Tunic

[Moonface]

Developer: Andrew Shouldice

Platforms: Xbox One, PC

Release Date: TBA

Tunic is an action adventure about a tiny fox in a big world. Explore the wilderness, discover spooky ruins, and fight terrible creatures from long ago.

---

I hadn't really cared to actively remember this game, but I stumbled on it with Shira at PAX East and remembered how cute I thought the game was. Shira got to spend a little time playing the game, but from what I saw it looked like it plays nicely. It reminds me of The Legend of Zelda in some ways, but hopefully it has some stuff to make it stand out as more than LoZ with a fox.

[Mr EliteL]

Need to see more of this if I want get fully interested. A potential PC game for me, but I can decide later. By the ending of the trailer, that enemy or being shows there's going to be something out of the ordinary in that world at least.

[Moonface]

Although the current platforms are Xbox and PC, the people manning the booth at PAX did give a roundabout way of saying that it will come to other systems since Tunic is an Xbox console launch exclusive, and not an outright exclusive. When I questioned them about it, they said they can't really give anything about that but the terminology being used reads how you think it does. It probably has a year or so of being exclusive and then it'll come to at least one other system later, like how Cuphead did.

[ShiraNoMai]

So I had a rush demo of this game because the exhibit floor was shutting in like 5 minutes (you can hear it over the PA in the video), and I really wish I spent more time with it myself because what I did play felt real fun. The UI was a little hard to get used to, and especially so with some of the prompts I was getting, such as where I'm being prompted to press LB near the enemy, but it didn't indicate that it was a target/focus toggle and thought it was instead the attack button (which is why I took damage). I may have skipped some interactive elements that may have explained because of my rush, so I'm not too concerned about that.
Anyway, the combat felt pretty fluid. I felt my attacks had a lot of weight to them, and I was able to dodge in a decent window frame. The explorations were cute and neat. Very Zelda like, also. I enjoyed the collectibles magnetizing to you so I'm not constantly going around trying to collect scattering currency. I also wish I could hear the soundtrack. The game is so cute and I imagine the soundtrack to be matching in atmosphere.

[queenzelda]

Honestly this game looks cute & fun. Hopefully the controls for it will be a bit more polished when ever this title is released. I plan to get it, but it depends on when it's released is if I get it day one or not. Sometimes I tend to wait for sales; it depends on the title usually. XD

[Moonface]

I expect a date might come at E3 during the Xbox conference, since that was when the game was originally revealed. I would guess a 2019 release, but we've seen so little of the game that it's hard to even tell how far along development actually is.

[queenzelda]

Honestly, if Tunic does release in 2019 without so much as a whisper from the game developer; I'd be surprised. I'm thinking a soft 2020 release myself. But, we'll see is my thought.

[ShiraNoMai]

I subscribed myself to their newsletter that apparently will keep people up to date on how the game progresses and when release dates will be put out so I'll report back if I hear anything out of that. So far I've yet to receive any emails (which I'm shocked by but I suppose I'm spoiled by my own company's 4 emails a week output). I honestly dont think it'll be a 2019 release based on how they discuss the game and the small vertical slice of it we played being very much like the gameplay shown at the reveal.

[ShiraNoMai]

Man, I never did get any email updates from signing up to their newsletter...



Anyway, it's 2021 and we still have no idea when this could release, BUT! Today, at the Summer Games Festival, the folks at Finji announced they will be debuting a new demo to be released in the coming weeks for Xbox that the devs say, "(have) secrets in it."

[queenzelda]

I just added Tunic to my steam wish list.

[Moonface]

I really hope this game turns out well. It looks really good, but the long periods of silence make me a little hesitant to get this on launch day. Maybe when footage of the new demo comes out in its entirety I might get a better idea of what direction the game is going.

[ShiraNoMai]

Just watched Trihex play the demo tonight (it came out early!) and wow, they added quite a few things since we last saw. The demo definitely opened up a lot more (as you can see with the last clip posted), and they swapped heart health for a health bar and now you got a stamina bar! It's definitely looking a lot more Souls-like too, with the Estus flask for healing over just potions, and the aforementioned stuff as well being reminiscent.

[Moonface]

I want to watch the whole playthrough but for what little I got to see before I had to sleep last night, the game still looks as great as it did when I saw it at PAX but with improvements to the gameplay. I like that enemies can chase you through the map if you try to engage with them when you aren't equipped to and you can't just run away until they disengage due to being too far from their designated spots on the map. Also as @ShiraNoMai said, a few elements are like Souls with the dodge rolling, stamina, and resting at campfires to restore your health which also makes enemies respawn.

Edit: Full demo walkthrough for anyone like me who hasn't managed to find it to watch yet:

[ShiraNoMai]

If anyone was curious to try out this past demo but didn't have an Xbox to play it on, this weekend is the chance you've been waiting for!

For this weekend only (starting today!), you can play through that demo version on Steam, as part of the Indie Booth Arena Online for Gamescom! Dicey mentioned on the Finji Discord Channel that the demo is identical to the Xbox version released a couple months ago with the exception of added keyboard controls!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/

[Moonface]

Nuts, I didn't realise it was just for the weekend when I first read this back when you posted it.
Did you (or anyone else) get to try the demo?