After six months of exclusivity on Xbox (PC and Microsoft consoles), the adventure game of the TUNIC Team is exported to Sony and Nintendo consoles. A release rather expected on a personal level, since I was waiting for its arrival on Nintendo Switch to discover this title which made a lot of noise last March. At the time of writing these lines, I haven't finished the adventure yet, but I played 3 hours on Xbox and PC to see the main differences between the versions. Note also that an overview was produced by Kathlyn a few months ago, if you want another point of view, and a bit of complementarity.
We expected it after seeing the announcement trailer (which has the merit of being honest about the final rendering), but Tunic had to make some concessions to run properly on the transportable Japanese giant. Exit the 60 FPS to which we are entitled on PC, Xbox and Playstation, here, we are counting on 30 frames per second, which has the merit of being relatively stable. Apart from a few freezes that occur, surprisingly, during loading, and a few minor slowdowns when many enemies are on screen or when the camera zooms out which reveals a little more capacity, we have a game that knows how to be playable most of the time.
In addition to the question of the framerate, it should be noted that the resolution of the game is necessarily revised downwards, the same for the shadows. The main consequence of this is to make the game much less "brilliant" than on other media. Indeed, the chiseled light effects to which we were entitled on the other platforms are here attenuated, which changes the atmosphere of certain places a bit, and sometimes gives a somewhat blurred rendering. We also have slightly less rich textures and aliasing that we perceive quite strongly, the fault of a lot of rather angular decorative elements... stairs, vegetation, etc...
Besides the graphic aspect, Andrew Shouldice's game stands out for its very "soulesque" approach. We are, so to speak, on our own after waking up on an abandoned beach. And, after a little cryptic prophecy, we'll set off to wander in the hope of flushing out all the secrets of this world. This is also a point that can slow down many souls. The game may seem far too cryptic for the few quidams who arrive at the bend of a trailer promising a very cute game. In addition to being sometimes demanding in terms of its fights (the fault of distance management which requires time to adapt), the game cannot be easily deciphered, since we will find, on both sides adventure, "pages" of a manual to recover, as well as clues to decipher the exotic language of the universe of Tunic. Exploration and curiosity are the key words of this work, and we will always be fairly fairly rewarded, with equipment that we will find in the depths of a forest, for example, or a clue allowing us to understand a character of the language. .
Notably, the game has a few accessibility options, which considerably reduce the difficulty of the fights, with 2 welcome options for players who want to take it easy. The first is the "light" aid, which allows you to no longer consume the energy bar and therefore to be able to attack and dodge as you see fit, without ever having to wait for your energy to rise. The second aid pushes the concept further since it makes us basically invincible to any attack. I haven't given in to the sirens of no-fail yet, but I must admit that I've already activated the help that deactivates stamina management, and that relieves a lot of frustration!
Despite the sacrifices made, Tunic remains a very good action/adventure game, and this port clearly appears to be a successful port, especially when compared to many other ports inherited from Nintendo Switch. Here, without making a direct comparison between the consoles, we are left with an enchanting title, which will make our imagination work as well as our brains, as long as we embrace the philosophy of the game where we must learn everything by ourselves- same.
