Action-adventure game Tunic, developed by Andrew Shouldice and published by FINJI, offers an exciting and difficult experience as an adorable fox makes their way through various dungeons. There are plenty of secrets and hidden areas to discover, including many that can be found as post-game content. Tunic encourages players to think outside the box and explore each area thoroughly in order to find every possible advantage before facing the bosses.
Tunic is about a small fox that must fight their way through increasingly powerful enemies and bosses as they explore a foreign land. The fox must find gear and equipment, like a sword and shield, and use them to defeat roaming enemies and difficult bosses. There are also a large number of hidden paths to discover while moving through the overworld and each dungeon. As the story progresses and more features are unlocked, the main objective becomes clearer.
To defeat enemies, the fox must gather equipment that allows them to fight with melee strikes and ranged magic attacks. Some enemies are more susceptible to magic damage, but melee attacks with the sword seem to do the most damage regardless of what enemy is being fought. The magic attacks include freezing enemies or blasting them with short and long-ranged attacks. Magic, like health and stamina, are limited. However, all three, along with attack and defense stats, can be increased with upgrades.
Each stat in Tunic has a specific upgrade item associated with it that can be offered to one of the fox statues. The upgrades will cost more for higher levels. Upgrade items can be collected early on in Tunic depending on how much of the available areas are explored. The map is open, but some areas require some of the game's special gear, like a grappling device, to reach. Methods of progression, like finding the special equipment, will likely be unclear until parts of the instruction booklet are assembled.
At the start of Tunic, it's easy to feel lost or uncertain about what the objective is. However, figuring out new mechanics and paths to explore is part of the fun. Instead of random collectibles that don't serve any purpose, Tunic's instruction manual pages need to be collected. The hidden features and gameplay mechanics can be used from the start, but without the instruction pages, it's difficult to figure out what to do. Even with the pages, there's some deciphering involved because most of the instructions are written in a language created for the game. The manual also includes maps of each major area. Once a map is obtained, it can be viewed in the instruction booklet, and the fox's location will be marked on it.
Tunic plays like a classic action-adventure game similar to the original The Legend of Zelda. There are dungeons to explore by traversing the overworld, and each area can be visited in any order. However, some dungeons are much more difficult than others and are best saved for the end of the game when all of the available equipment and upgrades are collected. Tunic has a good balance between puzzling sections and rewarding fights that push the story forward. Even though there are some tough challenges and boss fights, Tunic gives players everything they need to complete the game, even if that means backtracking and finding an upgrade or new ability before attempting a boss again.
There are a lot of interesting and dangerous places in Tunic that offer enough diversity to make the game exciting the whole way through. The fixed camera angle makes it easy to miss hidden areas, such as a path behind a waterfall or a room around the corner, but discovering new sections of Tunic is part of what makes it so fun. The possibility that anything can be cleverly hidden just outside of view makes exploring worthwhile. Tunic is a highly enjoyable action-adventure game that does well in honoring some of the classic titles it was inspired by.
Tunic will be released on March 16, 2022, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, macOS, and PC. Screen Rant was provided a digital Steam download code for the purpose of this review.
