PC, Xbox; Andrew Shouldice/Finji
Zelda-like adventure game starring an adorable fox recalls a pre-internet era when games felt like secret worlds
This long-awaited indie game stars an adorable little fox, and his green apparel leaves no doubt as to where the game’s affections lie. Aesthetically and structurally, this is a Zelda tribute, with cute-yet-menacing baddies to bash with a sword and repel with a shield as you gradually uncover more and more of a sprawling world that stretches far underground and up into snowy mountain reaches, through gloomy dungeons illuminated by mysteriously glowing pools. But it is not a pale imitation. It’s a bit of a reinvention. Tunic displays not only a deep love for Nintendo’s adventure classic and games like it, but a deep and even subversive understanding of what makes them tick.
Tunic is surprisingly tough, taking just as much inspiration from Dark Souls. The world fits together like a clockwork model, full of pleasing shortcuts and hidden paths, and so pleasing to walk around that I felt compelled to draw it out in a notebook to see how it connected. Bonfire checkpoints give you somewhere safe to arise again after a death, but resting at them also respawns all the monsters around you. And like both Dark Souls and Zelda, Tunic has immense respect both for the player’s ingenuity, and for the unique magic of video games – their ability to tell a story that’s unscripted, and powered by your own curiosity, unlikely triumphs and sudden revelations.
Tunic is out now; £24.99.
Continue reading...https://ift.tt/AHrKkx7
Originally posted in the guardian.
