Long Live the Rat King

Anthropomorphic animals are nothing new in world of media; we have toads that battle, turtles that are ninja, and a whole city full of fun residents from Zootopia just to name a few. Odd Bug Studio has added to that line by giving us an adventure set within a war between the Rat kingdom and the Frog Clan. Presented in an extremely cute fashion; what quickly becomes apparent is that there is indeed a level of darkness in this world and the newly crowned rat King Redgi has to confront it in order to save his kingdom.

As stated the world of Tails of Iron is quite striking to behold, all of the environments and especially the characters have a certain “je nes say qui” quality to them. That’s probably due to the rats in the game being based on the actual pets by the developers at Odd Bug. The characters all have a look to them as though they are made of cardboard, its difficult to explain but the effect is wonderful to behold. There is just a wonderful amount of attention to detail in the rats, frogs and all the other creatures who populate this very grimdark world. While none of the creatures actually speak in the traditional sense, speech is depicted for player by the use of pictures and a slide whistle. So as Redgi is given a quest, pictures will pop up of a board, nails, a repair rat. So, through the use of context clues you know that you need to repair the quest board, little things like this make Tails of Iron stand out from the pack as not many games use context clues anymore and it was a nice change of pace. While the game does have some light platforming elements for some reason the fall damage is extremely high. So just as a tip make sure of the jumps if Redgi is low on health.

MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $24.99

Having the raspy voice of everyone’s favorite Witcher, Doug Cockle narrate the story gives the overall adventure a certain credibility in the fantasy genre. After a horrendous attack on the Crimson Keep by the Frog Spawn and their War Chief; Redgi’s world is thrown into chaos. His father the king murdered, his brothers captured, and his kingdom in ruins the newly crowned Redgi sets off on a quest to rescue his siblings and restore his kingdom…for what good is a King without a Kingdom. During his quest Redgi will visit various locations; from his regal home in the Crimson Keep to the underground city Mole Town each place more impressive in design and feel than the last.

Combat plays a large part of the journey in Tails of Iron; and luckily, it’s solid in execution just not much variety. Redgi will find various weapons throughout his quest; swords, spears, axes and there are even two-handed weapons. The difference between most of these weapons is how they affect Redgi’s weight. Redgi has the ability to equip light, medium or heavy armor which while greatly affect his weight; which will directly affect his ability to dodge/dodge-roll from attacks. His weapons will influence that stat but its usually negligible. And while Redgi will find various weapons, the animations for them were all too similar. Did that take away from the overall enjoyment, no but I expected to see a different combo when using a sword vs, a spear.

The various weapons will allow Redgi to attack faster (for a spear or sword) or hit harder but slower (using two-handed or axes) which allows for players to find a style that is most comfortable for them. Which is important because the combat in Tails of Iron is punishingly difficult; which is kind of ironic because of how cute the overall game is. Utilizing Redgi’s ability to block, parry and dodge is the key to success; luckily the game does a great job of highlighting when various attacks are coming. So its easy “on paper” to utilize the correct defense but quite difficult in practice to get that timing correct.

I really enjoyed my time with Tails of Iron, it had a very mature story to tell wrapped up in a charming yet dark world. The clever use of communication between the creatures while using ‘Geralt’ for narration duties is definitely one of my highlights from this game. While I am not a fan of the ridiculously named ‘Souls-Borne’ genre, there was so much to love about Tails of Iron that it was easy to overlook. Sure, the combat was very difficult but who doesn’t like a challenge; I just hope we get to see more from Redgi and his brothers in the future.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.