Fans of The Legends of Zelda have been watching the ongoing development of the action-adventure game Tunic for some time now. Developer Andrew Shouldice has been working on Tunic full-time for around six years now, teasing his progress with trailers and demos since 2018. It seems Shouldice is now reaching the apex of Tunic's development. During The Game Awards 2021, a new trailer for Tunic debuted that confirmed that the game would arrive on March 16, 2022.
The Game Awards 2021 trailer offered the deepest look at Tunic that fans have seen yet. The little fox in their green tunic that was first shown years ago is now shown to have quite the arsenal at their fingertips, necessary to meet the extraordinary challenges before them. It's likely that Tunic fans were expecting the trailer to end abruptly, much as previous Tunic trailers have over the past year or two. This time was different, however. The March 16, 2022 release date flashed at the trailer's end.
Those who may be seeing Tunic for the first time with its release date trailer at The Game Awards 2021 will likely be intrigued by its clear inspiration by classic The Legend of Zelda games. What may have been less apparent were Tunic's other inspirations. Tunic also takes clear influence from both the Dark Souls franchise, with its focus on exploration, in-world storytelling, and progression, and Fez.
The Fez influence is less obvious, but it's hidden at Tunic's seams. The most obvious connection is the clear message that there's more to Tunic than meets the eye. Shouldice has previously described the game as full of secrets. Whether it's Tunic's initially indecipherable language, the glowing magic that lurks just underneath, or deeper secrets that only Shouldice himself knows about – for now.
But while there is clearly a depth to Tunic that's perhaps not obvious from the trailer, what it is at its simplest deserves to be acknowledged, too. The Legend of Zelda games, and particularly The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, inspired a generation of gamers to fall in love with video games. Tunic shows a dedication to those classic Zelda games that are endearingly on the nose. It begs the question as to what Shouldice is really going to say about those games.
Now fans of The Legend of Zelda, Dark Souls, and Fez won't have to wait long to find out just what Shouldice has put together. The long wait had been rewarded as of The Game Awards 2021. Tunic has a release date and it's March 16, 2022.
Tunic releases March 16 on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.