Game news My GOTY 2022 is neither Elden Ring nor God of War Ragnarok!
Even though I fell head over heels for Elden Ring and God of War in 2022, it’s another game that actually stole my heart this year (RT if you’re emotional). It’s about Tunic, an amazing adventure and puzzle app that gave me an amazing experience. A love at first sight that I tell you about here.
A story of perspective:
This article is an opinion piece, it is by nature subjective. The opinion of the author is personal and is not representative of that of the rest of JV’s editorial staff. Thanks in advance, happy reading!
There are games that, in a presentation, do something to you. This was the case of Tunic, my GOTY 2022 (hi, it’s Indee), whose “reveal” dates back to five years ago. At the time, the project appeared to be Zelda-like with cute art direction and challenging combat, but – you see it coming – it’s much more than that. In fact, I only learned of the game’s potential later, in 2021, when interviewing its creator Andrew Shouldice: “One of our goals (for Tunic, editor’s note) is to let players find things they’re not supposed to find”. I then find the formula brilliant, in the same way as this one: “I am one of those who does not prefer to tell the players when they have found all the secrets. Because a game where you have found all the secrets is a game that is definitely over”. With this project, Andrew Shouldice wanted to “sparkle our imagination”, with finds absolutely everywhere. And especially where you least expect it.
Tunic is available on PC and consoles, as well as in the Xbox Game Pass
Stranger in a strange world
Basically, Tunic offers several levels of reading, all as great as each other! The most obvious is what the player comes across first: an “isometric 3D” world – like a three-quarter profile – that hides a thousand and one treasures and secret passages right under your nose (to find them, you can slightly tilt the camera upwards); a paper manual directly integrated into the game, which is one of the most beautiful ideas of the project. As you progress, you will collect the pages of the document. Within it, information on the very operation of the game (map, gameplay, upgrade). In short, a very precious help, but still it is necessary to know it.
Because in addition to letting you loose in a hostile world, embodied by a demanding gameplay, Tunic lets you fend for yourself. No tutorial, no direction to take, it’s literally “explore and figure it out” (like the first The Legend of Zelda, source of inspiration assumed). In other words, you don’t know any more than the little fox you play, who is also unable to read the local language on the surrounding signs. A design choice that can have two opposite consequences. On the one hand, as soon as you unearth a secret – especially one of the most useful – it’s a firework of emotions, especially knowing that the mystery was there from the start… On the other, you can spend hours struggling in the absence of a key mechanic, like the ability to increase health.
“How I Almost Hated Tunic” – Video by Gautoz (former journalist at Gamekult)
The best puzzle ever created
Somehow, Tunic’s bias is therefore quite radical. Moreover, there is no help system for the puzzles – even if we note the presence of accessibility options to facilitate the fights. But, in the absence of such a boost, the satisfaction of understanding the game by oneself is multiplied, and that is precisely what is great… How many times, in my session, do I had this “wow” effect when understanding a mystery. Yes, there are constant discoveries that mark the progress, until the final boss! At least, the “first version” of this end boss.
We spoke to you above of several levels of reading: the first time that the credits appear is only the beginning of the end, as they say. Because there is literally a ton of things to discover. Starting with the “Golden path”, a strange secret mentioned by the paper manual, which opens a huge door in the mountains. I won’t lie to you, I lived my best moment of 2022 by solving this puzzle. I was then in the test phase, and the publisher of Tunic had set up a Discord so that journalists could exchange their theories! I teamed up with people I didn’t know from Eve or Adam, and you can imagine the euphoria of being among the first to break through the Golden Path… Another reason for Tunic to be my GOTY.
And yet, I was not at the end of my surprises! After this “ultimate enigma”, there is plenty to do: decode the mysterious alphabet, make things appear in the paper manual under certain conditions, find clues in the sound of the game (the sound what). In short, do you remember the sentence of Shoudlice at the beginning of this article? “A game where you find all the secrets is a game over for good”? This is one of the reasons why Tunic leaves me with such strong memories. Still to this day, he cultivates my imagination, in a corner of my head. I know I’ll never find everything it has to offer, it’s better that way. In short, play Tunic, it is also in the Game Pass.
