Why is TUNIC getting negative user ratings on Metacritic

TUNIC has been one of the best indie releases so far, with plenty of positive reviews for the game. 85 is what its Metascore stands at the time of writing. As far as critical reviews are concerned, all the reviews barring one have been positive.

The same can be said about the fan reviews, but one curious thing appears to be the number of negative reviews. The positive reviews far outweigh the negative ones, but strangely, there seem to be '0' ratings. A similarity between the ratings appears to be the description of those reviews.

The ratings seem strange due to the game's reception so far. Much love has been poured into the game since its release by fans and critics. The game's closeness to Zelda games is noticeable. It seems to be the same issue with the majority of negative reviews.

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TUNIC gets negative reviews due to its resemblance to Zelda games

A unique part of TUNIC has been the art style and the game's world. The game takes an isometric view as players explore the map. There is also a progression factor as certain areas require particular items and levels to be explored.

While the art style and execution have pleased the fans, there's an apparent similarity between many more famous titles - The Legend of Zelda. The series has been one of the most iconic ones in gaming. It's not new that games often take inspiration from past ones.

TUNIC's similarity to the series has vexed a section of fans as they believe the latest indie hit is a knockoff. The game's user ratings stand at 7.2 at the time of writing. This is lesser than the critic ratings and is mainly due to a section of these negative reviews.

While the Legend of Zelda series has a definite influence on TUNIC, the latter has many fresh additions. Be it for the game's story or the adopted mechanics, there is enough to help the game stand aside.

The majority of the user reviews for the game are positive, as fans have described the positives they've found. But the negative reviews do leave a spot on the otherwise excellent feedback from players.

The great games of the bygone eras do leave their mark on future games. The mechanics adopted by today's racing games go back to older games. If anything, the developers of TUNIC seem to have been influenced by it. Sadly, this has led to some unwanted backlash.

In all likelihood, the reception for the game will continue to be positive. Other users have given very positive reviews following the sequence of negative reviews. However, it does open up a discussion for Metacritic to tweak their system.

Many may not be concerned with user reviews when buying a particular video game. But that doesn't mean that user reviews are useless, as most reviews for any game often indicate its quality. Sadly for the latest indie-hit, some reviews do a disservice by stating things that seem far from reality.