One of the best links to the isometric action-adventure game Tunic’s past is its manual, an in-game instruction booklet that gradually fills in as you explore. Inspired by the glossy manuals included with the game years ago, Tunic’s tome of information adds intricate illustrations, maps and tips to help you along your journey.
According to Tunic lead developer Andrew Shouldis, the game’s manual was designed to capture the sense of physicality you’d find in a booklet accompanying a classic 8-bit game. “It’s more fun to flip through something that feels like a real object,” Shouldis explained PS blog post. “We put extra effort into reproducing the patterns of old printing processes, even going as far as the visible staples in the middle of the book.”
To capture the feel of a manual that had become somewhat tattered after years of flipping through it, Shouldis created a real-world version of the booklet and proceeded to fold, tear, tape and stain it. With some authentic battle damage on the prototype, each page was scanned individually and used as a canvas for detailed illustrations explaining the tunic’s more complex mechanics.
In case you missed it, Tunic will be available on September 27 on Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PS4. It received a 9/10 in GameSpot’s Tunic review, with Richard Wakeling writing that it “harks back to the 8- and 16-bit era to present a vibrant and colorful world that also offers a fiendishly difficult challenge.”
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