Tunche is a one-to-four-player side-scrolling beat ‘em up developed by LEAP Game Studios. You play as Rumi, Pancho, Qaru, Nayra, or Hat Kid, all of whom have their own reasons to find Tunche, an entity whose true power and goals are masked behind lore and legends. You learn about each character’s story by finding pieces of their past when you play as them, giving you a gorgeous comic-style story that expands that character’s life. It takes multiple playthroughs of a character to complete their story.
The playable characters and NPCs are unique and charming. Their personalities bleed through the text and portraits to make each stand as a true character. The mix of humor and melancholy strikes a solid balance when telling their stories.
The combat has a solid base but lacks variety. While Tunche sometimes rewards you for thoughtful planning, prioritizing targets, evasion, and exploiting enemy weaknesses to specific moves, too often the most useful strategy is to spam the same combo through most of every level, making combat too repetitive to enjoy for long periods. In addition, there’s little variety in the play styles of each character, making it even more frustrating to play since you have to grind to upgrade each character individually since they don’t share most resources.
Ultimately, the gorgeous art and animations, incredible music, and great characters are enticing, but playing what felt like the same area against the same enemies and using the same strategies sucked the fun from it. But if they can fix the balance of gaining resources, mix up level progression, and add more to combat, it would be a fun beat ‘em up.
Tunche is available now for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S.
Watch our full Review in 3 Minutes for Tunche.
