I understand the mechanics that people love about Dark Souls, but I hate them.

For those who don't understand, Dark Souls worlds are brutal adventureworlds where savepoints also respawn all enemies, including bosses. Resources are scarce and limited. Each death causes you to lose most or all of your resources. Fans of Elden Ring love it for the same reasons I would never play it (without mods.)

The point of "Souls" games are to be very punishing, and often requires grinding out difficult bosses and grinding for OP weapons, which can be reset with one false step. I don't have time for that!

The worst part about Souls games is that I feel like they punish exploration and creativity.

Tunic though? Tunic does everything right.

Tunic is a very obvious homage to the Zelda series. I'd call it a "ripoff" but it does it better. As someone who's played nearly every Zelda game, I can confidently say they've learned lessons from every Zelda game, distilling it down to its very best elements. Tunic is going to go down as one of those shining gems of indie games

Tunic presents an extremely densely-woven world of mystery with absolutely no filler or grinding. It's a great game despite its Souls-like elements.

Tunic is forgiving and full of charm. Exploration is rewarding, there are no insta-deaths, and if there are, progress is reclaimed in minutes. From what I've seen so far, there is no tedium, there is no filler, and there is no grinding.

Each death loses you around 20 coins, which can be earned back, and the enemies have forgiving timing windows with attacks you can learn on your own without consulting GameFAQs YouTube.

(EDIT: To illustrate what I mean, I was curious to test if a mechanic would kill me. So I tried to die. Curiosity outweighed the cost of death! That's a good game!)

In addition to being the best Zelda game I've played, Tunic is also one of the best Metroidvanias. Seriously: It copies its aesthetics from Zelda and its gameplay elements, but the world design is more akin to Metroid. As a bonus, it's presented in an isometric style. I love isometric games purely for nostalgia reasons.

But the very best part of the game is this overarching sense of mystery. I'm several hours in and I still have no idea what it's about.

Tunic scratches itches that have long needed scratching, and scratches ones I didn't even know I had. And it's giving me a reason to appreciate "Souls-like elements."

I recommend Tunic very highly!

But not as highly as Outer Wilds!

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