Adventure fans should take notice of TUNIC, an isometric action game about a small fox on a big adventure. Developed by FINJI and the TUNIC Team, TUNIC is a return to days when exploration was fun and mysterious, and curiosity lead you on the grandest of adventures. You play as a fox, stranded on a mysterious beach, and must discover the secrets this new land offers. Explore caves, forests, cliffs, and more as you collect strange and powerful items, as well as confront all manors of beasts. Explore a land filled with lost legends, ancient powers, and ferocious monsters

The first thing you’ll notice about TUNIC is the art and its possible influences. The art is actually very good. It’s very colorful, kind of blocky at times, but not as blocky as something like Minecraft. It’s more like they use a combination of geometric shapes to form more detailed objects. The obvious influence would be the Zelda series, specifically, The Wind Waker. It reminds me a lot of that, except stuck in an isometric view. However, the layout of the game reminds me of the very first game, The Legend of Zelda, just now in 3D. It’s an open world where you explore lots of caves and fight random enemies. Exactly like the original Zelda games. In fact, even the main character of the fox has a similar outfit, fights with a sword, and can carry a shield. I think it’s that similarity and the art style that really drew me to TUNIC.

Next up is the gameplay, and it’s pretty solid here. Much of it is exploration along with the random enemy battles. However, it’s not super random as you do have a choice of either fighting or running away and you can see the enemies. While exploring, you’ll find chests filled with treasure or items that you can equip, as well as secrets that can only be found if you really explore the map. There are hidden paths, hidden chests, and more. The action portion of the game isn’t bad either. Lots of sword use, evasive maneuvers, etc. It’s all pretty fun and very nostalgic.

I’m using a controller to play this and it’s pretty responsive with it. You can assign the X,Y, and B buttons for items while the A button is used for actions like climbing and opening chests or pushing buttons. It’s pretty simple and easy to learn.

I want to point out one really neat thing in the game and that is the collection of instruction pages to make a manual. I know a lot of you might not know about this (mainly younger players), but games used to come with instruction manuals. They weren’t tiny manuals either and many were pages thick with full color, illustrations, and more. TUNIC replicates this digitally and you collect pages to form a really neat instruction manual that teaches you how to play and even has tips and tricks. This is a really fun addition and one that I really enjoyed looking for.

So with all that said, TUNIC is a really good game. It really taps into your nostalgia and childhood if you grew up with games like Zelda. There is just so much to love about the game, everything from the art style to the gameplay to the weird alien alphabet that makes this such a lovable game. There are so many secrets to discover but you’d be excused if you just wanted to stop and enjoy the scenery. So with that said, TUNIC is perfect for those looking for that old-school Zelda-type game, but in much prettier packaging. It really does a great job emulating what we all loved about Zelda but at the same time, it’s also its own game that’s more than just a copy.

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Disclaimer: Received game from developer and/or publisher for coverage purposes.

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