This one is in my top five games, not just of the last couple of years, but of all time. It’s hard to describe why TUNIC hit me so much with the feels; its curious and colourful world doesn’t offer up anything in the way of an intro or starter area, or even a name for your protagonist. You aren’t given any training in combat or puzzle solving. You just wake up on a beach, alone and with no idea what you need to do. Oh, and you’re also an adorable little fox with a bushy tail who wears a green tunic. Sweet.

The game was developed by Andrew Shouldice and published by Finji. I don’t always enjoy extremely challenging puzzle games, but the colourful, isometric art style of TUNIC, the lovely synth score, and the curious backstory really drew me in. The fox never speaks, apart from that one wonderful little sigh when he first wakes up and stretches on the beach, and most of the game’s text is written in a strange glyph-like language that you have to decipher using pages from the game manual. This is not exactly a game for lazy players who just want to be hand-held through an adventure. You have to unpick this one.

Oh, the game manual. You find pages scattered all over the game, sometimes right in front of you and sometimes in difficult-to-reach places. The manual serves to teach you the mechanics, how to overcome particularly hard bosses, and also gives hints at the history of this world and what happened to those that inhabit it.

The past is a big factor in why the world of TUNIC is the way it is. Early on you’re introduced to the concept of The Heir, a grown-up fox who is trapped in a strange prism made of powerful magic. You have no idea if The Heir is friend of foe, or why she is trapped, or why you are now part of her story.

It’s fairly obvious at this stage that your main objective is to find out who The Heir is and why she is imprisoned. You’ll find yourself backtracking a lot and uncovering many ley-lines criss-crossed throughout the game. These light up when you activate strange obelisks, creating a network of pathways that are linked to the history of the world.

There are puzzles to discover within TUNIC’s story absolutely everywhere. And I mean everywhere – even in the audio of the game, as seen with the wind-chime puzzle. How cool is that? How many games do you know that go that extra mile and put puzzles within the sounds in the game? These attentions to detail are another thing that set TUNIC apart from similar Zelda-like games.

You’re rewarded greatly for persistent exploration. Even if you think you’ve reached a dead-end or a particular wall looks impassable, it’s always worth trying to find a gap or hidden route around, under, or over obstructions, as you’re often rewarded with either useful items or secret areas.

The soundtrack also adds something unique to the backdrop of TUNIC. Many games like this (taking inspiration from franchises such as Zelda and Dark Souls) employ a more symphonic score, but TUNIC goes down the synth route with a stellar score by Lifeformed and Janice Kwan. You can listen to the whole album here.

The Ending

No spoilers here, but I will say that there is an ending which is fine, and then there is a true ending which is something else and fulfilling in so many ways. You have to play the game a lot and explore most of the side quests to unlock the true ending, but trust me when I say it’s so worth it. So, so worth the effort. If you love the game in the first hour or two of playing, you will want to get that special, true ending.

In Media

If you’re in need of some help with the puzzles, I can’t recommend The Welsh Hunter‘s walkthrough highly enough. His commentary is not only useful but also incredibly entertaining.

Rods Kaden’s videos on the lore are an excellent place to start, post-game, if you’re looking to understand more of the backstory and the foxs’ plight.

And probably my favourite TUNIC deep-dive videos are by Jess Zakilly, who is passionate about the game and explores many of the key lore points as well as some (seemingly) smaller details.

You won’t find all the secrets in TUNIC, here is why – video by SIFTER, featuring an interview with Andrew Shouldice (lead dev on TUNIC).

There is also a TUNIC Discord.