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How did this effort pay off for Leap Game Studios? Right now Tunche is settling in around the 60s and 70s on the aggregate review sites for most platforms. While that’s not amazing, it’s not bad either. Tunche has a lot to offer even though it has flaws. What does Tunche do best right now and what are some things it could work on?
8 Best: An Interesting Twist On Two Genres
Tunche is a combination of a roguelike and a retro-styled beat ‘em up. There have been many roguelikes in the past decade popping up from indie developers but the brawler genre has not been as prevalent. That’s why Tunche felt like such a breath of fresh air.
A run in Tunche plays similarly to Hades with players choosing one of several gateways to jump into at the end of brawls. It’s good to learn from the best.
7 Worst: Long Path To Rewards
Tunche might be one of the toughest grinds in a roguelike in recent memory. That’s because the main upgrade currency, Essence, is only rewarded through certain doorways. Sometimes players might get lucky and get a few extra Essence points here and there but it is a rare phenomenon.
Tunche would be a lot more inviting if every monster defeated dished out Essence similar to how experience works in most RPGs. It would have provided players with a constant stream of rewards.
6 Best: Co-Op
The game is fairly balanced even though upgrading may take a while. That’s because players can even the odds with friends in couch co-op. Tunche supports up to four players, a feature that is quite rare for a roguelike.
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There are five characters in total to choose from and each one has its own quirks and specialties. Nayra, for example, wields a spear and her snake pet can shoot venom. She’s a great character for beginners since she has that long reach with her spear.
5 Worst: Lacking On Crossover Potential
Four of the five playable characters are original creations for the game. The solo guest character is Hat Kid from A Hat in Time, the 2017 platformer. While a crossover in an indie game is always appreciated, Hat Kid doesn’t fit in that well and her powers aren’t particularly unique.
4 Best: Art Style
The artwork in Tunche is some of the best in any indie game. It’s like a cartoon come to life. Sometimes the animations don’t look as fluid due to frame rate limitations but for the most part, the art sings in Tunche. The story for each character is presented in comic book panels which looks nice.
Overall, Tunche is just another example of 2021 being a good year for cartoon-infused indie games. Dodgeball Academia is a nice-looking indie game that deserves a mention as well.
3 Worst: Level Variety
The nice indie art in Tunche can only do so much when it comes to level variety. Even though players get a choice of which type of room they want to see next, most of them look the same. There are slight changes made to the backgrounds and lightning can sometimes differ but that’s about it.
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There isn’t much diversity even when there are direct stage shifts after beating bosses. Because of this lack of variety and because the upgrade paths are so steep, Tunche can feel repetitive quickly.
2 Best: Expanding Your Camp
Death is almost certain in this game as it is in most roguelikes. The nice thing about that is that there will usually be something waiting for players back at camp. A new NPC might get added with a shop, or NPCs might have some advice to share.
At some point, an event library will unlock so that players can relive moments of the story or check up on stats. That’s always nice to see in any game. The more people play and die, the bigger their camp will become.
1 Worst: Technical Issues
There are a few technical issues that hold Tunche back a bit. The load times might be the most egregious offense at least on the Switch. Dying and then waiting to load back in is never fun. It could be a lot snappier.
There aren’t many options to speak of either such as features to make the game more accessible for casual players. There isn’t even a difficulty menu. There’s also a weird bug in the menu that asks players to hit Y on the Switch to see Spiritual Cores. That’s seemingly a holdover from the Xbox One version though as the Switch’s prompt is actually X.
Tunche was released on November 2, 2021 and is available on PC, Switch, and Xbox One.
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