As we enter the post-E3-haze and come down from our respective video game highs, we’re faced with one very simple question: what do we play now? We’ve got an amazing lineup of games coming over the next few months and into next year, but what can we sink our teeth into now to tide us over? Well, Xbox thought of that and they decided to give gamers a week-long session filled with demos for upcoming indie games available on all Xbox consoles for no charge.

One of the highest-profile games on the list is Andrew Shouldice’s Tunic, a charming, isometric adventure starring an intrepid, young fox in a familiar-looking outfit on a journey to do… something. I dove into the Tunic demo this week and came away impressed and delighted with this charming, intricate, and difficult little game.

Gameplay

The demo begins with our main character waking up on an isolated beach with nothing save for the clothes on their back. I was immediately inundated with the game’s beautiful soundtrack, a steady, plucking beat that combines the tones one might hear at a day spa with the exciting thrums of The Legend of Zelda, a franchise Tunic clearly draws inspiration from.

The game looks not unlike the Link’s Awakening remake Nintendo put out a few years ago, a design choice that works in Tunic’s favor. Furthermore, how the demo introduces your first weapon is a clear homage to Nintendo’s storied franchise. I won’t spoil anything, but I will just say that it’s dangerous to go alone!

One of the first items you can interact with appears to be a scrap of an old gaming magazine, a fun nod to the influences that shape Tunic while offering a stripped-down tutorial of sorts. I appreciate what Shouldice did here as this demo functions as a “remix of the main game, letting you see a couple of areas and find a few treasures,” the most important word there being “remix.”

When the game finally does launch I think we can expect the introductory area to look similar but not exactly the same as this demo, leaving some surprises intact. What Tunic shows off best in this little slice is its ability to leverage mystery to force the player to simply try everything. Text boxes pop up when interacting with certain items, but the words are incomprehensible.

Instead, Tunic expects you to rely not just on your prior knowledge of video game systems but also on your ability to accept failure as part of the game’s learning curve. It encourages experimentation, a quality I found thoroughly enjoyable and surprising. Who doesn’t love throwing a random, blue bottle at an enemy only to discover that it’s a freeze bomb?

Combat in Tunic can be frenetic, but you’ll need to be very precise with how you approach certain enemies. In a surprising twist, Tunic borrows heavily from the popular Soulsborne style of gameplay where any enemy can spell your demise if you’re not careful. There’s also a stamina bar that depletes when blocking attacks or rolling out of the way, and if you do happen to die you respawn at the last checkpoint you visited minus all of your collected wealth.

When you save at one of these checkpoints by choice it will reset the world, bringing all your conquered foes back to life. If you can make it back to the spot where you last died you’ll have the opportunity to reclaim your lost money, but only if you don’t fall again before you get there. Otherwise, all the loot is gone forever.  

As I made my way through the demo I found new enemy types and variants that dramatically changed up my approach to fighting. I played through the entire thing twice and still found myself struggling to adapt to some of their tactics. Some, like these spiky little guys who spit needles for a ranged attack, are pretty easy to predict and takedown.

Others, like the auto-turrets or skull bats, offer a more challenging battle style that requires liberal and creative use of your shield and dodge roll. Just make sure you keep an eye on your stamina gauge; if you deplete it you’ll be a sitting duck for any monster who wants to take a piece out of you.  

Expectations

It’s hard to tell what kind of story Tunic intends to tell with such a limited look at the overall game, but the mysteries and secrets embedded in this demo only make me even more enthusiastic about the final product. My first playthrough clocked in at around 45 minutes to an hour so there’s a significant amount of content here to dig into, but even with that much time spent in the game I still managed to find new secrets on my second time through.

In the very first area, I stumbled on a secret side path that leads to a giant stone door with inscrutable carvings in its face. Before I could get close, however, a giant bone monster awakened and came after me with a massive hammer. He chased me across half the map before squishing me into the ground directly in front of a checkpoint.

Verdict

This is the best example of what a demo should be: a brief look at a game that still somehow captures everything the game is trying to do. There are areas and monsters and locked doors you can’t even reach in this demo, titillating little sprites just on the other side of a locked gate or across a ruined bridge. There’s even a giant, golden door that simply says “SEALED FOREVER” when you try to open it. What’s behind that door? Why was it sealed forever? And why is this fox so stylishly dressed?

I’m confident Tunic will answer all of these questions (maybe not the last one) and many more when it finally releases. Until then I think I’ll go spend a little more time with that bone giant, see if maybe I can just convince him to let me pass. It could work, right?