The illusion that has been experienced by the arrival of Tunic It is one of those that fills you with expectation. Five years have passed since the first time we could see this luck of The Legend of Zelda in which a fox is armed with a sword and shield to launch into the adventure. The credentials of a referrer such as finji It did nothing but add good feelings.
What we may not have known is that the Andrew Shouldice-led studio introduced a key element to the formula in the form of Dark Souls. Yes, even the Hidetaka Miyazaki saga is present here, with a beautiful visual section and that is running as a candidate for best indie of the year. However, not even Tunic he gets rid of his own shadows.
Prettier than a litter of kittens
Not all the dishes that taste the best are well presented, but it is evident that if they enter the eyes well, many points are earned. If you play Tunic you can’t help but look elsewhere than to that fabulous art that forms the whole world. It’s there, it’s obvious and you can’t help it.
Eric Billingsley, programmer of the game, explained that Studio Ghibli has had a great influence when it comes to the visual presentation letter. There is always an aura of mystery that surrounds the game, not only because of the glyphs in the instruction manual or the posters, but in the scenarios themselves. The Cathedral is a place where clearly a lot has happened and not a lot of pleasant things, just like in the Quarry.
The pass can reach from the Eastern Forest to regions as inhospitable as the Black Tomb. It moves in that constant contrast, with few dialogues and a lot, but a lot of exposure. That construction of trees, hedges, enemies and any element with hard and solid lines is striking. There are few moments, but there are some telescopes in which to take a look, with which the game gives us a great panorama of what could perfectly be dioramas.
Inspiration has also come from the Spanish industry with the great RiME from Tequila Works. A young man lost on an island who must manage to unravel the mystery that the area hides; a similar premise and a contribution that is reflected especially in the effects of water.
The variety of enemy designs, taking into account the duration of Tunic, is significant. They are a good handful and many are exclusive to the place where we are. It’s up to nice animation of the fox just walkinggiving small boats innocently.
A hard map to crack
For better or worse, the elephant in the room Tunic it’s your map. A visual guide that is presented as a sort of old-fashioned instruction manual; yes, like those that today are practically a relic. In the old days you could open your SNES or PS1 game, have a good time flipping through the pages, learning the first steps in the title and meeting the characters you will be controlling. A feeling that is part of the past.
The truth is that it is not far behind aesthetically compared to the rest of the game. It is full of details about the main mechanics, maps of the regions that we are going to explore and multitude of tips that will help us during the trip. The way to achieve it is not in a set, but rather by collecting loose pages that we find on the stages.
In this way we can have page number one, eight and three. Between these chapter breaks we can anticipate secrets or partially see others since you need another page to complete them. However, my sensations using it have been very irregular and I have not finished feeling comfortable at any time.
when you play Tunic, there is nothing that tells you the direction you should follow. You can get to different areas, but you may not be able to progress through some of them without the right item or power. The touchstone is marked by the strange language in which the manual is written, which discovers certain words to give clues as to what you must do.
This is where the game asks for more collaboration from the user, but it has been tremendously confusing for me. I have continuously collided against the language barrier, with details that, in view of the popular consensus, I have not been able to interpret correctly. I have always had the feeling that, with one more push, everything would have been much more bearable.
That’s why I’ve been involved on many occasions in continuous laps around the map, trying new approaches or revisiting places in case some secret had escaped me. Shouldice explained his vision during an interview with Game Developer:
“If anyone has had the experience of reading an instruction manual, of a game that’s in a language you don’t speak, or even reading an instruction manual, when you’re like three years old and you say, no, I don’t know any of these words. …you automatically get that sense of wonder like, what does this mean? It could mean anything!”
I get the gist of his intent and perhaps the problem is that nowadays everything is full of icons everywhere, putting you little more than an arrow in the middle of the screen so you know where to go. What I have clear is that going back to that time of the 8 bits in which it was easier to get lost has not made me enter their game.
secrets here and there
Where I have found myself much more comfortable is in that good dynamic that prints Tunic curious to explore their world. Because the camera is fixed and we can hardly move it, the game only shows us what the developer wanted. This point of view is used to deceive us at all times.
It is very common that behind some stairs there is a passage that you do not see, but you can sense. That behind that column a hidden room is hidden or that a huge statue is covering an alternative path that you did not expect. It is a constant dynamic and very successful, encouraging at all times to explore the limits of the scenarios.
Moreover, there comes a point where you already know what the rules of Tunic in this sense and you anticipate many times. That small reward of realizing that the stage has one more layer is appreciated. We can even discover all kinds of chests in which fangs await us, figures of a small fox or minerals that allow us to power up the life, magic or resistance bars. However, we have come here to suffer, because not everything is based on The Legend of Zeldabut the grittiest part of Soulsborne is here.
Yes, that relentless combat in which it is better to dodge to land at the right time. Here we have it present and, of course, rolling as if our lives depended on it. We start with a measly stick, but quickly we get a sword and shield that will accompany us throughout the adventure.
They are the two basic principles with which to annihilate creatures of all kinds according to the resistance bar and take the appropriate concoction to recover life. Also, here there is no shortage of their own bonfires in which to regain strength, save and return to battle because all those damned come back to life.
Those who do not return from the dead but have everything to make it difficult for us are the final bosses. They are really few, although the leap in level and spectacularity they make is so great that they end up being recorded. From beasts that look like something out of Shadow of the Colossus to those that make us think beyond the sword we hold.
Of course, the wealth of possibilities takes shape the further we go. Magic wands, daggers that shoot ice or fox-shaped decoys are some of the tools that we will have at hand to face the challenges. You will feel comfortable with all of them and none of them ends up forgotten in the menu for the rest of the game, since you always end up resorting to all. In addition, there are new skills to acquire that are tradeable in the form of cards, allowing for an extra RPG touch.
VidaExtra’s opinion
Postulated Tunic to be one of the great indie references of all of 2022? There is no doubt about it and very good rivals are going to have to get behind him to stand up to him. He has compelling arguments to present a candidacy in the category, with a phenomenal visual section and a constant challenge at every step. The spirit to explore is constant and you always find a shortcut or a path that you had not discovered. The spirit of Link’s classic adventures is present.
However, it is still present obstacles that cause rejection and love in equal parts by the Soulsborne. Yes, the combat is polished, it offers variations for the confrontations, but the lack of descriptions so typical of the Miyazaki lore does not leave us. The glyphs of the Tunic language are a barrier that can be insurmountable, especially if we add an instruction manual that results in a somewhat confusing guide.
Tunic
platforms | PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series |
---|---|
multiplayer | No |
developer | Tunic Team |
Company | finji |
Launching | March 16, 2022 |
The best
- Visually it is a delight
- Continually encourage exploration
- The best of Zelda and Soulsborne
Worst
- The manual can be a decisive barrier
- The absence of a clearer guide