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Comment by pxc | Hacker News Reader

The best ones it feels like an insult to call clones, but Tunic is a very good one that comes to mind.

Tunic is nothing like Zelda, except that both characters wear green and swing a sword. It's really good in its own way, though.

It's a lot like the 2D titles, with elements added from the 3D ones, like the targeting system, stamina meter, and controls for raising the shield (not a thing in many 2D Zeldas). Plus, of course, it also introduces its own elements and gameplay elements from other series.

There is a little more to the series at this point than the 30 years old Link to the Past.

That game is still great. Show some respect!

More seriously, Tunic also draws upon newer Zelda titles as well as games outside the series. In addition, many 2D Zelda games have come out since the time of the SNES, not even counting re-releases like the recent remake of Link's Awakening.

Tunic doesn't just evoke Zelda aesthetically as a substitute for developing its own aesthetic! It's a loving homage to a series that absolutely materially inspired the core gameplay, too.

The cynic in me wants to argue that all post-SNES 2D Zelda games are in fact remakes of LttP :) I mean that as a good thing.

I haven't had a chance to really play Tunic yet, but I just get the feeling that calling it a Zelda clone is unfairly reductive to both. If Tunic and Okami are both Zelda clones, but not clones of each other, something needs reevaulation.

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