The demo of the action adventure game is free to play at the Steam Next Fest. We tell you why it’s worth it!
The Steam Next Fest is once again showering us with hundreds of free demos until 7 October 2021. Who is supposed to keep track of what is really worthwhile and what is a waste of time? Well, we are, of course! In the next few days, we’ll introduce you to some particularly exciting games that you shouldn’t miss. For example, the cute but quite challenging Zelda homage Tunic.
What could be more relaxing than waking up on a sunny beach – and in the shape of a cuddly fox? But after just a few steps, the first enemies pounce on us with murder in their eyes. Tunic is sweet as chocolate and just as crunchy.
Fluid combat, clever game world
Without a weapon in our paws, we are of course not very defensible. Fortunately, we directly find a chest in which a stick is waiting for us – and you almost expect to hear the trusted Zelda jingle. Tunic makes no secret of its great inspiration: exploring, fighting, finding treasures, uncovering secrets – even the rich colours are strongly reminiscent of the classic Nintendo series.
Very quickly, however, another influence becomes apparent, that of the Souls games. We dodge with lightning speed at the touch of a button, but always have to keep an eye on the short stamina bar. After just a few hits, we go down and lose all the gems we have collected, but we can regain them at our place of death. We heal ourselves at statues, but then time passes and all enemies respawn.
Little by little we unlock new areas and discover hidden shortcuts between them, for example by lowering a bridge or sabering previously impenetrable bushes with our brand new sword. Thanks to the short walking distances, it doesn’t matter if we get knocked down again, within a few minutes we hop back. And that’s a good thing, because dying is damn easy in Tunic.
The key to survival here is to thoroughly learn the attack patterns of all enemy types. Once you’ve got those down after a few painful lessons, the monsters really only pose a threat when outnumbered. In the demo we find two different weapons and a shield that allow us new manoeuvres. All of it plays smoothly and precisely, only the (non-customisable) keyboard layout sometimes gets in our way. With the gamepad, however, it slips like soap.
What we like, what remains unclear?
What we like about Tunic:
- The fights are really fun, different enemies with their own abilities challenge us in different ways.
- Exploration is motivating because not only do we explore new areas, but we also unlock handy paths there.
- Tunic relies a lot on its colourful cartoon style, but also looks chic in underground dungeons.
- Save points are well distributed, saving us long runs.
What remains unclear?
- It is not yet clear from the demo how well the balancing will turn out in the end and how much variety there really is in Tunic. It definitely needs to bring its own ideas too, instead of just copying the Zelda formula.
- Those hoping for tricky puzzles and riddles will probably be disappointed. In the previous demos, Tunic already showed that you usually only have to flip a simple switch.
- The keyboard control is still rather clumsy and cannot be changed. Tunic should urgently offer options here.
- The demo is short, about 30 minutes long. Or 60 if you’re similarly clumsy as me (was just me snapping pictures of course, ahem). If you enjoyed games like Zelda or Death’s Door, then you should definitely take the time. Unfortunately, Tunic doesn’t have a final release date yet.
