, and secrets, all by finding pages of this booklet that looks and /feels/ like the instruction manuals from the old-school games was both nostalgic and wonderful. Finding each page - all of them scattered throughout the world - is a reward on its own, and they each will reveal something that will make you understand the game, its mechanics and story more and more.

Yet, there's a lot of mysteries and secrets. A lot of them. And the explanations on the manual are not always straightforward and are a puzzle on themselves. You might either find fun in that or feel frustrated by the seeming obscurity of it. This was the last quarter of the game that I enjoyed less.

The game's average length is perfect. I came out around 12 hours and I took my time on some of the puzzles and one very rage-inducing boss. If you have the patience and openness to enjoy carefully reading and analysing the clues in the manual, you'll probably spend more time. For me, after a long while, it started to feel overwhelming, and ended up searching for hints online.

Overall, Tunic is a very memorable piece of work. I will definitely go back to the soundtrack, and would love to have a real, physical version of the instructions manual.

Reviewed on Oct 27, 2022


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