Tunic

Tunic comes at a perfect time; in the middle of a packed release schedule dripping with titles that delight in killing you, it’s a calmer, more mild-mannered take on the adventure game that wants to engage in a friendly dialogue. It doesn't want to yell at you – it wants to encourage you. To explore, engage, and experiment. It’s the perfect palate cleanser, taking anywhere between six and 20 hours, and absolutely essential if you’ve got a fondness for adventure games with a potion in their pocket, a cape around their neck, and a twinkle in their eye.

Tunic is a great game, plain and simple. It feels like so much love, so much passion has been poured into it, and the final product is something truly beautiful and joyful to experience. Don’t let this be a sleeper hit, go take it for a spin and see for yourself. For me, I imagine this will be one of my games of the year.

I was constantly veering off from the main quest to track something down or look into a newly discovered path, and so it took me about 20 hours to roll credits. Despite that, I know there’s still a lot for me to do in the game, and I’m excited to go back in to find every secret and experience everything its aesthetically striking world has to offer. Tunic is a stunning achievement that manages to embody the best of nostalgia while being completely refreshing. It’s absolutely a must-play gem.

Tunic is a mystical gem full of elusive secrets that only reveal themselves if you take the time to do so. The basic experience of fighting in Zelda-esque dungeons is already very good, but whoever sticks a toe in the mysterious water is soon up to his neck in puzzles.

Tunic is truly a masterpiece of game design: a modern day Zelda with all the complexity it needs to thrive with gamers today. If you like running around a beautiful fantasy land, sword fighting fantasy baddies, or translating ancient languages, Tunic will have something for you to sink your teeth into. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend picking this foxy little gem up.

Tunic offers a new experience, and even when it reminds us of Zelda and the Souls games, what keeps us playing is what Tunic can offer on its own.

TUNIC is a delight. It is one of those indie adventures that has everything to leave a mark and become one of those titles that all adventure enthusiasts will recommend.

Tunic is a unique mix of great art direction and an impeccable level design. The challenge is balanced, and exploration is addictive and rewarding, one of the best indie games to date.

Tunic surprises and delights. It doubles down on its environmental storytelling which may put off those looking for a cruisy experience, but true adventurers will be well pleased with the little fox and his quest.

I’ve likened TUNIC to Fez, a similarly brilliant game that also shattered expectations, hid riddles in a new alphabet, and had an entire community rally around some of the larger secrets. I believe we’ll see the exact same here. The difference, however, is that TUNIC seems to be available to everyone, not just puzzle-minded nerds like me. As already mentioned, it’s a game of two halves. How deep the fox hole goes entirely depends on what the player wants to extract from the experience and I think that is just excellent. Not only is it one of the biggest surprises you can expect this year but it sets a new bar for design and minimalist storytelling, allowing players to slowly pick away at the world as new manual pages slowly drip-feed enticing clues about the true nature that lies beneath the cutesy surface. Like Pony Island, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Frog Fractions before it, TUNIC is going to be opening many people’s eyes to what a video game can do.

Tunic was definitely worth the wait. I honestly can’t remember when a game has gripped me the way Tunic has. For the past two weeks, I haven’t stopped looking into certain puzzles, finding new secrets, and thinking about what I could’ve missed. It’s just amazing that the small team behind Tunic has created a game with this much depth.

The best "Zelda" that isn't coming from Nintendo, an unique adventure both in visuals and presentation that puts on the table smart and intelligent ideas. A game that any adventure fan looking for a new challenge should play on Xbox or PC. As simple as that, go and play it. You won't be disappointed.

Tunic is an unmissable adventure for all those who love to immerse themselves in an enveloping, mysterious world full of secrets to discover. Artistically delightful and with a satisfying and fun combat system, the Indie signed by Andrew Shouldice knows how to turn into an addictive challenge, whose puzzles end up populating the minds of the players even when they don't have the pad in their hands.

Tunic is an absolute gem of a game. The combat is exciting without being overly difficult or frantic. The exploration feels organic without dragging on for too long. The dual inspirations of The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls complement each other, and the isometric viewpoint makes it feel fresh when compared to other titles inspired by one of the aforementioned games. The time needed to knock out the campaign feels just right, while still naturally encouraging you to try another run to see all of the game's secrets. With no real negatives to speak of, it feels only right that Tunic occupy a spot in the library of any adventure fan.

Tunic's world is as mysterious as it is beautiful. The world is a treasure trove of puzzles to solve coupled with a myriad of bosses determined to test your fortitude.

Every once in a while, a true indie gem comes along. A classic for the ages lauded by critics and players alike. One inspired by classics, taking their best mechanics before refining and crafting something wholly unique and simply unforgettable, for better and occasionally, for worse. After more than 15 hours of deciphering cryptic clues and losing myself in its meticulously-crafted, mysterious world, Tunic has cemented itself in that bracket of all-time indie classics, and one that you simply have to play.

I don’t really care about any of that, because Tunic stroked my ego from start to finish. I frequently found myself muttering, “you devious bastard.” It speaks the language of games gone by while injecting both modernity and its own personal twist. It’s brilliant enough to stand apart, and this is one garment I recommend you slip into. Maybe with some leggings. It would look nice.

TUNIC is a dense journey filled with hidden paths and puzzles that provide a remarkable sense of accomplishment. Using an in-game instruction manual is a brilliant idea that makes learning and gradually revealing how the world works more enjoyable. While the combat isn’t flawless, the rest of the exploration is. This is a game for fans of classic action adventures, cute little foxes, discovery, and secrets. However, the real secret is how wonderful TUNIC is.

TUNIC brings together a gorgeous art style, phenomenal gameplay, and old-school game design baked directly into the way you discover the world, delivering one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played in years.

At first glance, Tunic might look like your typical breezy indie adventure. How wrong you’d be to think that. Underneath its cute exterior lies a tough-as-nails experience, designed to truly test your mettle. But here’s a game that also sports some of the most thoughtful, wonderful design elements you’ll ever find, all laid out in an interconnected, sprawling world that begs to be explored. Better yet, a range of accessibility options mean that absolutely anyone can experience Tunic, regardless of their skill level. And by god, they should. It really is something special.

Most Souls-likes tend to adopt a grimdark fantasy aesthetic, but Tunic harkens back to the 8- and 16-bit eras by presenting a vibrant and colorful world that also offers a fiendishly difficult challenge. It's not simply evocative of games from the late '80s and early '90s because it creates facsimiles of their graphics or gameplay, but because it manages to capture a tangible feeling of exploration and difficulty, where an instruction manual is your tool to deciphering everything. It's the kind of game you would've purchased because the box art looked cool, eagerly flipping through the pages of its manual on the car ride home, not quite understanding it all but getting excited at the possibilities all the same. In Tunic's case, this grand adventure lives up to the expectations.

Tunic is an unapologetically challenging action-adventure game that is charming, multi-layered, and immensely rewarding to solve.

At a glance appearing as a polished and beautiful isometric Zelda-like starring a cute fox, Tunic offers so much more under the surface and is a must-play for fans of the genre. With a perfect balance of exploration, engaging combat, and of course, hidden secrets, Fiji and Andrew Shouldice have crafted an adventure that's well worth embarking on, and it's one that you'll likely come back to revisit time and time again.

Tunic is gorgeous, managing to build a world full of mystery and opportunities for exploration, with a wonderful sense of exploration.

To dismiss Tunic as a Zelda clone upon first glance would be doing it a huge disservice. Developer Finji has put together something special with this game, a game that lures players in with its adorable mascot character and delivers a deceptively difficult adventure. Tunic can be outright intimidating at points. However, the game does such a good job in helping bring players along, whether it's through stat upgrades or new pages of the instruction manual, that the difficulty never feels debilitating or inaccessible in any way.

Tunic combines ideas from the classic Zelda and soulslike game to deliver an interesting and challenging experience with a charm of its own.

Delightfully difficult combat and meaningful exploration make Tunic a retro-inspired modern marvel.

If you were looking for a foxy answer to the question "What would happen if Zelda was a Soulslike?" (I don't know why you're looking in a foxy way), you found it.

Tunic might seem like a mere homage to The Legend of Zelda, but despite similar gameplay mechanics it’s a great game in its own right. It’s a surprisingly complex mix of a metroidvania and an RPG with a heavy emphasis on exploring the world and uncovering its secrets. Sometimes it might be frustrating, but I’m sure it will charm many.

Tunic is an isometric action game where players take on the role of a small fox on a big adventure in an unforgiving world. It might look cute, but it is far from soft, presenting a unique, cleverly mixed fusion of Souls-like combat and Zelda-like exploration and puzzles.

Beneath its appearance of a simple and cute tribute to Zelda, Tunic actually hides a rather difficult experience, which borrows a lot from Dark Souls and others. A game almost out of nowhere but which deserves your greatest attention.

More than a very good Zelda-like, Tunic is a great puzzle-adventure game that will delight fans of exploration and secrets. Because the game of Andrew Shouldice and his friends contains a lot. Very much. Starting with those hidden off the beaten path, thanks to beautiful colorful isometric 3D. But especially those hidden in a paper manual directly integrated into the game. A brilliant idea that serves as a map, a history manual as well as a collection of clues, and which is at the heart of the progression. Tunic knows how to regularly surprise the player with things present from the beginning - a passage, a game mechanic - but which are revealed hours later. Without forgetting the demanding and solid action phases, which contain significant moments. Fights that can also be made very simple, thanks to accessibility options. What to focus above all on the secrets of Tunic, which we took a monster foot to solve. Because that's where the real wealth of the game is hidden. A big crush.

It is easy to misunderstand TUNIC as an adventure reminiscent of 'Zelda' for its cute, fairytale-like graphics and sound, But the reality is different. While the fox hero grows up overcoming boss battles, the unexpected difficulty stimulates you to challenge more. The catalog styled story and twist also show the game's charms.

Tunic is a pharaonic and well-dressed work that caught our attention because of its resemblance to the Nintendo hero and a beautiful artwork. However, it is much more than a low poly copy of a historical fan of the classic video game epic. It is a well-crafted set with one of the best maps we have had the pleasure of exploring whose mysteries more than pay for some of the desperate moments caused by the combat.

When Tunic gestures towards Zelda games of old, something it does with all the subtlety of an air traffic controller, it's indicating an attempt to chip away the intervening decades and get back to the feeling of playing those games for the first time, when they still held what seemed like bottomless mystery. [Issue#370, p.104]

There’s no denying the irresistible charm of Tunic. Even if its mistake is its fixation with the very rose-tinted days of classic Zelda, Tunic still is an evocative experience: you’re still embarking on an epic hero’s journey marked by stretches of tranquillity, tantalising mysteries, and hard-won victories, powered by a nearly infinite fountain of nostalgia. In the end, I can’t help but feel increasingly enamoured by the sights and encounters.

Tunic executes the ideas of classic RPGs with such confidence that it’s nearly impossible to not enjoy it.

It’ll be tempting to reach for your phone and start looking for a solution when you get stuck in Tunic, but resist the impulse if you can. Just … be stuck for a while. The resultant wandering and thinking will lead you somewhere unexpected, and before you know it you’ll have found the way forward by yourself. It feels like a luxury to play a game that isn’t constantly prodding you towards the next objective, and that instead allows you the space to daydream.

Tunic is a masterpiece of adventure and exploration. More than a tribute to Zelda, it is a game that deserves your full attention.

Andrew Shouldice's Tunic is a little gem that mixes Zelda-like mechanics with light souls-like elements, inside a cryptic (maybe a little too much?) and fascinating story.

More than a simple homage to the 8 & 16 bits era, Tunic knows how to keep things fresh for a while, with its charming and mysterious universe, and its inventive puzzles.

It may take some time to really appreciate some of Tunics design choices and the difficulty could put some people off. But once it clicks, Tunic is a smartly designed action adventure that offers a fresh take on the established Zelda formula.

We hope that this will prove to be the first of many titles to come, thanks to its mechanics that require commitment but without exaggerating, made in a way and manner to thrill a transversal audience not too much of the sector.

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 is an adventure that’s crafted with care and consideration, with a beautifully detailed, charming, and challenging world. Whether you’re looking for some cosy exploration, or to hack-and-slash through hordes of enemies, the world of Tunic is a lovely place to do it in.

Tunic is a charming, absorbing adventure that recaptures the feel of the original The Legend of Zelda better than almost any other game out there (including some of Nintendo’s own efforts). The game’s enigmatic nature won’t be for everyone and a late-game difficulty spike may frustrate even old-school fans, but overall, Tunic is a successful link to the past.

Tunic is more than a Zelda clone and will win over many players — those who enjoy the art style, the relentless challenge, the sense of exploration and discovery. But people picking up the game should be aware that it is a niche title that some gamers simply won’t have the patience to complete. Those who do take up the gauntlet will find an enjoyable, albeit sometimes frustrating, experience that fully deserves praise.

Tunic is so much more than just a game about a cute fox. It’s a wonderfully satisfying adventure game that’s not afraid to kill you and leave you confused as to what just happened. It’s happy for you to be lost, inconvenienced, and befuddled. It’s also one that offers the elation of overcoming a tough challenge regularly throughout, and also, the fox is definitely very cute.

Old school adventure sensibilities and an expertly-designed puzzle box world combine in this charming and engaging indie gem.

With a plethora of retro-inspired games available, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. However, Tunic makes a good case for itself. Along with its vibrant visuals and soothing music, Tunic provides a strong sense of discovery and adventure thanks to solid world design and its excellent in-game manual. Tunic doesn’t reach the heights of the games that inspired it, but it's a great time and worth your attention.

Tunic is more than a mere imitation, as it focuses on the most unexpected elements of its forerunners in order to reward players with a rapturous sense of discovery.

Tunic is a wonderful Dark Souls alternative that fails to strike a fair balance.

Tunic will appeal to all fans of The Legend of Zelda series, even if it lacks a bit of personality.

Tunic manages to take something (obviously on a smaller scale) from Zelda, Dark Souls and Death's Door, resulting in a challenging and fascinating action-adventure even if it lacks any truly original ideas.

Tunic is an isometric action adventure with colorful visuals, fun exploration and well executed combat, though its insistence on lack of player guidance can make for a few frustrating moments.

With its art direction directly taken from Zelda and its enchanting soundtrack, TUNIC knows how to set a delectable atmosphere in a world that never ceases to surprise you. But underneath its sweet airs lies a rather rough game with sometimes tense and effectively tactical fights that unfortunately suffer a little from the hero's lack of punch, at least at the beginning. You'll have to overcome the lack of clear indications that can confuse or even discourage you to enjoy it. But it would be a shame not to get hooked because the title turns out to be unsuspectedly rich.

Tunic is fascinating and surprisingly deep.

Tunic has a couple of issues, but it’s nothing major enough to stop me from thoroughly enjoying the game. It’s a pleasant and relaxing throwback to older Zelda titles with enough secrets to keep you busy for a good while. If the visual style and 16-bit inspiration appeals to you, I’d say Tunic is definitely worth your time. Just get ready to get lost, or stick to a GameFAQs page.