I've been wanting to play Tunic all year, knowing I'd love its perceived blend of old-school Zelda and Dark Souls, but what I never expected was for it to blow me away like no game has in many years. Yes, the Zelda and Dark Souls influences are there, among others from Metroid, Hyper Light Drifter, Fez, Monument Valley, etc., but Tunic manages to pave its own path to being a truly remarkable experience.
Heads up going forward, I'm not marking this as containing spoilers as I won't go into any deep spoilers here, but to describe some of the cool things Tunic does that make it a masterpiece in my eyes, I will have to reveal a couple minor things. I recommend going in as blind as possible, so read on at your own caution.
What really makes Tunic stand apart is the in-game manual and how it affects puzzle solving and progression for the player. As you go through the game, you'll find various pages of this manual scattered about, all done in an old school style like the manuals you'd find in game boxes (yes, that was a thing). However, these pages are mostly in a cryptic, made up language. Only a few sentences here or there are actually in English. It's up to you to look through and decipher through context and images what is just basic info on how to play the game and what is needed in order to know what to do to progress.
The way this affects progression can be stunning at times. I would learn techniques through new pages I'd find that turn out to be things that I could have done the whole time! The couple times this happened was mind blowing and not only expanded the world at the time greatly, but furthered my understanding of how it all connected together. This along with just the phenomenal world design that includes revealed shortcuts that were accessible the whole time resulted in a myriad of moments that blew my mind. I had a range of emotions playing this game from, "Oh god dammit, how did I not see that before!" to, "Whoa! I never would have expected that to be what I needed to do," to, "Oh my god! I can't believe I just stumbled upon this whole area that I needed to find anyway!" It's really up to the player to both explore and interpret what pages of the manual they have to progress, and it results in some of the most satisfying achievements I've had in any game. And this isn't even getting into some of the deeper secrets that are just immensely bonkers which I won't spoil here.
All this being said, the "normal" Zelda-like gameplay is no slouch either. Combat is slick and precise with a good amount of enemy variety and bosses that'll kick your teeth in. Aside from a meh first boss, the rest were all excellent with their own attack patterns and weaknesses to learn. Each one was super satisfying to beat! You'll also get plenty of other tools, items, and techniques that both enhance your combat and exploration skills alongside items that are just generally helpful. You'll want to experiment and figure out what everything does as these items can really help turn the tide in otherwise seemingly impossible fights. Working my way through the levels and beating enemies and challenges itself was more than satisfactory even when the game wasn't getting into the crazy meta stuff.
Wrapping all this up of course is a stellar presentation package that makes the world of Tunic itself memorable. The art is gorgeous going for a polygonal isometric feel with a bit of voxel use but bolstered with gorgeous lighting that breathes it all to life. Your character and the other enemies and NPC's are wonderfully designed giving off the appropriate cuteness, grace, or menace as needed. The soundtrack is lush with thick synth chords, beautiful melodies, and ambient textures that make listening to the game alone a joy. Even the story, which is lighter and more cryptic still keeps things engaging and interesting. I'm still trying to figure out certain events and character reactions but in a fun way that feels like a puzzle itself (one I'll probably just watch YouTube videos for to see how others solved it haha).
Overall, Tunic is an incredible surprise hit for me. Not only did it bring the fun Zelda and Dark Souls like gameplay I expected, but it also floored me with its wonderful presentation and truly stunning twists and turns that I could've never seen coming. As great as other games I've played in 2022 are, this is one I think I'll remember for a long long time.
Heads up going forward, I'm not marking this as containing spoilers as I won't go into any deep spoilers here, but to describe some of the cool things Tunic does that make it a masterpiece in my eyes, I will have to reveal a couple minor things. I recommend going in as blind as possible, so read on at your own caution.
What really makes Tunic stand apart is the in-game manual and how it affects puzzle solving and progression for the player. As you go through the game, you'll find various pages of this manual scattered about, all done in an old school style like the manuals you'd find in game boxes (yes, that was a thing). However, these pages are mostly in a cryptic, made up language. Only a few sentences here or there are actually in English. It's up to you to look through and decipher through context and images what is just basic info on how to play the game and what is needed in order to know what to do to progress.
The way this affects progression can be stunning at times. I would learn techniques through new pages I'd find that turn out to be things that I could have done the whole time! The couple times this happened was mind blowing and not only expanded the world at the time greatly, but furthered my understanding of how it all connected together. This along with just the phenomenal world design that includes revealed shortcuts that were accessible the whole time resulted in a myriad of moments that blew my mind. I had a range of emotions playing this game from, "Oh god dammit, how did I not see that before!" to, "Whoa! I never would have expected that to be what I needed to do," to, "Oh my god! I can't believe I just stumbled upon this whole area that I needed to find anyway!" It's really up to the player to both explore and interpret what pages of the manual they have to progress, and it results in some of the most satisfying achievements I've had in any game. And this isn't even getting into some of the deeper secrets that are just immensely bonkers which I won't spoil here.
All this being said, the "normal" Zelda-like gameplay is no slouch either. Combat is slick and precise with a good amount of enemy variety and bosses that'll kick your teeth in. Aside from a meh first boss, the rest were all excellent with their own attack patterns and weaknesses to learn. Each one was super satisfying to beat! You'll also get plenty of other tools, items, and techniques that both enhance your combat and exploration skills alongside items that are just generally helpful. You'll want to experiment and figure out what everything does as these items can really help turn the tide in otherwise seemingly impossible fights. Working my way through the levels and beating enemies and challenges itself was more than satisfactory even when the game wasn't getting into the crazy meta stuff.
Wrapping all this up of course is a stellar presentation package that makes the world of Tunic itself memorable. The art is gorgeous going for a polygonal isometric feel with a bit of voxel use but bolstered with gorgeous lighting that breathes it all to life. Your character and the other enemies and NPC's are wonderfully designed giving off the appropriate cuteness, grace, or menace as needed. The soundtrack is lush with thick synth chords, beautiful melodies, and ambient textures that make listening to the game alone a joy. Even the story, which is lighter and more cryptic still keeps things engaging and interesting. I'm still trying to figure out certain events and character reactions but in a fun way that feels like a puzzle itself (one I'll probably just watch YouTube videos for to see how others solved it haha).
Overall, Tunic is an incredible surprise hit for me. Not only did it bring the fun Zelda and Dark Souls like gameplay I expected, but it also floored me with its wonderful presentation and truly stunning twists and turns that I could've never seen coming. As great as other games I've played in 2022 are, this is one I think I'll remember for a long long time.