It’s a new chapter in your life and you get to choose how it begins. Which of your belongings do you take with you? Which things would be better left behind? The developers’ attention to detail and the work poured into those collectible pages is remarkable.Have you ever had to up sticks and move home? I have (many times), and I can tell you that the sensation of packing and unpacking your whole life, well… it can be rather emotional. And my frustration gave way to admiration when I discovered the easy-to-miss secret I’d been glossing over had been right there in the booklet the whole time. However, this was a rare exception to the overall sparkling experience. But when I got stuck near the end of the game, I couldn’t simply run down another path, and my progress slowed to a halt. Mostly, the game is so well designed that it is easy, especially in the beginning, to find answers or check out a different avenue while puzzling something out. While Tunic is an experience I would recommend to any player, the obscureness that makes it uniquely rewarding can also lead to genuine frustration. With this conceit, Tunic invoked my youthful memories of inheriting games and mixed those real-world experiences into the gameplay, making my connection to the game deeper and more personal. I love when a game includes me, as the player, in its meta-narrative. If I ever got stuck at any point in my quest, the answer was somewhere in the pages. I studied the pamphlet’s official print as well as the helpful, if obscure, ink-scrawled hints meticulously, and the game constantly rewarded me for it. This gave me the sense that I had received Tunic – along with its booklet – from an older sibling, a friend, or a second-hand store and had inadvertently gained access to secret knowledge.
Looking closely at the manual, I quickly realized there were copious, hand-written pearls of wisdom scribbled in the margins. Despite its lack of transparency, Tunic still paints a compelling narrative picture that gave me a sense of what was happening but also left a lot of details up to my interpretation, which I enjoyed. But the snatches of largely incomprehensible text didn’t tell the whole tale. As I uncovered more pages, I discovered there was actually an entire section dedicated to the story. One page might demonstrate combat mechanics, while another serves as a map, and still another could give a veiled look at the game’s narrative.
#7 YEARS FROM NOW GAME REVIEW MANUAL#
Despite being predominately filled with unreadable glyphs, the nostalgia-inspiring manual somehow contained all the information I ever needed to know about Tunic – if I paid close attention. Tunic’s gameplay is inextricably linked to collecting the pages of an instruction booklet scattered throughout the world. I wasn’t left entirely without guidance, however. I audibly celebrated my accomplishment, along with the developers’ skill in designing a wonderful ‘ah-ha!’ moment. Thinking to myself there was no way I was right, I tested my theory and was greeted by surprising success. Later in my journey, a wild idea popped into my head on what it might be for. One of my favorite moments from the game involved a curiously mundane object that didn’t seem to do anything. However, others, which I won’t spoil, were complete mysteries.
Some things – like the sword or the very Zelda-esque key items that opened new zones or allowed me to get past obstacles – were self-explanatory. An imposing challenger does its best to take you down in a closed-off battlefield that means no running away from the conflict. Each boss has its own feel, with different attack patterns to study, but most play out similarly. The Souls-like combat is intense, but the challenge feels satisfying rather than punishing – though a few later bosses definitely gave me trouble. So, you can run directly back to the spot you died to regain the contents of your wallet, or you can spend what you have left on items to give you an edge.įor those turned off by this kind of gameplay, Tunic offers players of all kinds the chance to enjoy its combat system, as the accessibility options include a no-fail mode and the ability to turn off stamina restrictions. The nice thing about Tunic, though, is that you never lose everything. Dying meant dropping a portion of the hard-earned currency I’d won from my victories. As does the world’s simple-but-beautiful visual aesthetic. The distinctly relaxing music introduces an intriguing contrast to the tough battles, and the ‘Chill Beats To Fight To’ vibes take the sting out of being viciously cut down. Mercifully, low stamina never kept me from attacking, but I did take more damage when the bar ran out. Every swing, dodge, or block took a chunk of the bar. The real-time combat had me tackling foes by watching for offensive openings while keeping a careful eye on my stamina.
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