Tunic is already shaping up to be one of the surprises of 2022. Like Elden Ring, Tunic is relentless in its difficulty and barely tells the player what to do. What makes Tunic difficult is that all written dialogue is in a fictional language. There’s a lot to decipher and discover for yourself, and it may seem off-putting to some. After playing Tunic this past weekend, I found there were a lot of aspects that I wish the game had told me from the start. Luckily I’ve been there so you don’t have to! The Tunic tips in this guide should make your experience more manageable.
Make offerings at shrines
Boss fights in Tunic are often infuriating. The overall objective is clear, but defeating your enemy is not made easy by its simplicity. Before most boss fights, your hero can rest in a shrine to replenish their abilities and health potions. In addition to this, shrines are used as checkpoints and as an upgrade point. Throughout your journey, chests can contain six types of items which are displayed at the bottom right of your inventory. By opening your inventory and selecting one of these items, you can spend gold to upgrade your hero. The six upgrades available are Health, Stamina, Magic, Potion Power, Attack Power, and Defense.
Collect the pages of the instruction manual
Remember the good old days when video games came with instruction manuals? Well, Tunic embraces that with love. Scattered throughout the various areas, broken pages begin to form the game’s manual as you collect them. None of the pages are in order, so each collected page is a mystery at first.
What’s great is that everything you need to know about Tunic is buried somewhere in the pages. The problem is the fictional language I mentioned earlier. Even with pages in hand, some of Tunic’s mechanics are hard to figure out. What’s great about the pages is that the maps for each dungeon and area can be discovered. Opening the manual while in a specific dungeon will show where you are on the map and many secret areas. Of all the Tunic tips, the man pages contain the most important.
The scavenger mask is your friend
Don’t be like me. I went to the quarry and was destroyed almost immediately. This area is full of Corrupted Essence which decreases your maximum HP in a very short time. I went to the quarry several times and tried to defeat the ruthless enemies to no avail. After going through my inventory, I equipped every item I had without knowing what they actually did. After trial and error, the Scavenger’s Mask’s trick was over. I entered the quarry, and suddenly my HP wasn’t erased. While there are enemies that will take chunks of your max HP if you get hit, the Scavenger’s Mask helps the player get through without worrying that every step will potentially be their last.
Sprinting does not drain your stamina
Tunic is the type of game where every maneuver can mean the difference between life and death. Pressing the A button and moving in a direction allows your hero to dodge an enemy attack. If you do this, part of your stamina meter begins to deplete. The game fails to mention that sprinting does not drain your overall stamina. After the initial use of stamina with the A button, continue to hold it down while moving and you will start running. Whether you use it to traverse the game world or to flee from powerful enemies, the sprint can actually be more advantageous to use than the traditional dodge roll.
Lockdown is also useful outside of combat
The left trigger allows players to lock onto enemies and other points of interest that you can tackle later in your adventure. But the same button has another fantastic function. Even if there are no enemies around, press the trigger and the camera perspective will change to an aerial view. The new isometric-style camera angles help in more ways than you might think. I often found myself lost in the larger estates of Tunic, or wondered how to access certain chests scattered across the world. Switching to this view helped me find secret areas, hidden chests, and even told me where I was when my character was out of focus. The locking mechanism doubles as a perspective shift that can be a lifesaver in ways I didn’t expect.
Here are some of the things the game doesn’t tell you about the tunic – hope the tips help! While you can explore and find things on your own, having guidance makes the overall experience a little less stressful. If you have any further questions or need more guidance, please leave a comment below.
