Review: Tunic

Nostalgia rich, sparingly expository & full of charm and wonder.

What is Tunic ?

Tunic is an isometric action-adventure game developed by Andrew Shouldice and published by Finji. It was released on March 16, 2022 & later the same year for the switch. FWIW I played it on my Steamdeck¹. The game features a small fox who must explore a mysterious island filled with secrets, puzzles, and enemies. The art style is a sort of low-poly with a beautiful color palette and soundtrack to boot. I have love for retro games & old graphic styles and while Tunic isn't exactly that, it clearly uses them as an idiomatic scaffolding on which to hang it's newer ideals.

I put off playing Tunic for a long time, to me it looked like an indie Zelda ripoff, a simulacrum designed to scratch the itch of the infrequently released and ultra successful Nintendo franchise. The fox's clear likeness to Link, the isometric top-down view, the green tunic and sword were too 'on the nose' for this game to be an interesting endeavour. But after being absorbed for the 20 or so hours it took me to finish it, and only sparingly looking up hints from the internet in the very late game, I can say that that this journey was more than just an homage to the Legend of Zelda series, it was a rediscovery of the magic of the genre.

Link me up, Scotty

Okay, let's be clear on my initial reservations about this game being a bargain bucket Zelda clone, after all it is hard to deny the similarities. However rather than being a cheap imitation, Tunic is a love letter to the Zelda franchise, especially the old top down games - the ones that I love the most. It draws on the air of magic and mystery of sprite heavy sword and shield adventure games. I actually let out an audible giggle when I sliced through a wooden sign with my sword and it broke into pieces. There is no doubt it feels like Zelda but it's combat is markedly more difficult (souls-y) and it's puzzles are pretty challenging.

Tell me nothing, game

Some people might find this exhausting or tedious, but I found it to be a refreshing change of pace from particularly modern "AAA" titles. It's a nice reminder of how it used to be. There is no tutorial level or clunky prompts telling you what to do. It's just you, the little fox and the world. Instead of clear instruction and coddling, the game offers you an old "instruction manual" written in a made up language², the pages of which you must collect throughout the game. The beauty of this is that in the beginning I treated these as the usual pointless collectables, but as I progressed through the game I began to realise that they were actually giving me hints about the world, the lore and the mechanics of the game itself. How meta is that! I ended up revisiting areas and "reading the instructions" in order to overcome some previously unknown puzzle or monolith, the best part: I had the ability to do this at any time, but I didn't know until I collected the relevant pages. Collectables that actually help you progress, now that is rare!

I think one of the aspects of videogames that has always drawn me in is the sense of discovery. Learning the boundaries & mechanics; piecing together the story. I think when these are revealed to the player naturally and subtly, they become more meaningful; they hold more weight. Discovering something in your own way, in your own time, even if it's spelled out clearly in front of you, is always a much more potent success than if it's spoon-fed to you³.

In this sense Tunic is a masterclass in exposition. It had me audibly gasping when I realised I didn't need to unlock any items or abilities to solve any of the puzzles I just needed to press or hold buttons in order to interact with the environment. Again, lack of "press X to think" prompts made even basic game mechanics feel like transcendent discoveries. This made the world incredibly immersive and mysterious - motivating me to pull out the gamer tricks yore when exploring every nook and cranny; walking around the edges of the world, pressing the joystick against walls in the hopes of "falling into" a new path. Or throwing bombs at walls in the hopes that a weak wall will give way showing you a new area⁴. The game does not require you do this but rather invites you to do so. This becomes a borderline obsession after you realise that Tunic has no upper bounds on the ridiculous complexity of some of it's puzzles.

Rootin' Tootin' Monster Bootin'

The combat in Tunic is magnificent, it is fluid and challenging especially at the start when all you have is a stick. The enemies are varied and interesting requiring different knacks to understand in order to fell. I spent a lot of time with the stick. I got to know the stick. I think I was sort of trauma bonded to the game (and the stick) trying to tackle various areas that the game was clearly steering me away from (but still allowing me to attempt) with nout but the stick. This was a cool design choice, giving the player control over their own success (or misery). I spent a very long time trying to beat one area which clearly would have been easier with a shield - but I hadn't figured out how to get it yet, oh I knew where it was but I couldn't figure out how to reach it.

Blocked by pesky bushes, I found myself luring monsters towards into the shrubs & rolling away from their attacks so the vegetation would be cut down, again progressing in a non-linear fashion. Was it the right way ? Probably not. But it was my way and the developer gave me the freedom to explore in my own silly & awkward way. I can't now remember how I did get the shield but the I straight up missed the sword for a long time.

The fighting feels like Zelda but there's an element of "Souls" in there too. I'm not a huge souls-like exponent but I've sank a few tens of hours into Elden Ring. In tunic you will definitely attempt the same battles more than once, particularly some of the bosses but nothing here is on the same level as Dark Souls or Elden Ring. Tunic's combat is maybe the definition of souls-lite. It was challenging but not overly punishing. There was definitely a few "set down controller" moments, breathing deeply and uttering "I had it that time...".

Hints, Easter Eggs and Secrets

I did not 100% this game, good luck and godspeed to you if you attempt this without any external aides. How anyone figured out the "final puzzle" I will never know... I did in fact look up a few puzzle solutions at the end after I was sufficiently happy that I'd spent enough time enjoying the game and wanted to be free of it's charms and mysteries. Fez, sprung to mind when I first came across the language in the instruction booklet and later the villagers. I did think that there would be a point where I'd need to decode and understand the language but thankfully the vanilla playthrough that I undertook did not require this of me (there was one puzzle that required decoding N/S/E/W), for which I'm grateful. It allowed my interest to be piqued without forcibly requiring that I undertake a phd in symbology and linguistics.

Final Thoughts

I had a relaxing couple of weekends playing through this, as I get older, I have less patience for 100 hour epic RPG's (heck I even stalled out on Baldurs Gate). I often prefer arcade style or retro style games that I can pick up and put down at will, often with a preference of deckbuilding or rogue-likes. Tunic offered a classic adventure game experience with some modern comforts and cosy style. It was the perfect length for an old impatient gamer like me and I felt the same magic I did as a kid on discovering the Zelda games on my GameBoy. I was reminded of the joy of exploring a new world, the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of solving puzzles. The game is a love letter to the genre and a reminder of why I fell in love with gaming in the first place.