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Tails Of Iron review: a fun 2D Soulslike with a bit too much paddingRats entertainment
Rats entertainment
As enquiring minds already know, rats are very cute. I’ve not had pet rats myself, but a bunch of my friends have. Rats have lovely little pin-prick hands and feet, and they will give you wiffly-nose kisses while they assess whether your hair is worth exploring or not.
Tails of Iron - Official Gameplay TrailerWatch on YouTube
Tails of Iron - Official Gameplay Trailer
There could be more variety in some of your enemy’s attacks, but in general the combat itself is fun and more manageable than your average Soulslike. It’s also well-mapped to a controller, which is the recommend way to play it. It’s satisfying to dodge and parry attacks successfully, and get a big hit in afterwards, and should be a more enjoyable experience for anyone who’s struggled withDark Soulsproper in the past.
You can find and craft a variety of weapons and armour, but there’s a welcome sense of variety in how you spec Redgi out. Different fights demand different builds, and it encourages you to mix things up rather than settle on a favourite build or go for something more all-purpose. I stalled for ages on a fight with the mosquito king until I realised that putting on moz-resistant armour made a massive difference. I switched from using a sword to a spear, so I had more range on my melee attacks, and tooled up with a crossbow - it was heavier, but it did more damage than a bow.
Got that king armour.
Impressive foundationsThese rats are way better builders than you’d expect. Here we see the map of your castle, the Red Keep. Underneath you can see the start of the extensive crypt system. And if you look closely, you can see that each room on the map has a tiny drawing of what it looks like in-game on it, which is wonderful. There are loads of cool details like that in the art. 10/10 for drawing, I’m putting that on the fridge.
I get it, but also found it tiresome, especially since Redgi’s jump isn’t super great for the bits of platforming you have to do. Even now, after finishing the game, I’m not sure if I could judge a gap properly.
Mate, would you not accept an I.O.U.? I’m a king. I’m good for it.
It’s a shame, because the rest of Tails Of Iron has a lot of properly good stuff in it. As you win fights, your rat-fam begin rebuilding everything, and it’s really nice to see the cow-bug farmers at their gross work again. Your elder brother is often hanging around in the background of scenes drinking and looking morose. The animation when you eat something is amazing. The story has secrets you don’t entirely expect to be there. There’s a lot of artistry in the 2D scenery, too, and the way everyone gives you quests in little pictogram speech bubbles is delightful, especially when they contain even tinier and cuter depictions of Redgi himself.
Also, at one point you meet a society of technologically advanced moles, who are all coded as communists - I suspect, because of the pun first, detail later school of design arising from phrases such as “Moleshevik” and “comrat”. They also have an illegal fight club where all the combatants are named after pro-wrestlers. One of them actually comes at you with a chair. BAH GAHD! That’s Molekind’s music! Except, when you fight these guys it’s because you need to buy a breathing mask. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do the fights. I’m saying it’d be nice to have an actual reason, and preferably one that didn’t involve me having to fruitlessly walk through loads of tunnels first. Because outside of the padding, Tails Of Iron is a fun world stuffed with detail and excellent frog smashing. Look into this rat’s nice little face and see the face of a brutal killer.
