Combat is probably the weakest part of Tunic - it's fine but there's a bit too much of it and it doesn't really do anything to stand out barring a few unwelcome difficulty spikes.

Everything aside from the combat is absolutely terrific. An interlinking world full of secrets, puzzles and secret puzzles that you're guided through with an in-game manual (missing a lot of pages) using its own translatable language that provides some guidance on what to do next and cryptic hints to find hidden areas and items.

It requires some brain power, and I'd also highly recommend a notepad at points but if you put the time in to investigate those clues and search for hidden trinkets, Tunic really shines. It's interesting to wonder whether this game would have been better with less combat (or even none at all) and instead focused on something else, maybe more environmental puzzles and traps along the critical path, but I can only really judge what I played and even having to endure the combat, I was captivated