This game is a masterpiece (review, because I got the game on another platform)

[Meowbox]

If I had to describe Tunic in one word:

Magical.

And I'll start by saying that the game's trailers and promotional content DO NOT do this game justice. Probably 99% of the games content lies in the form of secrets. There is more or less literally a secret around every corner, and these range from small, obvious secrets to overarching meta-puzzles similar to Fez. The reason these secrets aren't promoted as much as they should is best said by Andrew Shouldice, the lead developer of Tunic: "Making a game about discovery and exploration means it's sort of hard to show off new stuff, because its... secret."

There are just so many aspects to this game that have been absolutely perfected over the 7 years of development. From world exploration and combat to finding every little secret the game has to offer, I was blown away at every corner.

In order to keep this review somewhat organized, and less of me excitedly rambling about how Tunic should be the game of the year, I'll split this review into 4 distinct highlights of the game for me.


Visuals

As soon as you jump into a new game, you're presented with an amazing view panning over the landscape. And as you continue through the world, and encounter new areas, the visuals just keep getting better and better. Not only does this refer to the beautiful landscapes, shading and other effects like the depth of field, but also the animations of both entities and events. The character and NPC animations are so cute and full of life, and this is very intentional and something Andrew put a lot of work into, and it payed off. Even the small things like opening a chest are amazing and well thought out. And regarding the bosses, the initial encounters have awesome reveals and wowed me every time.


Sound Design

Similarly to the visuals of Tunic, the sound design is top notch. Almost all the songs (with the exception of bosses and certain areas) are pretty chill and light and really set the mood. For example, the area you first start in is lighthearted and (combined with the intro cutscene) makes you feel like you are entering a massive world and are invited to explore every bit of it. Theres even subsets of the theme for the Overworld, which are a bit more toned down for when you're more used to exploring and finding secrets. Even after spending hours in one area looking for more juicy secrets or following a lead I had, the music never got old. On the other hand, the boss soundtracks are very fitting to their boss fights, and really really get you excited.

Also there's literally 51 songs in the soundtrack, if that gives you any hints to how much work was put into it.

Combat

While you traverse the land of Tunic you will come across various enemies and combats throughout. These range from simple scattered slimes to scripted mini-boss battles. All of these present an exciting challenge, and can even assist in finding new secrets. It's especially exciting to learn enemy attacks and outplay them, or learn special moves to defeat enemies quicker. Similar to this are the bosses of Tunic. As you gain items and abilities, you can use them to your advantage, but you're still able to defeat any boss without them, while it may be much harder. With this being said, beating a boss is extremely satisfying and I found my heart beating like crazy, especially when I barely made it with a sliver of health left.


Exploration and Secrets

If this review has piqued your interest in Tunic so far, we havent even scratched the surface of what Tunic has to offer. Like I've says several times so far, Tunic is primarily about exploration, and everything else is designed to complement that. As Andrew says, Tunic is a game about "A tiny fox in a big world." This mainly speaks to the game's insane attention to detail when it comes to map and secret design.

When you enter a new world in Tunic, you are able to explore freely. There is no obvious path that has big neon arrows pointing to where you should go next. The game simply gives you an old game magazine style page and tells you to find things out for yourself. I absolutely love this. Essentially there is no tutorial where the game holds your hand, but rather very subtly suggests what you should do next, like how there's an early-game checklist on one of the first pages you get, that tells you what to do to progress. However this is completely optional, and I happened to miss reading that page initially, and therefore found myself missing an important item until later when I came back to that page well after i should have had it. You might think that made the game a lot harder and therefore less enjoyable, but actually the opposite happened. It forced me to get better at other game mechanics like dodging, and I was actually glad that I missed the item, because it made me feel like I carved my own path outside of the intended game design. And that's another thing I love about this game, that you are basically free to explore anywhere anytime. Throughout the whole game the only source of information you have is the introduction manual, and it's entirely up to you how much time you want to spend deciphering the hints and putting pieces together. The game makes you feel like Sherlock Holmes, where you have puzzle pieces in a different language, but you are still able to think critically and solve these puzzles, and when you do you feel like an absolute genius.


So in conclusion, this game is an absolute masterpiece.

[Griswald1982]

So you're saying this game is the cat's meow?

[Traumaturgy]

Cant agree. Combat sucks imo. Controls suck, and lack of camera moving and only one set angle makes finding secrets a pain, because you cant see ♥♥♥♥. Decent game but nothing more. 6/10