Who doesn’t want to be a cute little fox, exploring a magical forest? Don’t let its cute isometric style and beautiful soundtrack fool you, Tunic isn’t just an ethereal forest adventure. It's an intense rouge-like with puzzles and easter eggs peppered along the way!
Starting off, you know nothing about the game. You don’t know what to do, and how to do anything. Looks like you have to figure it out as you go! This sets the stage for all the exploration you have to do in the game. This concept of `Exploration` is expressed beautifully through the game mechanics and game UX.
Expressing Exploration Through Game Mechanics
In the game, you pick up pages of the game handbook, which teaches you about the history of the world of Tunic, gives you area maps, and even teaches you new mechanics and interactions. As you slowly pick up new pages, you are able to piece together what is had happened to the world around you. Often, many crucial pieces of information are only available once you pick up the respective page, and you get an “Ahah!” moment of discovery when things click together!
Exploration In Game UX
Through the concept of `Exploration`, Tunic also manages to get many things right about game UX, making the game seamless for the player. Symbols pop up near interactive objects, to let you know that you can do something to them. When you move between different menu views, some UI elements move as well, allowing the player to see how different elements link together. When moving between open and enclosed areas, light or shadow flows, to tell the player that they can move forward down a path. Tunic manages to educate the player on how to interact with the game without always actually having to explicitly tell them. It’s a masterclass in game UX, and perhaps this topic deserves a full article on its own.
How Tunic Structures Exploration
Tunic balances the fine line between showing versus telling the player what to do, and this enables a sense of discovery that permeates through the game. Somehow, the game manages to achieve this despite not being a fully open-world game. There is actually a heavy amount of linear structure that is present within the game, through the use of both skillset barriers, and knowledge barriers.
Some areas in the game are not accessible at all, simply because the character might not have acquired the right items or skills at that point in time to continue, serving as skillset barriers. For example, at the beginning of the game, the character’s area of exploration is limited, until they receive an item that enables them to cut trees. What’s funny is that, because I didn't know that cutting trees was even a possibility, I thought I was exploring all there was to explore. Not knowing that I could do it meant that I never felt limited. Only when my character learned the skillset or earned the item, did I see the possibility. Guess ignorance is bliss?
As mentioned earlier, due to the `Game Handbook` mechanic, the player will only learn about new lore and information when they discover new pages. This means that information that is needed to advance to the game is only discovered when the player gains the knowledge through the game handbook, serving as a knowledge barrier. Through the new information, not only is the player able to explore new places, but they are exploring new aspects of previously visited areas. Exploration begets exploration, in a way that has been intentionally designed by the game creators.
Some Frustrations Near The End
Throughout most of the game, I was able to fully absorb myself in the experience and enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately, it was nearer the end of the game that the cracks in the game’s structure appeared, not in the way exploration was structured, but in how its leveling system was structured. Tunic took an interesting take towards leveling, where you had to discover different items that could be used to level up different attributes. It did away with an EXP system, which removed the grind experience that is present in many other RPGs. Unexpectedly, this also took away the flexibility of meeting enemies at a difficulty that you are comfortable with.
Combat in Tunic is not easy. Bosses can easily blast you into oblivion if you don’t dodge, block or parry effectively. For games like Elden Ring, you could always grind and level up if a particular boss is too challenging for you. Perhaps, you’re never able to dodge an arrow. But by leveling up, you’re able to take the damage from the arrow and continue fighting. For Tunic, this is not the case, as certain areas which contain items that can be used to level up attributes are locked due to a skillset or knowledge block, and even then, there is a cap to the amount of attribute-increase items that can be found. This means you will have to face bosses again, and again, and again at the same `level`, and are forced to figure out a way to counter and dodge their attacks.
I found this manageable for most bosses, but I am currently stuck at the final boss, which has proved extremely hard for me to beat and has been extremely frustrating. I can’t even go somewhere to grind and come back, because the grind concept doesn't exist in Tunic. This has sucked out the fun, and I ended up just trying to beat it, not because I enjoy the fight but because it feels like I chore I have to finish.
Wish me luck as I continue trying to defeat this beast of a final boss, or I might just give up and leave the game, having enjoyed 90% of the rest of the journey. It’s unfortunate that Tunic has ended on a frustrating note for me, but maybe eventually after my 40th, 50th attempt, I might be able to succeed, and get this chore of a final boss over and done with.
In Summary
All in all, I would still highly recommend Tunic. Its innovative expression of exploration is amazing, and I really love the soundtrack and art direction. It also reminded me that you don’t have to love everything about a game to enjoy and recommend it. I would love to try other games by Finji in the future.
