TUNIC

It was a long road to get me excited about a game like Tunic. Because of my growing love for the Ace Attorney games, I was looking for something that would similarly require deductive skills. Because of the video game music compilations I was listening to at work, Outer Wilds was sitting patiently in the back of my mind, even though I knew almost nothing about it. When Outer Wilds came to Switch and I learned that it was all about making discoveries and using clues to solve mysteries, I had to try it. Soon after, it became a serious contender for my favorite game of all time, and I wanted more. In my obsessive consumption of Outer Wilds discussions on YouTube, I noticed that Tunic would often be mentioned in the same breath. Unfortunately, it didn't have an in-game log like Outer Wilds, so if I wanted to play Tunic the right way, I needed to use a real-life notebook. Up until this point, I have actively avoided games that require me to put pen to paper, but Tunic wouldn't dislodge itself from my brain, so I eventually gave in and pulled out a darn notebook.

Despite all of the comparisons I had seen to Outer Wilds, the closest experience that I can compare Tunic to is Animal Well. Both offer players a straightforward game on the surface, but encourage deeper layers of exploration and discovery with obvious secrets to unfurl. Anyone uninterested in pursuing their greater mysteries will still have a complete game to play, but might leave with the opinion that it's just an average interpretation of an established genre more than anything else. It's only when you begin to venture beyond the surface that the true game is revealed.

While Tunic is very similar to classic 2D Zelda games in its basic design and structure, there is a lot to miss if you treat it like that's all it is. A major aspect of Tunic's identity is the pages that you'll find hidden throughout the game world. Each page is a part of the game's manual, but they are almost entirely written in an unrecognizable script. Even the game's menus, location introductions, and signs are often written, at least in part, in this unique calligraphy. For the players treating this as a normal Zelda-like, the scant recognizable English text may just reinforce any assumptions made about how to approach the game. However, if you actually take the time to piece together the unknown language, then Tunic will become something brand new.
 
According to my Switch's play-time records, I've played Tunic for at least 45 hours. According to my save file, I've only played for a bit under 25 hours. Assuming the save file doesn't count the time I spent in the manual as play-time, I believe that means I dedicated around 20 hours to translating this game. Honestly, that sounds about right, too. I pulled out a brand new pocket-sized notebook specifically for this purpose, and overloaded it with notes, scribbles, and thoughts until I cracked the unknown language. I hadn't even fought the first mini-boss by the time I was recreating full pages of the manual in plain English, and I could not be stopped.

Tunic itself is a lot of fun, with plenty to do, a nice dose of challenge (with accessibility options for those who need them), and an excellently-crafted world to explore. That's not why I love it though. I don't think anything has ever made me want to write in a notebook so badly. Andrew Shouldice, Tunic's primary developer, somehow made an adventure game that acts as a linguistics simulator, making me feel more like I was playing with the Rosetta Stone than a sword and shield. I know that the puzzles held within this game are far less complex than the actual study of languages, but the high you get from solving this kind of mystery on your own is a powerful thing. Reinforcing that high is the rewarding knowledge contained within the pages that you now have full access to.

While the manual is stuffed with all kinds of lore, it also introduces even more mysteries and puzzles. If you truly want to beat Tunic, there are secrets hidden in plain sight all throughout the game that you'll need to uncover, most of which you probably wouldn't even notice if not for the manual. I was surprised to still be learning secrets about the game and its controls after dozens of hours spent exploring and translating, but they just keep coming! Even after you beat the game, there's still a whole ARG and even more to discover related to the game's actual files, if you want it. I decided against following that rabbit-hole, but I still feel like beating this game was a great accomplishment.

Now that I've seen how much fun I can have with a game because half of my time with it was spent with my nose in a notebook, I feel like there are so many other games that I have to put on my radar. I used to think that taking notes would detract from my experience playing video games, since I technically wouldn't be playing the actual game, but some of my play-sessions with Tunic didn't involve me booting up my Switch once, and I still had a ton of fun! The thrill of playing games is the opportunity to be something you aren't, or do something you couldn't normally do. In my case, I'm not a linguist nor a detective, and I don't think I could piece together a real language just from a few documents. However, with a fresh notebook and a copy of Tunic, I had one of the coolest video game experiences I can remember. Don't be afraid to take notes when you play a game, and do give Tunic a try.
The game is available for Steam here (as of 1/7/26): https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/
The game is available for Switch and Switch 2 here (as of 1/7/26): https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/tunic-switch/
The game is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S here (as of 1/7/26): https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/tunic/9nlrt31z4rwm
The game is available for PS4 and PS5 here (as of 1/7/26): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0406-PPSA03054_00-3390974934506823

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