mysterious, often oblique, always interesting Tunic Known under a different name during its more than six years of development: Secret Saga. Game leader Andrew Shouldice is very candid about why. Games are about the attraction of the unknown, about the allure of the secret, about the attraction to the unseen.
Modern games use the word “secret” lightly; whether you’re collecting ravens in God of War or looking for skulls in Halo Infinite, the “secret” you’re after is often clearly communicated. You are directed to them. It’s a good game design that makes you feel like you got there on your own, but you’re often lured and drawn by an invisible hand.
-Major spoilers for Tunic ahead –
Tunics are not like that. Whether you’re sniffing out those golden bells in the old house – wondering why they’re so popular in the middle of the greens around it – or heading to the game’s last super-secret location, Tunic handles secrets differently. Rightfully so; it was named after them at one point.
But now — about two months after the game’s release, in the age of social media, forum posts, and video game guide sites — have all the secrets been revealed? I asked Shouldice himself.
“It would be a serious disservice to tell someone they’ve bleed all the joy and everyone can go home and have no fun,” he said. “People do a great job of finding a lot of things, but like a lot of creative work, there’s always something that’s right for us. In a sense. What’s meaningful to us, or what we’re hiding, not just Embedded in the game code…it’s just a little bit deeper than that.”
So what should we be looking for? “In my opinion, there are different secrets to how delicious they are,” explains Shouldice. “Your basic secret is hiding a little treasure in the corner, or when you don’t know how to open a door, and you open a door, and there’s a price in it. Better than that, you realize there’s more The game, you know? It’s more than I thought, and it actually raises more question marks – one question mark on a locked door replaced by many question marks. Maybe a whole new area to explore, Or a whole new direction.
“But the best secret for me is realizing that it’s not just a little bit added at the end, but that everything you see actually has a new dimension. Someone told me about their experience playing Tunic , they describe it as a viewing square. It feels like they’re playing a square, but then they realize they’re playing a cube, and it has this extra dimension, and these little collectibles have this fun little nostalgia trip, But – wait, no – there’s important information here. And then you realize again, there’s more – and it’s always in front of you!”
What many call the “final puzzle” in Tunic is presented after the main part of the game; by using certain in-game commands and solving incredibly subtle puzzles, you can unlock golden treasures. Unlock enough and you’ll open a portal to a mysterious new place; a place people call “the zig-zag tower”. While there may seem to be few here at first glance, if you spot some of the more obscure clues in the game manual, you’ll be taken to a specific URL.
Here, you’ll find a video of a Cthulu-like monster – whose eyes resemble the three keys you’d need to find in Tunic – and download it to an MP3 file via a website source. In addition to confirming that you “should be here” with a “thank you for playing” note, internet sleuths have also uncovered a mystery hidden in the waveform of an audio file (very branded by audio lead Kevin Regamy). The rune in the waveform roughly translates to “We are the eyes of the far shore”. Is this the end of Tunic’s story? It doesn’t sound like it.
“Glyph Tower is designed to help people realize that there is another dimension to this experience,” Shouldice tells me with a smile. “In a way, you could call it the Kevin dimension.” The audio supervisor and Shouldice exchanged a smirk during our Zoom call. “But there’s a little bit of thought – and it’s been hiding to let you experience it all – that’s my favorite secret.
“I love the idea of people being able to get to the ‘end of the game’ and then turn around and be able to see or hear the world with fresh eyes.”
It’s almost certain that Tunic has more secrets to give up for us. Please excuse me to restart the game and start recording all the sound effects, music and audio samples as I try to sniff out more shards of knowledge. I think that’s what the team wants.