TUNIC Preview

While the Steam Next Fest was on, I made sure to download a demo for the game TUNIC. I’ve seen a lot of people online getting excited for this action-adventure game that looks like it took inspiration from games in The Legend of Zelda game series.

TUNIC starts with our adorable main character, a fox dressed up in an outfit that looks a lot like Link. You are laying on the sand of the beach, I’m unsure if you were shipwrecked or if that’s the spot where you choose to nap, but that’s where you start. Playing around with the controls you see that from the beginning you are limited on what you can do. Your little fox can’t jump or attack, but he can dive and roll out of the way of obstacles. Since you can’t attack right away, you will have to use this move to evade and dodge the enemies that you will come across.

While exploring you come across a letter that the game developers have left for the player, informing you that this demo is just a small sample of what TUNIC is like, giving you a small taste of the world the game takes place in and sending you on a quest for some treasures. The letter tells you to explore and find these three things; a stick, a sword, and some other secrets. That last request is pretty non-specific but I think they just want you to explore the world and see what you discover.

When you find the stick or the sword you can equip it to any button that you want. I was using my gaming controller on my PC so it made sense to equip the weapon I was using the most to a button that was the easiest to hit. Plus, since the game feels a lot like The Legend of Zelda, I tried to keep the controls similar to those since I have muscle memory for that already established. Then it’s payback time, you get to slash and hit all of those enemies that have constantly been attacking. When you defeat an enemy they drop small yellow cubes that are used as in game currency to buy items and new equipment. Besides just the enemies pestering you, your sword is also able to hack through trees or blocks that are restricting the path. There’s a lot of areas you won’t be able to reach until you have the sword and can clear them out.

If you perish while on your journey, you will be sent back to the last checkpoint you saved at to restart. The checkpoint is a flame, so be sure to head over to the statue that is holding it. You don’t want to have to restart from the very beginning if you don’t have to! Plus, if you have found some health potions, they will be refilled when you go to the checkpoint. When you die, if you can get back to the point where you fell there will be a glowing chest there. Inside are all the items you dropped when you were defeated. It was really nice to be able to get all my stuff back since I died a lot. Just because this is a demo doesn’t mean they are going to take it easy on you. Some of the enemies, like the spinning octopus-esque character, are pretty tricky to defeat, especially when they explode when defeated. It’s hard to get out of the way fast enough!

The soundtrack for TUNIC is very chill and relaxing when you first start the game, but as you explore and come across areas underground that are full of danger and enemies the music reflects this and gets more tense. The game looks beautiful and there’s a ton of special touches included that I love. Having an instruction manual that looks hand-drawn and just like the booklets that you would get along with games when you were a kid really felt special. It’s obvious that a ton of love and effort went into this game and I am so excited to play the full game!