Tunic Gets Review Bombed Over Legend of Zelda Similarities
Tunic, the long-awaited indie action-adventure game, has been on the receiving end of a review bombing due to its similarities to another well-known RPG series, The Legend of Zelda. Tunic's Metacritic scores are being skewed by groups of angry gamers who are purposely leaving bleak negative reviews to harm its popularity, a practice that has become much more common in recent years and has been experienced by games like The Last of Us Part II, Halo Infinite, and more.
Tunic is an isometric action-adventure game created by indie developer Andrew Shouldice. The game centers around a little fox who sets out on a big adventure defeating enemies and exploring new places. Tunic’s gameplay direction bears a striking resemblance to that of The Legend of Zelda, and it doesn’t shy away from its similarities. The game has its own unique art style which, combined with its puzzle design, has earned itself a number of positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
However, not everyone was a fan of Tunic’s design. According to Game Rant, the game has been subject to a massive review bombing from people who claim it has little-to-no originality and borrows too much from classic action RPGs like The Legend of Zelda. Tunic’s critic scores are impressive (especially for an indie title) but are a stark contrast when compared to its user scores. While the Xbox One version of Tunic does not have an official Metacritic rating yet, the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions stand at 85 and 86 respectively. The average user scores, however, range from 5.7 to 7.8 between the three versions, which differs greatly from the game’s critic reviews and the overall Metacritic ratings.
As is the case with all review-bombed games, the user scores are an inaccurate representation of the game and are only low due to overly harsh reviews from people who probably haven’t even played the game. Most of the people who left 0/10 ratings on the user review page cite Tunic’s likeness to The Legend of Zelda as their main complaint, leaving no actual criticisms of gameplay for players who are looking to try it out. A lot of the negative user reviews look to be copy-and-pastes of other grim reviews, which gives the user score page even less merit.
Although The Legend of Zelda’s influence on Tunic is plain to see, it still holds its own identity and can be enjoyed by anyone looking to get into the action-adventure genre. Review bombing is, unfortunately, still a common practice in 2022 and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. User reviews are an important part of Metacritic’s process, but coordinated efforts like these can drag a game’s overall score down and paint an inaccurate picture.
Tunic is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Source: Game Rant