It seems like yesterday, but the charming Tunic was announced in 2017. We saw the little fox who plays the protagonist wake up on the shore of a beach, then wander into the forest, get a stick, and later enter a dungeon. There was this innocent, sweet spirit, like the kind of adventure you can play with a child; but at the same time, there was also a certain amount of mystery.

 

It also reappeared briefly at Summer Game Fest 2021, where director Andrew Shouldice explained that it was “a sense of discovery, of wondering what’s around the corner”. Are you interested? Of course it does, and we at 3DJuegos PC had the chance to delve a little deeper into the world of Tunic by interviewing the creators.

When asked about The Legend of Zelda – because everything about Tunic, from the isometric view to the battle system to the world design, is reminiscent of Shigeru Miyamoto‘s game – Shouldice admits that “I’ve loved a lot of Zelda, but the one I had in mind the most when I started working on Tunic was [the first one]. Of course, that inspiration was embodied in that discovery factor.

“The idea of existing in a world full of hidden truths will always seem exciting to me. By allowing true exploration, you allow secrets to be unearthed.” For new players, Link’s first adventure basically dropped us in the middle of nowhere with no explanation: it was up to us to figure out what to do, where to go, how to get through each screen and what kind of mysteries were lurking there.

It seems that Tunic will be a bit like that too, as you can’t even read the text messages when examining objects: symbols appear on the screen, yes, but they don’t correspond to any known language, so you have to guess what they say from the context. Shouldice himself pointed out that we are not expected to be able to understand the meaning of these symbols. The same goes for the characters, because if you look closely you’ll see that there are no benign NPCs in the trailers.

“Tunic is very much about being small and alone in a ruined world,” the creative explains. “You might encounter creatures that aren’t hostile at first glance, but will bring their own mysteries with them.” The hostile ones are the bosses, of course. Don’t be fooled by the game’s friendly graphics – the combat system is by no means neglected, you’ll be rolling and shielding as you learn the patterns of your opponents.

“The process of designing bosses starts with a personality or characterisation, and the mechanics develop from there,” explains Shouldice. “I find it hard to work in an abstract hitbox space without understanding the opponent, so that’s where you start. Then there’s a lot of testing where we try to find the interesting moments in the game and what’s missing.”

He goes on to explain that these battles will offer a balance between matches that feel like a chore (repeating this pattern three times, breaking the shield to initiate the damage phase) and those that require you to play perfectly for a period of time: “we tried to offer a rigid challenge, with multiple possible approaches, none of which are perfect.” Tunic does not yet have a precise release date, but the developers are working on finishing it: “the list of things to do is still long, but each step is a progress”.

Source: 3djuegosPC