For old-school Zelda fans, Tunic scratched an itch that we've all had since the early days of the franchise. A cutsey character with a sword and shield in Zelda-esque gameplay - it was always bound to garner attention from the lovers of Hyrule as we like to be called in close-knit circles, but it became a huge hit for Isometricorp with gamers all over the world.
But what would it look like if Tunic had come out at the same time as Zelda, or if Tunic had been Zelda back in the day, and Link actually was a little Fox? One game developer seems to have taken it upon themselves to answer this question single-handedly, after already having completed a Game Boy Colour version of the game.
Zeerust is back with another concept demo of the game, this time taking inspiration from mid 1980's gaming aesthetics. The game says 'mid-1980s', but it looks very much as though it's based on a Famicom title from the graphics and the box art. Tunic lends itself to the retro gaming world so well - I wouldn't be surprised to see this in a retro gaming store in Akihabara!
The demake is available to either download to play on an emulator like Delta or Afterplay, or you can run it straight from your browser. It's very similar to Zeerust's Pocket Tunic concept, except it has more of an 80s feel to the graphics and gameplay. Everything is super simple with block colours like the 'good old days' before Terraflops and people complaining about their ping. It feels very much like
The controls are simple, and while the game is short, I just like the fact that people like Zeerust get these ideas into their heads and see them through to completion, just because. As I've said before, sometimes we don't need any more reason than that!
Head to Itch.io to check it out for yourself!
