We all know THAT scene in Tunic, but what's really going on at the bottom of the Ziggurat? Is the heir responsible or is the air poisoned? I also just noticed another interesting connection in the Cathedral...we're definitely heading there in the future. Join in on more Lore here: ruclips.net/channel/UCZiCI57OIjGhQmJ_-WFGrrw
Perhaps! We have a discord where we catalogue all of the community’s research in one place, and we have a dedicated channel for the ghost fox translations. Here is the discord invite if you’re interested: discord.gg/HNG5Mb6T
Re: "Being near [a cavity] doesn't hurt." The Manual consistently refers to your health, and at least once or twice the health of others, as your "will to go on". It seems that the miasma and poisoned creatures really don't hurt the Ruin Seeker's _body_ at all, it's just that taking in the miasma in any way, shape, or form is _so_ depressing that eventually the poor little guy can get hit _once_ and just decide to lay down and succumb to the injury.
Also with stamina, “Everything hurts more when I’m tired!” So hurts more as in mentally? I guess it is easier to feel more depressed when your mind is just exhausted.
They also drop some blue magic/soul orbs when activated and then slam down. About as many as killing one produces, in fact. And there are so many they could probably be replaced after the next ruin seeker cycle, so their production might even be temporary…
@@JessZakillynot sure if you know about this, so sorry if you do - but if you take the music, and reduce some of the mid and high frequencies, that leaves a nice little cushion for voice over to fit into. Volume balance is a big part of it, but the Bass in the music usually can stay up if the mids and highs are turned down in your software! 🙌
No matter where it may be, if you encounter one of those purple ghosts that doesn't attack(yes even on the elevator going down surrounded by them) and you choose to pray they will all begin to watch you intently.
Idk if anybody else has encountered this but warly in the game when i was in the ruine atoll i saw a miasma spider. It came out of the water between the part you teleport to on the left side by the envoy. It didn't attack. Instead it ran off to the left out of sight. I think it is just meant to be a teaser of what was to come
The spider is only there the very first time you walk by that area, and runs off never to be seen again. I wonder if you wait til dash to go there if you can catch it?
Dang, that 'heir' - 'air' pun is so freaking clever. So much thought put into every detail of this game. Loving the videos! Keeping em' coming. Maybe the next one can be on the Shopkeeper?
Seeing the creatures getting crushed into the obelisks was pretty weird. But when they noticed me and started to screech? I felt kinda sad for their race's use in the present. Not when they attacked me in the Cathedral and Monastery, though >:(
A small part of the cavities reducing the ruin seeker's health: The section about increasing strength mentions that when they make an offering to the heir, they're given "delusions" of strength, so are the cavities instilling hopelessness by forcing them to recognize that their strength isn't real?
This doesn't work entirely, as the golden stats are implied to be about the seeker recognising their own inner strength, rather than that of the false hope of the heir, and you can still take miasma damage with gold HP.
Also a really awesome point! I read the golden stats to be more like “remembering true self,” ie the true power the original hero had before discovering the forbidden power. The untainted version of the heir’s power. If this were the case, it makes sense why it’s still affected by the miasma, because it’s still able to be tainted like it was originally. Of course, this is all definitely up to interpretation!
Because it's too short probably only 5 hours of gameplay. It's dosn't offer epic combat, abillity and long adventure as Zelda or Kirby has. Oh Zelda doesn't need you to solve complicated hidden puzzle like this game as its replay values. Some gamer feeling not worth of penny.
Because it's too short probably only 5 hours of gameplay. It's doesn't offer epic combat, abillity and long adventure as Zelda, Souls or Kirby have. Oh Zelda doesn't need you to solve complicated hidden puzzle as its replay values. Some gamer felt it's not worth of penny.
When I first saw the creatures imprisoned in the sarcophagi I straight up cried. Since I perceived the miasma and the fluid as the product of harvesting them for fuel, I believed that the spider creatures that crawl out of the fluid to be pure corrupt reconstitutions of the souls that comprise the miasma.
So around 8:40 you say that the miasma creature that disappeared from the cathedral is the same one we fight in the monastery, but to me it seemed more like the creature that we fight had stepped out of the cracked obelisk, just outside the room.
Where did the crucified one go if it’s not the one we fight later? I think that’s the implication for the player to make, is that “oh shit where did that crucified one go… I bet I’ll have to fight it at some point” and then BOOM that fear finally pays off
One thought about the miasma in the cathedral (6:40 ish), the instruction manual page for the cathedral describes the hexagon pool in the eastmost room as a "baptismal font", implying they were doing more than just drinking the stuff.
at 1:13: have you notice that purple create sometime screams while its being encased in the obelisks? (its random for each one showing up just wait and you'll see one starts to screaming) thats another detail i notice on my second visit to that place (trying to go through the ziggurat for 2nd time to see if there some place reachable by dashing after the cathredal) because on first one i dont see they screams and thought just same so i continued in my opinion, they looked like panicking right after they woken up as if they didnt want to being encased
Yep, I think the first or second one I saw did. I stood there for a minute and literally, actually, felt a bit sick to my stomach. Then I got to the bottom of the ziggurat, and felt sick all over again.
The description for the Cavity described it as an effect of "exposed fossil", and the Cavities occur at various breaches in the sarcophagi "pipes". Earlier in the Instruction Booklet, on Page 3, it describes "fossils of self" having been discovered, which we now believe to be the Void-Touched. The Void-Touched, of course, are entombed within the sarcophagi, which draws some sort of power from them to enable the Grace Altars. It seems clear to me that the fossil being "exposed" is the same as the "fossils of self", that is, the Void-Touched, though whether it refers to the literal Void-Touched themselves or to a sort of "fossil energy" is unclear.
My unanswered questions: - If there are twisted miasma creatures inside of the obelisks, then why are the obelisks full of crystals when the scrappers break them apart? Do the creatures turn into crystals when the obelisk is activated? - Why do you receive environmental "willpower sapping" when walking through the lower quarry, yet NOT when you're inside of the Ziggurat, even when surrounded by all the ooze? (Seriously, you can take your mask off in there and you're fine). Or, for that matter, when you're in the quarry at night, when it's covered by a massive ocean of ooze? I have a theory about this. I think the ooze itself doesn't sap your HP bar -- the crystals do. Or perhaps it's some chemical reaction between the crystals and the ooze. You might notice that the ooze is bright purple, but the harmful miasma is black with a purple glow, which suggests it is somehow different after it has come in contact with black crystals. And the crystals could be just remnants of the twisted creatures after they have been "activated" by prayer. This explains why miasma creatures sap your willpower (they are living creatures who have drunken the ooze), and why broken ley lines also sap your willpower (as they carry ooze through activated obelisks, which have creatures/crystals in them). The lower quarry is covered in crystal dust and therefore saps your willpower, but standing beside an ocean of ooze does nothing. The theme song of the quarry is called "Carbon Harvest". The scrappers must have a reason to recover the activated crystals. Perhaps if you dump crystal dust into the giant ooze vat, that's how you get the twisted miasma creatures to rematerialize, giving you renewable energy?
Great video! I'd like to point out that fossils is in general the term that the game uses to describe the obelisk fox creatures, like reported in the second history/lore panel. (the fossils, annealed visioon of the future). This goes back to the theory that actually the monoliths are the fox people themselves, just in a cyclical way, after the crack in the canonical plane forced the "old ones to become their predestined self", to then the cycle restarting and them rediscovering them, and finding the "origin of life"therein
True. There is also one other instance of the word “fossil”, which refers to the dark purple crystals in the quarry. The illustration for the panel on page 4 implies the crystal is a byproduct of the miasma foxes. I think these crystals are a big part of the puzzle too…the Cathedral’s architecture shows the Heir holding these crystals and (I have to double check but) the swords the zombie-like foxes use seem to be made of a similar material. 🤔
This is great! I just finished the game and was immediately curious about what the manual actually said and the lore behind it. Perfect timing to find this video and your channel!
Just as some creatures release mana when they die as you strike them with their sword, the corrupted foxes, overwhelmed by miasma, die within their sarcophagi after being prayed to by the ruin seeker, as their life is converted into power, and mana is left behind atop it.
Thank you so much for making this video! I wish that it was 40+ minutes long😂 I was getting comfy and ready to strap in for a deep dive. This still gave me a lot of fulfillment having it all laid out here, but there are still so many damn questions in my head 😅 Have you thought more about this topic, or more answers have been uncovered a year later?
My current theory is that the truth they discovered is that they are a video game. The Librarian knew this through his research but was unable to do anything about it because he did not have access to the Holy Cross. But you do. The question currently is, does the second language discovered in the music hide any essential plot? Or is the jokey dialog with the faeries the most it'll uncover?
No plot in ARG that I’ve seen, but have we as a community found it all? The devs are very quiet about where the ceiling is so we have no idea! Most of the ARG/trunic findings are cool Easter eggs, but not very plot focused so far. I love your theory! What clues would point them in that direction I wonder. Could it be somehow the save files themselves are canon and that’s how they realized?
@@JessZakilly he has drawings of game carts on his black boards. He knew what to do, but no way to do it. The relic required to do it exists in another reality, our reality. The golden cross is the controller. I don't know how far the sound translation has progressed, but I'm sure the title screen music has something. I can hear it. But I don't have the training to know what note is what key.
You’re right, but how does the Librarian know? What was the clue that led him to believe the universe is a cartridge? That’s what I’m on a mission to find out. The official Finji discord has a compilation of what’s been found in the tones of the music and other sound effects. You can find the discord link on the Tunic game website if interested. :)
being around the miasma and letting it drain your health down since it cant kill you, if you back out of the game to the main menu, the menu turns redish pink like the miasma when you are in that state.
What a great video! I haven't seen someone who talked about Tunic lore at this level of detail. Please, keep doing this! Would love to eventually see your interpretation about the whole history of this game
Hey! Just saw my comment featured. Nice! Your channel is definitely the best I've seen regarding Tunic. Everyone else is satisfied with surface level lore.
Thank you! The best part of Tunic is the same feeling of community similar to older games where we would share hints on the school yard about a breakable wall if you put a bomb in exactly the right spot
I just beat the game today, good ending via the help of some guides because I'm no good at puzzles, but naturally I needed some lore insight. Have loved each video you've put up so far and have dropped a sub. Can't wait to see some more from you!
The more I dig into Tunic's lore, the more I think that the magic in this game has something terribly "wrong" Yes, we can use some man made artifacts to use it (from basic stuff to high end technology like the shotgun), but the true essence of magic is something that creeps me out.
Probably th original magic of the world was "the golden path" and "Holy Cross", but the lore suggests that Holy Cross was abandoned after the new power source was found in the miasma. Seeing as obelisk-powered "infrastructure" is often installed over old places
just to add a theory I have... (which contains some spoilers...so you have been warned). There's a chalkboard in the library that shows a picture of a game cartridge with the runic words above it saying "The Universe" The story of this game, and the world you are adventuring in, is literally the remains of a game world that has been corrupted and semi-abandoned by the inhabitants of the game... both player characters and NPCs who have become self-aware. My theory is that the ziggurat is actually a physical part of the game cartridge that is manifested in the game world. As anyone who works with data/PCs knows when you delete something it's never completely gone. I think the ziggurat houses all the deleted games in the cartridge. These are the purple miasma foxes... and the purple miasma liquid is the unretrievable deleted information... the stuff that is just too corrupted. The ziggurat is supposed to contain them, but at some point, the fox society (potentially a much older version of it) learned that they were an unlimited source of power... and, since they persist beyond being deleted, the miasma must be a way to defy death. I believe this is the case because of the RGB pixels on the obelisks, which match the RGB symbols on the bosses, which are confirmed by the fox spirits in the game to be the original guards of the palace... so the RGB hexes are a symbol of their culture. The original hero who discovered this and gave birth to the new religion, became the first heir... the shadow oubliette being designed to keep the ever growing flood of miasma at bay. But being a game, new heroes always come... and always reach the end, only to become the next heir.
Great video! I haven't seen anyone go into this much detail into the lore of the game, it's nice to get some of my questions answered! Also maybe turn down the music a bit next time it's a little hard to hear you speaking
I started playing Tunic last week and i was absolutely floored as i stumbled upon 'this World below'. So glad someone does Videos about the lore, its so fascinating to me.
The healthbar in the game is actually translated to represent your current will. So no the fossils don't hurt, but make you feel hopeless and lose your will to live
Came in through the back entrance to quarry for first time, not knowing about the other entrance. Only got the mask at the bottom which made it pretty tough. Then got to the quarry door and nothing happened. Took me literally hours, since I just backtracked, not seeing the hidden paths to get to the other side initially 😂 great video!
What I want to know is why does praying to the obelisks activate them? Kneeling before them and paying them respects feels like it should have a positive outcome and yet it is heavily implied that the creatures inside die (they leave behind motes of magic, something that only happens when you kill certain creatures). Not only that, but according to the Tunenic translation of their noises but they repeat "Who? Who? Who?" over and over when you activate them. Why do we pray to them? Why do we kill them? Are they relieved to be killed? Or are they scared?
I don't think the 'miasma creatures' were in the zigguarat all along, i think what was discovered down there was a method of tapping into the life force of the fox people, and exploiting it, then the underground was used to sacrifice fox people into those drained miasma beings and entomb them in sarcofogus. i assumed the horrific potential of that power was discovered did they start entombing those creatures, not that they existed there all along but i could be wrong.. it seems more like a sacrificial exploitation of a creature that was never originally like that
oh dang i just thought the purple fox died (and was connected to the obelisk that you shut down in the cathedral), and not that it escaped to the monastery
Aren't the friendly Hushers those little chicks on the ruined atoll that always run away and never attack? (but you can still kill them and get nothing)
For future reference, you might wanna turn the background music down in your videos. Makes it hard to hear what you’re saying. Great video tho, been trying to dive into Tunic’s lore
Ok so, I'm still learning Tunic's lore and while I've only beaten the game once, I always interpreted the battle as a cycle. Mind you I never translated the runes, but for the Librarian I actually referred to him as "Tunic's" (I name the Ruin Seeker we play as that for simplicities sake) Father of sorts. The reason I thought this was it made sense, why go through the effort of making respawn points, hero graves, and experimenting with the obelisks and risking the Miasma infecting you. Also the Music had a lot to say being a slow piano, as if this was a sad moment. He's also the only Ruin Seeker outside of The Heir that we see (Ironically The Heir being Tunic's mom is also something I believe)
I love how this game is ambiguous enough that we have to put our heads together as a community to figure everything out! The music is such an important context clue, like you mentioned and the sad tone of the beginning makes you think the librarian is more than just a random boss. My theories on the Librarian are slightly different but this is why I love this game, we can all interpret it differently and still enjoy it. I made a video about my thoughts on the Librarian, if you’re interested, check it out here -> ruclips.net/video/FnbC5IxJygg/видео.html
@@JessZakilly I saw that, and I never noticed the game cartridge on the board, but looking back there were some hints he had been to the Quarry, also quick thing, do you think he know the Scavenger Boss (personally my fav boss), probably not as she compared to the Librarian she seems to be way more of a brute (she literally kicks you when you are down)
Yes! She’s very mysterious because the translations about her don’t hint at much. For a while I was tossing around the idea that the Librarian maybe hired her to help him excavate/steal the blue key, but I haven’t found any evidence to support it, so I’m back to square one with her. The Scavenger boss is definitely on my radar though too!
@@JessZakilly My personal theory is she's sorta mob boss and the Scavengers are from a different land, specifically beyond the mountain door. They are like a invasive species, taking the obelisks for themselves, and trying to harness them. We cannot go to their land, as the game has no in universe (aka files) renders of them, just their species. In my eyes, this explains the advanced technology that's beyond anything else, only 2 guns exist the automatic we can find, and the revolvers those reaper things have. Basically what I'm saying is, The Scavengers come from a different land, or maybe a different game entirely, entering through something like the Megadrive Cartridges did with Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles
You know, I didn't realize that the manual blatantly lied to you about the miasma not hurting until I saw the clip of it draining your max hp AND your hp at the same rate right after you read the manual page.
Maybe this ancient civilization discovered that in our reality, they were part of a game? Maybe we are the ancient gods, and the miasma is a leak between realities. It's an endless cycle because hundreds of thousands of people played the game, which repeats the story indefinitely. Buy discovering the truth, the protagonist shared it with the heir and stopping the cycle. At least in one timeline
What did you mean by the spiders resembling creatures entombed in the obelisks? 👀 I’ve just beat the game and have been so invested in the lore; and it’s great finding a video this well researched 👌
The Heir is definitely connected to the miasma, during my playthrough on a livestream (ill post the streams later this year or next year as per completed stream video but i also streamed many other games so the evidence is late) i have wrongly speculated that the heir and the miasma where one and the same or that the miasma creatures was under the control of the heir. i also incorrectly suspected that there was an evil deity and that it was the reason for the heirs imprisonment. i also took the sword from the grave heartlessly because i am not a good person (that was a portal joke, but i can be a heartless wardroid in videogames)
I'm wondering why only the power lines at the ruined atoll have miasma fluid inside them, while the broken lines everywhere else in the world do not leak any such fluid
What’s with these kinds of indie games and having some kind of abyss darkness area like hollow knight this game and a few others I can’t remember the name of
This is quite an odd reading of the game… it’s a form of wilful formalism being forcefully applied to a postmodern text… and I feel as if I’m seeing this increasingly (which is not to say more of it’s being made; just that I’m seeing it)… It’s a little bit worrying as it feels like we aren’t comfortable with the self-awareness of media. Instead we feel this desire to establish deep canon and lore instead of considering how texts relate to structural issues. Perhaps I missed it but, do you consider the ‘holy cross’ simply being the d-pad? How the librarian is aware of its existence on a cartridge (that was never there)? The many hand scribbled notes or the existence of the game manual at all? The need to use a phony save file to complete the game? How do these self-aware and postmodern elements of the game fit into discussions of the game’s canon and lore? Do people not like thinking about what games mean in relation to reality? To gaming culture and economics? Shifting trends in player preferences?
There is actual lore. The world of Tunic is not a metanarrative allegory. It just so happens to canonically take place within a video game. The world within the cartridge is real.
It isn’t real though. Climate change is real. Israel and Palestine are real. We’re real. The role of videogames in shaping human communication is real. The political implications of a text discussing and allowing both cycles of violence and peaceful communication as its climax is real. The political implications of humans deciding to discuss the formal aspects of that text instead of its political implications… And all of that is so much more interesting than the ultimately disappointing overthinking required to imagine this story as not being the product of collective human imaginations networked together at a specific point in history.
@@cmck1777 Plenty of people are more than aware of the holy-cross being a d-pad and other stuff you mentioned. The video's author has mentioned meta elements before. Even then, the game has lore, like Dreamers said. Of course people are going to dive into deep cannon when the developers make a game that, ya know, encourages you to investigate the lore they made. More narrative analysis would be cool but this clearly isn't the channel for it.
When you first go through the Ruined Atoll, you see one of those Miasma spiders crawling on a distant island out of the screen sights. Not sure if it makes a return but has some implications for the Atoll I think
Interesting reference: 'The Farthest Shore' Was a book by Ursula Le Guin in which the farthest shore refers to the realm beyond death. It was a very popular book and the third in the Earthsea saga!
Earthsea is on my TBR List. I have heard nothing but good things about the series, but did not know that! Books are another favorite hobby of mine so I will move it up on the list
After you activate an obelisk, a couple of MP refills pop out of it. The only time this happens is when you defeat an enemy. Therefore whenever you activate an obelisk/sarcophagus, you are -killing- the creature inside it to generate power. The obelisks then are a kind of horrible battery with an infinite shelf life-the immortal creature inside will live forever until the power is needed.
The first time I ventured to the bottom of the Ziggurat & witnessed the creatures imprisoned inside the obelisks, a sense of uneasiness came over me and I had to record it. I swear the thing looked at me and screamed. I stood and waited as two additional creatures were locked inside the obelisk and I promise the other two didn't make a sound or look at the Ruin seeker (me).
pink miasma is the symbol of creation (thats why you fight strange creatures before the blue key boss) and dark/purple miasma is the symbol of power (the cute birds becoming very agressive and the alligators becoming stronger)
I find it very curios that the crystals in the manual are represented as black tears in reality. Maybe wherever the 'radiation' is, whatever made the manual can't see into?
that moment, when you get to the facility with the conveyour belt was so horrifying, that i would stand there for a minute just to hold myself together. same goes with the elevator with all the skulls... this game twist your sanity so hard and unexpected... "for them, we are nothing more, than THIS: #[Duracell]
Very interesting! Sadly, your voice is often covered by the volume of the music. Is there a way to re-publish a clean mix without re-publishing the video? Otherwise great work! Keep going!
Actually there are friendly birds in the ruined atof. There are some birds that don't attack you and just run away. Likely these exact same birds drank the miama and become corrupted.
We all know THAT scene in Tunic, but what's really going on at the bottom of the Ziggurat? Is the heir responsible or is the air poisoned? I also just noticed another interesting connection in the Cathedral...we're definitely heading there in the future.
Join in on more Lore here: ruclips.net/channel/UCZiCI57OIjGhQmJ_-WFGrrw
Are you going to make a video of translating what the ghost foxes are saying?
Perhaps! We have a discord where we catalogue all of the community’s research in one place, and we have a dedicated channel for the ghost fox translations. Here is the discord invite if you’re interested: discord.gg/HNG5Mb6T
Re: "Being near [a cavity] doesn't hurt."
The Manual consistently refers to your health, and at least once or twice the health of others, as your "will to go on". It seems that the miasma and poisoned creatures really don't hurt the Ruin Seeker's _body_ at all, it's just that taking in the miasma in any way, shape, or form is _so_ depressing that eventually the poor little guy can get hit _once_ and just decide to lay down and succumb to the injury.
Yes! I agree completely! Love this
Also with stamina, “Everything hurts more when I’m tired!”
So hurts more as in mentally? I guess it is easier to feel more depressed when your mind is just exhausted.
That’s a really good point
The red bar - what would be called health in another game - is will, the green bar is vigor and the blue is soul. That's what they're called in Tunic.
Lie down* not "lay down."
For me, the sound those Obelisks make when they are opened up freaks me out. Like it's in pain.
They also drop some blue magic/soul orbs when activated and then slam down. About as many as killing one produces, in fact. And there are so many they could probably be replaced after the next ruin seeker cycle, so their production might even be temporary…
The music is a little loud, its a bit hard to hear your voice. but this is a fantastically detailed video! Love it!
Thanks for the feedback and kind words!
@@JessZakillynot sure if you know about this, so sorry if you do - but if you take the music, and reduce some of the mid and high frequencies, that leaves a nice little cushion for voice over to fit into.
Volume balance is a big part of it, but the Bass in the music usually can stay up if the mids and highs are turned down in your software! 🙌
No matter where it may be, if you encounter one of those purple ghosts that doesn't attack(yes even on the elevator going down surrounded by them) and you choose to pray they will all begin to watch you intently.
Which purple ghosts? The skinny fox god things?
Idk if anybody else has encountered this but warly in the game when i was in the ruine atoll i saw a miasma spider. It came out of the water between the part you teleport to on the left side by the envoy. It didn't attack. Instead it ran off to the left out of sight. I think it is just meant to be a teaser of what was to come
The spider is only there the very first time you walk by that area, and runs off never to be seen again. I wonder if you wait til dash to go there if you can catch it?
Dang, that 'heir' - 'air' pun is so freaking clever. So much thought put into every detail of this game. Loving the videos! Keeping em' coming. Maybe the next one can be on the Shopkeeper?
I’m so glad you mentioned the shopkeeper, that was what sparked my interested into the lore! I must know the shopkeeper’s story!!
Just like ruin/rune seeker
@@julianlak1017 Oh yeah! Good catch
Seeing the creatures getting crushed into the obelisks was pretty weird. But when they noticed me and started to screech? I felt kinda sad for their race's use in the present. Not when they attacked me in the Cathedral and Monastery, though >:(
A small part of the cavities reducing the ruin seeker's health: The section about increasing strength mentions that when they make an offering to the heir, they're given "delusions" of strength, so are the cavities instilling hopelessness by forcing them to recognize that their strength isn't real?
Oh! I love this! That’s a really good point
This doesn't work entirely, as the golden stats are implied to be about the seeker recognising their own inner strength, rather than that of the false hope of the heir, and you can still take miasma damage with gold HP.
Also a really awesome point! I read the golden stats to be more like “remembering true self,” ie the true power the original hero had before discovering the forbidden power. The untainted version of the heir’s power. If this were the case, it makes sense why it’s still affected by the miasma, because it’s still able to be tainted like it was originally. Of course, this is all definitely up to interpretation!
I think it makes sense that if delusions of grandeur can give power, than feelings of hopelessness can sap it
How isnt everyone raving about this game and its lore? Tunic is truly one of the deepest rabbit holes in gaming. Thank you SO MUCH for making these.
That’s what I’m saying! I love how layered this game is, truly a masterpiece
I just think back to Undertale and everyone scrambling to find all it's secrets. I'd argue this game has FAR deeper ones, so yea it is odd.
Because it's too short probably only 5 hours of gameplay. It's dosn't offer epic combat, abillity and long adventure as Zelda or Kirby has. Oh Zelda doesn't need you to solve complicated hidden puzzle like this game as its replay values.
Some gamer feeling not worth of penny.
Because it's too short probably only 5 hours of gameplay. It's doesn't offer epic combat, abillity and long adventure as Zelda, Souls or Kirby have. Oh Zelda doesn't need you to solve complicated hidden puzzle as its replay values.
Some gamer felt it's not worth of penny.
@@arik2216only 5 hours? It took me 35 hours and that's bc I couldn't even beat the heir 😮
When I first saw the creatures imprisoned in the sarcophagi I straight up cried. Since I perceived the miasma and the fluid as the product of harvesting them for fuel, I believed that the spider creatures that crawl out of the fluid to be pure corrupt reconstitutions of the souls that comprise the miasma.
You’re not alone in that theory about the corrupt spiderlike creatures
So around 8:40 you say that the miasma creature that disappeared from the cathedral is the same one we fight in the monastery, but to me it seemed more like the creature that we fight had stepped out of the cracked obelisk, just outside the room.
I’m confused about which one is where lol. But the one being crucified is the one we fight later right??
Where did the crucified one go if it’s not the one we fight later?
I think that’s the implication for the player to make, is that “oh shit where did that crucified one go… I bet I’ll have to fight it at some point” and then BOOM that fear finally pays off
One thought about the miasma in the cathedral (6:40 ish), the instruction manual page for the cathedral describes the hexagon pool in the eastmost room as a "baptismal font", implying they were doing more than just drinking the stuff.
at 1:13: have you notice that purple create sometime screams while its being encased in the obelisks? (its random for each one showing up just wait and you'll see one starts to screaming)
thats another detail i notice on my second visit to that place (trying to go through the ziggurat for 2nd time to see if there some place reachable by dashing after the cathredal) because on first one i dont see they screams and thought just same so i continued
in my opinion, they looked like panicking right after they woken up as if they didnt want to being encased
Yep, I think the first or second one I saw did. I stood there for a minute and literally, actually, felt a bit sick to my stomach. Then I got to the bottom of the ziggurat, and felt sick all over again.
The description for the Cavity described it as an effect of "exposed fossil", and the Cavities occur at various breaches in the sarcophagi "pipes". Earlier in the Instruction Booklet, on Page 3, it describes "fossils of self" having been discovered, which we now believe to be the Void-Touched. The Void-Touched, of course, are entombed within the sarcophagi, which draws some sort of power from them to enable the Grace Altars. It seems clear to me that the fossil being "exposed" is the same as the "fossils of self", that is, the Void-Touched, though whether it refers to the literal Void-Touched themselves or to a sort of "fossil energy" is unclear.
My unanswered questions:
- If there are twisted miasma creatures inside of the obelisks, then why are the obelisks full of crystals when the scrappers break them apart? Do the creatures turn into crystals when the obelisk is activated?
- Why do you receive environmental "willpower sapping" when walking through the lower quarry, yet NOT when you're inside of the Ziggurat, even when surrounded by all the ooze? (Seriously, you can take your mask off in there and you're fine). Or, for that matter, when you're in the quarry at night, when it's covered by a massive ocean of ooze?
I have a theory about this. I think the ooze itself doesn't sap your HP bar -- the crystals do. Or perhaps it's some chemical reaction between the crystals and the ooze. You might notice that the ooze is bright purple, but the harmful miasma is black with a purple glow, which suggests it is somehow different after it has come in contact with black crystals. And the crystals could be just remnants of the twisted creatures after they have been "activated" by prayer. This explains why miasma creatures sap your willpower (they are living creatures who have drunken the ooze), and why broken ley lines also sap your willpower (as they carry ooze through activated obelisks, which have creatures/crystals in them). The lower quarry is covered in crystal dust and therefore saps your willpower, but standing beside an ocean of ooze does nothing.
The theme song of the quarry is called "Carbon Harvest". The scrappers must have a reason to recover the activated crystals. Perhaps if you dump crystal dust into the giant ooze vat, that's how you get the twisted miasma creatures to rematerialize, giving you renewable energy?
Great video! I'd like to point out that fossils is in general the term that the game uses to describe the obelisk fox creatures, like reported in the second history/lore panel. (the fossils, annealed visioon of the future). This goes back to the theory that actually the monoliths are the fox people themselves, just in a cyclical way, after the crack in the canonical plane forced the "old ones to become their predestined self", to then the cycle restarting and them rediscovering them, and finding the "origin of life"therein
True. There is also one other instance of the word “fossil”, which refers to the dark purple crystals in the quarry. The illustration for the panel on page 4 implies the crystal is a byproduct of the miasma foxes. I think these crystals are a big part of the puzzle too…the Cathedral’s architecture shows the Heir holding these crystals and (I have to double check but) the swords the zombie-like foxes use seem to be made of a similar material. 🤔
@@JessZakilly I assumed the swords of the zombie foxes were like, a pale recollection of the heirs sword (since they're also coated in a miasma aura)
This is great! I just finished the game and was immediately curious about what the manual actually said and the lore behind it. Perfect timing to find this video and your channel!
Thanks! Glad you found it!!
Just as some creatures release mana when they die as you strike them with their sword, the corrupted foxes, overwhelmed by miasma, die within their sarcophagi after being prayed to by the ruin seeker, as their life is converted into power, and mana is left behind atop it.
Thank you so much for making this video! I wish that it was 40+ minutes long😂 I was getting comfy and ready to strap in for a deep dive.
This still gave me a lot of fulfillment having it all laid out here, but there are still so many damn questions in my head 😅
Have you thought more about this topic, or more answers have been uncovered a year later?
My current theory is that the truth they discovered is that they are a video game. The Librarian knew this through his research but was unable to do anything about it because he did not have access to the Holy Cross. But you do. The question currently is, does the second language discovered in the music hide any essential plot? Or is the jokey dialog with the faeries the most it'll uncover?
No plot in ARG that I’ve seen, but have we as a community found it all? The devs are very quiet about where the ceiling is so we have no idea! Most of the ARG/trunic findings are cool Easter eggs, but not very plot focused so far. I love your theory! What clues would point them in that direction I wonder. Could it be somehow the save files themselves are canon and that’s how they realized?
@@JessZakilly he has drawings of game carts on his black boards. He knew what to do, but no way to do it. The relic required to do it exists in another reality, our reality. The golden cross is the controller.
I don't know how far the sound translation has progressed, but I'm sure the title screen music has something. I can hear it. But I don't have the training to know what note is what key.
You’re right, but how does the Librarian know? What was the clue that led him to believe the universe is a cartridge? That’s what I’m on a mission to find out.
The official Finji discord has a compilation of what’s been found in the tones of the music and other sound effects. You can find the discord link on the Tunic game website if interested. :)
being around the miasma and letting it drain your health down since it cant kill you, if you back out of the game to the main menu, the menu turns redish pink like the miasma when you are in that state.
What a great video! I haven't seen someone who talked about Tunic lore at this level of detail.
Please, keep doing this! Would love to eventually see your interpretation about the whole history of this game
Thank you!! That’s my goal, but looking at smaller pieces first to puzzle it together. Glad you enjoyed it!
You re criminally undersubscribed to.
Hey! Just saw my comment featured. Nice! Your channel is definitely the best I've seen regarding Tunic. Everyone else is satisfied with surface level lore.
Thank you! The best part of Tunic is the same feeling of community similar to older games where we would share hints on the school yard about a breakable wall if you put a bomb in exactly the right spot
@@JessZakilly I remember that happening with Pokemon and Mew or Missingno
Yeah! Mew under the truck!
I just beat the game today, good ending via the help of some guides because I'm no good at puzzles, but naturally I needed some lore insight. Have loved each video you've put up so far and have dropped a sub. Can't wait to see some more from you!
Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed them and welcome in! And congrats on the good ending too!
Wow, I love your Tunic lore videos so much
Thank you so much and thanks for the feedback!! Still learning so this is good info!
@@JessZakilly Holding thumbs for another video ❤
Can’t wait to earn it!
Excellent video! Difficult to hear you at times due to the music volume being so high, but really enjoyed this exploration of Tunic's mythology.
The more I dig into Tunic's lore, the more I think that the magic in this game has something terribly "wrong"
Yes, we can use some man made artifacts to use it (from basic stuff to high end technology like the shotgun), but the true essence of magic is something that creeps me out.
Probably th original magic of the world was "the golden path" and "Holy Cross", but the lore suggests that Holy Cross was abandoned after the new power source was found in the miasma. Seeing as obelisk-powered "infrastructure" is often installed over old places
Love the video! Friendly suggestion. Level the music a little lower, so we can hear your narration better! ❤️
Thanks for the feedback! Audio is still a big learning curve for me 😅
@@JessZakilly i use DaVinci resolve my my videos. There is a very easy suit for audio levels built in 😄
just to add a theory I have... (which contains some spoilers...so you have been warned). There's a chalkboard in the library that shows a picture of a game cartridge with the runic words above it saying "The Universe" The story of this game, and the world you are adventuring in, is literally the remains of a game world that has been corrupted and semi-abandoned by the inhabitants of the game... both player characters and NPCs who have become self-aware.
My theory is that the ziggurat is actually a physical part of the game cartridge that is manifested in the game world. As anyone who works with data/PCs knows when you delete something it's never completely gone. I think the ziggurat houses all the deleted games in the cartridge. These are the purple miasma foxes... and the purple miasma liquid is the unretrievable deleted information... the stuff that is just too corrupted. The ziggurat is supposed to contain them, but at some point, the fox society (potentially a much older version of it) learned that they were an unlimited source of power... and, since they persist beyond being deleted, the miasma must be a way to defy death. I believe this is the case because of the RGB pixels on the obelisks, which match the RGB symbols on the bosses, which are confirmed by the fox spirits in the game to be the original guards of the palace... so the RGB hexes are a symbol of their culture.
The original hero who discovered this and gave birth to the new religion, became the first heir... the shadow oubliette being designed to keep the ever growing flood of miasma at bay.
But being a game, new heroes always come... and always reach the end, only to become the next heir.
Great video! I haven't seen anyone go into this much detail into the lore of the game, it's nice to get some of my questions answered! Also maybe turn down the music a bit next time it's a little hard to hear you speaking
Thank you!! Appreciate it and appreciate the feedback!
I started playing Tunic last week and i was absolutely floored as i stumbled upon 'this World below'.
So glad someone does Videos about the lore, its so fascinating to me.
So glad you’re here and enjoyed it!! I’m actually working on the next video now :)
@@JessZakilly cant wait to see it!
The healthbar in the game is actually translated to represent your current will. So no the fossils don't hurt, but make you feel hopeless and lose your will to live
This game man! THIS GAME! Love the video Jess! :)
Thanks!! :D
Came in through the back entrance to quarry for first time, not knowing about the other entrance. Only got the mask at the bottom which made it pretty tough. Then got to the quarry door and nothing happened. Took me literally hours, since I just backtracked, not seeing the hidden paths to get to the other side initially 😂 great video!
What I want to know is why does praying to the obelisks activate them? Kneeling before them and paying them respects feels like it should have a positive outcome and yet it is heavily implied that the creatures inside die (they leave behind motes of magic, something that only happens when you kill certain creatures). Not only that, but according to the Tunenic translation of their noises but they repeat "Who? Who? Who?" over and over when you activate them. Why do we pray to them? Why do we kill them? Are they relieved to be killed? Or are they scared?
I don't think the 'miasma creatures' were in the zigguarat all along, i think what was discovered down there was a method of tapping into the life force of the fox people, and exploiting it, then the underground was used to sacrifice fox people into those drained miasma beings and entomb them in sarcofogus. i assumed the horrific potential of that power was discovered did they start entombing those creatures, not that they existed there all along
but i could be wrong.. it seems more like a sacrificial exploitation of a creature that was never originally like that
I just finished the game and got the platinum trophy . What an experience 🔥
oh dang i just thought the purple fox died (and was connected to the obelisk that you shut down in the cathedral), and not that it escaped to the monastery
Aren't the friendly Hushers those little chicks on the ruined atoll that always run away and never attack? (but you can still kill them and get nothing)
That’s a bit dark lol the abandoned young of the corrupted birds
For future reference, you might wanna turn the background music down in your videos. Makes it hard to hear what you’re saying. Great video tho, been trying to dive into Tunic’s lore
Ok so, I'm still learning Tunic's lore and while I've only beaten the game once, I always interpreted the battle as a cycle. Mind you I never translated the runes, but for the Librarian I actually referred to him as "Tunic's" (I name the Ruin Seeker we play as that for simplicities sake) Father of sorts. The reason I thought this was it made sense, why go through the effort of making respawn points, hero graves, and experimenting with the obelisks and risking the Miasma infecting you. Also the Music had a lot to say being a slow piano, as if this was a sad moment. He's also the only Ruin Seeker outside of The Heir that we see (Ironically The Heir being Tunic's mom is also something I believe)
I love how this game is ambiguous enough that we have to put our heads together as a community to figure everything out! The music is such an important context clue, like you mentioned and the sad tone of the beginning makes you think the librarian is more than just a random boss. My theories on the Librarian are slightly different but this is why I love this game, we can all interpret it differently and still enjoy it. I made a video about my thoughts on the Librarian, if you’re interested, check it out here -> ruclips.net/video/FnbC5IxJygg/видео.html
@@JessZakilly I saw that, and I never noticed the game cartridge on the board, but looking back there were some hints he had been to the Quarry, also quick thing, do you think he know the Scavenger Boss (personally my fav boss), probably not as she compared to the Librarian she seems to be way more of a brute (she literally kicks you when you are down)
Yes! She’s very mysterious because the translations about her don’t hint at much. For a while I was tossing around the idea that the Librarian maybe hired her to help him excavate/steal the blue key, but I haven’t found any evidence to support it, so I’m back to square one with her. The Scavenger boss is definitely on my radar though too!
@@JessZakilly My personal theory is she's sorta mob boss and the Scavengers are from a different land, specifically beyond the mountain door. They are like a invasive species, taking the obelisks for themselves, and trying to harness them. We cannot go to their land, as the game has no in universe (aka files) renders of them, just their species. In my eyes, this explains the advanced technology that's beyond anything else, only 2 guns exist the automatic we can find, and the revolvers those reaper things have. Basically what I'm saying is, The Scavengers come from a different land, or maybe a different game entirely, entering through something like the Megadrive Cartridges did with Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles
Interesting ideas!
Thanks for these lore review videos, it seems no one can connect all the dots by themselves! 🦊
I think the canon is the code. This game may have to be cracked to find the true ending.
Health is called Will in game
You know, I didn't realize that the manual blatantly lied to you about the miasma not hurting until I saw the clip of it draining your max hp AND your hp at the same rate right after you read the manual page.
They make me think of Trigun.
Such a informative great video. God bless you and keep grinding
Maybe this ancient civilization discovered that in our reality, they were part of a game? Maybe we are the ancient gods, and the miasma is a leak between realities.
It's an endless cycle because hundreds of thousands of people played the game, which repeats the story indefinitely.
Buy discovering the truth, the protagonist shared it with the heir and stopping the cycle. At least in one timeline
What did you mean by the spiders resembling creatures entombed in the obelisks? 👀 I’ve just beat the game and have been so invested in the lore; and it’s great finding a video this well researched 👌
this is noita levels of secrecy
If the cavity things give you depression then how does the scavenger mask work?
the depression is transmitted via air
The Heir is definitely connected to the miasma, during my playthrough on a livestream (ill post the streams later this year or next year as per completed stream video but i also streamed many other games so the evidence is late) i have wrongly speculated that the heir and the miasma where one and the same or that the miasma creatures was under the control of the heir. i also incorrectly suspected that there was an evil deity and that it was the reason for the heirs imprisonment. i also took the sword from the grave heartlessly because i am not a good person (that was a portal joke, but i can be a heartless wardroid in videogames)
This is a great video! Great Job Jess! Keep it up!
Thanks!
I'm wondering why only the power lines at the ruined atoll have miasma fluid inside them, while the broken lines everywhere else in the world do not leak any such fluid
Interesting analysis for an interesting game! Thanks for posting!
Great video. Thanks for all the effort.
No, thank YOU!
8:19 i was supposed to pray there? I just walked away so idk
Great storytelling :)
Finished the entire except beating the final boss…gave up…too difficult.
devs want us, the players to pray their weird gods
Or perhaps we, the players, are the gods, and the little foxes dance, and play, and suffer, and die, for nothing more than our fleeting entertainment.
I subscribed but also I can do a somersault
What’s with these kinds of indie games and having some kind of abyss darkness area like hollow knight this game and a few others I can’t remember the name of
I don’t know but I’m here for it, one of my favorite tropes
I couldn't hear the music turn it up
Thanks for feedback! I’m still learning audio editing
@@JessZakilly I'm sorry for being rude, the content was great hope u did a great job
Not rude at all!
Music too loud. Solid video otherwise 👍
Thanks! And thanks for the feedback! :)
This is quite an odd reading of the game… it’s a form of wilful formalism being forcefully applied to a postmodern text… and I feel as if I’m seeing this increasingly (which is not to say more of it’s being made; just that I’m seeing it)…
It’s a little bit worrying as it feels like we aren’t comfortable with the self-awareness of media. Instead we feel this desire to establish deep canon and lore instead of considering how texts relate to structural issues.
Perhaps I missed it but, do you consider the ‘holy cross’ simply being the d-pad? How the librarian is aware of its existence on a cartridge (that was never there)? The many hand scribbled notes or the existence of the game manual at all? The need to use a phony save file to complete the game? How do these self-aware and postmodern elements of the game fit into discussions of the game’s canon and lore?
Do people not like thinking about what games mean in relation to reality? To gaming culture and economics? Shifting trends in player preferences?
There is actual lore. The world of Tunic is not a metanarrative allegory. It just so happens to canonically take place within a video game. The world within the cartridge is real.
It isn’t real though. Climate change is real. Israel and Palestine are real. We’re real. The role of videogames in shaping human communication is real. The political implications of a text discussing and allowing both cycles of violence and peaceful communication as its climax is real. The political implications of humans deciding to discuss the formal aspects of that text instead of its political implications… And all of that is so much more interesting than the ultimately disappointing overthinking required to imagine this story as not being the product of collective human imaginations networked together at a specific point in history.
@@cmck1777 Plenty of people are more than aware of the holy-cross being a d-pad and other stuff you mentioned. The video's author has mentioned meta elements before. Even then, the game has lore, like Dreamers said. Of course people are going to dive into deep cannon when the developers make a game that, ya know, encourages you to investigate the lore they made. More narrative analysis would be cool but this clearly isn't the channel for it.
When you first go through the Ruined Atoll, you see one of those Miasma spiders crawling on a distant island out of the screen sights. Not sure if it makes a return but has some implications for the Atoll I think
And how all hostile creatures turn purple before or as they charge an attack against your fox
Interesting reference: 'The Farthest Shore' Was a book by Ursula Le Guin in which the farthest shore refers to the realm beyond death. It was a very popular book and the third in the Earthsea saga!
Earthsea is on my TBR List. I have heard nothing but good things about the series, but did not know that! Books are another favorite hobby of mine so I will move it up on the list
After you activate an obelisk, a couple of MP refills pop out of it. The only time this happens is when you defeat an enemy. Therefore whenever you activate an obelisk/sarcophagus, you are -killing- the creature inside it to generate power.
The obelisks then are a kind of horrible battery with an infinite shelf life-the immortal creature inside will live forever until the power is needed.
I think they're immortal and are tortured /killed continuously to extract magic
The first time I ventured to the bottom of the Ziggurat & witnessed the creatures imprisoned inside the obelisks, a sense of uneasiness came over me and I had to record it. I swear the thing looked at me and screamed. I stood and waited as two additional creatures were locked inside the obelisk and I promise the other two didn't make a sound or look at the Ruin seeker (me).
I think every third or fourth Void Touched will scream as it's Entombed so you can go back down there and just wait a few more times
Discovering the truth of the powered columns effed with me.
pink miasma is the symbol of creation (thats why you fight strange creatures before the blue key boss) and dark/purple miasma is the symbol of power (the cute birds becoming very agressive and the alligators becoming stronger)
I wish the game had told me from the start that these big cubes held delicious delicious fox jello
I find it very curios that the crystals in the manual are represented as black tears in reality. Maybe wherever the 'radiation' is, whatever made the manual can't see into?
Ohhh interesting, so the manual-maker doesn’t see that they’re crystals, and instead just sees them as a void?
@@JessZakilly If you whip out the manual while near a crystal and look behind the manual, you can see why.
that moment, when you get to the facility with the conveyour belt was so horrifying, that i would stand there for a minute just to hold myself together. same goes with the elevator with all the skulls... this game twist your sanity so hard and unexpected...
"for them, we are nothing more, than THIS: #[Duracell]
Very interesting! Sadly, your voice is often covered by the volume of the music. Is there a way to re-publish a clean mix without re-publishing the video?
Otherwise great work! Keep going!
Great video, good job, the music is a bit loud.
I'd say maybe a tad, but luckily it's a simple beat so words are easy to make out.
Thank you and thanks for the feedback! Editing audio is skill I’m still working on so this is good info!
Fantastic video, I learned so much!
The music is a bit loud in parts though so it was hard to listen with full attention
The music volume is to loud, can barely hear what you say. Good video otherwise.
Nice. I played through Tunic a few months ago. I really enjoyed it.
Actually there are friendly birds in the ruined atof. There are some birds that don't attack you and just run away. Likely these exact same birds drank the miama and become corrupted.
Yeah, exactly! That’s the point I was making.