Tunicis an indie game reminiscent ofThe Legend of Zeldafranchise that has generated quite a bit of buzz around itself since it was first announced. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but it does diverge from the classicThe Legend of Zeldaformula in a few ways. One of those is by the inclusion of two different endings, one that is considered bad and another that is considered good. Interestingly,Tunicplayers should probably go for the bad ending first if they want to get the full impact of the game.
Multiple endings are a common feature in video games, including theFromSoftware Soulsborne gamesthat also inspiredTunic. Sometimes, they come with a full-blown branching narrative that changes based on player decisions. Other times, the game remains mostly linear but changes if the player manages to get a certain achievement. Even more games simply offer a choice at the end that determines the outcome.Tunicuses the second variant, which is part of the reason that fans should go for the bad ending first.
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The Mechanical Approach to Multiple Endings
While the two endings have different thematic impacts and provide different conclusions toTunic’s story, there is another reason it’s recommended that fans should play the bad ending first. On a purely mechanical level, the two endings offer completely different experiences. The bad ending allows players to fight one last boss in a clash that drawsinspiration from FromSoftware’s Soulsborne catalog. Meanwhile, the good ending requires that players solve a game-long puzzle.
These two endings will naturally appeal to different kinds of players, but it’s possible that more gamers are inclined to enjoy climactic boss fights. After all, a big boss fight is a more popular way to end anaction game likeTunic. In other words, gamers should play the bad ending first because it hits more of the notes that players might expect from this title. It’s easier to enjoy the deviations from a formula after becoming familiar with the formula, after all.
An Inconvenient Truth
That said, there is a second reason gamers should play throughTunic’s bad ending first: it’s more convenient that way.Tunic’s gameplay and narrative intertwinein creative ways throughout the story, but this comes to a head in the good ending. Achieving the good ending is permanent, meaning that gamers who get it once will get it in every subsequent playthrough. On a narrative level, this is an incredibly powerful decision, but on a gameplay level, it can cause some problems. The biggest problem is simply that going for the good ending before the bad ending will prevent gamers from ever experiencing the bad ending.
If gamers can’t play through the bad ending, they are both robbed of the experience and locked out of an achievement. Fortunately, there is a way around this–clever gamers can edit their save file and remove the lock. However, this will still leave them with a completed save file, meaning they have no choice but tostartTunicover again.
In contrast, playing through the bad ending first will allow gamers to fight the boss and then take them right back to where they were before they chose an ending. This means that gamers can get both the bad and good endings in a single save file, but only if they play through the endings in that specific order. Gamers can even pick the bad ending repeatedly without endangering their overall progress and save file. In other words, players having some trouble getting the achievements required for the good ending can blow off steam by challenging the final boss between sessions of puzzle-solving.
Tunicis available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Game Pass.
