Tunic is a solid adventure game in the vein of old 2D Zeldas. I found its level of trust in the player admirable. The game opens linearly enough, but it never dumps exposition or grant you objective markers. One of the coolest elements of the game is the in-game manual which is beautifully detailed with maps, lore, and clues to secrets that pepper the overworld.
streangths:
the visuals and art style are gorgeous and easy on the eyes. I found the soundtrack to be mostly alright, I particularly enjoyed the overworld theme
progression and exploration are well done. slowly growing in strength and improving your attributes felt great, especially b/c the game does a great job of placing gatekeeper enemies early on in the overworld (Gothic style I suppose)
weaknesses:
the combat in and of itself is serviceable but I was left wanting for stronger visual and audible feedback when connecting/blocking attacks
because item switching is handled in realtime, you can find yourself in tough situations where enemies may be swarming on you while you fiddle with the menu to equip the right tool
the hookshot didn't feel as magnetic as I would have liked, in exploration or in combat
I wasn't a fan of how much of the game's shortcuts are a byproduct of routes obfuscated by the world art. It reminded me of Fez in this regard, you'll often stumble upon secret routes that rotate the world map and lead you either to boring treasure chests that net a few coins, or they just funnel you back to a hub area. Seldom did a secret path actually lead me to a new zone, or a secret boss, or anything like that
Final thoughts: I come away from Tunic appreciative of its trust in the player, impressed by its gorgeously detailed in-game manual, and its calming visuals. I do wish the game had beefier visual effects and audible feedback for the combat, but it was serviceable. I readily admit that the endgame puzzle was too much for me. I picked up the trail, but once I peeked at the solution I knew this was not for me. I even peeked at the secret ending requirements and it turns out I hadn't even found 1 of the 20 secret items needed for it. I'd even say I took my sweet time combing through, but it sounds like the game is asking the player to re-explore the world after attaining a super late-game ability. That's cool, though I have no desire to do so at all. I had zero investment in the world, in the d-pad input based puzzles, and also the game oddly de-populated much of the combat encounters once in the endgame (stranged design decision, perhaps to encourage the player to just seek out the puzzles?).
bugs:
-Librarian Boss: hookshot once time dragged ME to him, dumping me out of the arena lol
-when killing enemies, their geometry can block the hookshot (intentional?)
my favorite track, unfortunately nothing else came close to being nearly as enjoyable for me throughout the adventure:
