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Indie ratcapade Tails Of Iron is Dark Souls meets RedwallI’ve got love for you if you were born in the 80s
I’ve got love for you if you were born in the 80s
I had to write guides forDark Souls III, so I am in the position of being acceptable at playingSoulslikes games, while also not being mad about them. I appreciate the artistry involved, and the accomplishment at being great at them, but I’m just not often in the mood for a game to be outright mean to me.
Tails Of Ironkind of tricks you into thinking it’s not mean, because it’s a nice 2D kingdom of little rats who all flute at each other like Clangers (because, producer and designer Jack Bennett told me, they tried squeaks and it was too annoying). Aw, how sweet! You can give your little rat armour and a sword! They think they’re people! Oh. Oh dear, I have just ripped the intenstines out of a giant frog that was trying to crush me. My goodness.
Tails of Iron - Gameplay Trailer: A Warrior. A Hero. A King. (PS4, PS5, Xbox X|S|One, NS, PC)Watch on YouTube
Tails of Iron - Gameplay Trailer: A Warrior. A Hero. A King. (PS4, PS5, Xbox X|S|One, NS, PC)
There’s a lot ofDark Soulsin the DNA here. There’s a sort of estus flask-ish feature, and save bonfires are benches with little lanterns where you can sit and rest. Taking a hit in a fight is unforgiving on your HP. You battle enemy types you learn to recognise, and giant bosses with telegraphed attack patterns and fight phases that grow more difficult as you whittle their health down. You need to balance the weight of your gear, and the relative speed and reach of weapons, against how effective you want your dodge to be. I got to try a sword and a spear, with the spear being faster and having greater range, but with less damage. You’ve played games before; you get it.
Later in the game you can craft actual guns. You can also craft armour, and go on side quests, and there are execution animations for different enemies, and… as I told my brother before I pushed him into a millpond, “I dunno man, this looks surprisingly deep.”
The enemy designs are distinct and have good footprints, which helps too. Bennett revealed that the main character rats in the game are all based on the former pet rats of the director. I asked what their beef is with frogs, and he used the term “inherent evil” (although he was laughing when he said it, which is good because it’s exactly the kind of anti-amphibian propaganda that’ll get you a stern look from Nate Crowley). But they do provide a good foil for rats. Crouchy and furry vs. leggy and damp. I get it.
In general, though, I would say that Tails Of Iron looks like it’s shaping up to be a version of Dark Souls for those of you who’d rather not spend hours doing the in-game equivalent of running into a brick wall until you get strong enough to get over said wall. With its 10-hour-ish predicted run time, it doesn’t feel like a watered down Soulslike so much as one for if you’re knackered and have to take the bins out and do the vacuuming the same evening you want to disembowel someone. In other words: I’m into it. Especially because I think one of the later bosses is a mole based almost directly on the wrestler Rey Mysterio, which is definitely something I’ve got to see in person.
