Secret Legend (The Manual)

[bnewman]

Tunic is an adventure video game that begins as a nostalgic callback to the classic NES Legend of Zelda and then grows into something much stranger and deeper (and more unsettling). Woven throughout the mystery is the game's instruction manual, which you find in the game itself, individual pages of it scattered across the world to be picked up, holding who knows what secrets — and most of it in code. If you have yet to play it, I'd recommend unraveling as much of the mystery for yourself as you can. This song hints at some of the answers, but doesn't spell them out.

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", trad.

 

listen to this song

 

/ Am DmG Am / C Dm Am / Dm C G / Am DmG C /

 

A legend of an ancient land

A little fox wakes on the strand

And sets forth curious and quick

Armed with no weapon but a stick

 

/ G Em Dm Am / C Dm Am - /

 

I'm sure, I'm sure the Manual

Explains the game's instructions well

 

Cast here and there upon the ground

The pages of the book are found

With maps of every keep and crypt

All labeled in an unknown script

 

I'm sure, I'm sure the Manual

Has secrets only it can tell

 

O come, O come, O hero bold

Repeat the legend sung of old

To ring the bells and claim the keys

Not knowing what your effort frees

 

I'm sure, I'm sure the Manual

Reveals what's sealed within this cell

 

And if the seeker does not fail

The book must surely tell the tale

The mystery both foul and fair

The legacy to which she's Heir

 

I'm sure, I'm sure the Manual

Will show the path to break the spell