Review | Tails of Iron 2 - Life In The Rat Race
Are you excited to challenge yourself with games that resemble the soulslike genre but focus more on the story? Then, Tails of Iron 2 is a game that I think you might want to sit down with, despite the many flaws found within combat. It’s ultimately a blend between Redwall, a fantasy book series surrounding rodents and their adventures, and elements from Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.
Tails of Iron is a niche series that combines superb narrative storytelling with a Geralt of Rivia-esque voice narration and decent combat elements. If I were to sum up the whole experience in a few simple words, it would have to be…
“A lot of unused potential."
Story
Tails of Iron 2 starts off very similarly to its predecessor. Fending off an invasion of Dark Wings, a race of merciless bat creatures from the far north, Redgie, the leader of the Rat Kingdom from the first game, is put aside for the player to take control of a white mouse from the northern continent named Arlo. The player attempts to reclaim what has been lost to Arlo in such a short amount of time through revenge.
It's pretty much the same exact story as the first game, except this time around the player isn't dealing with Green Wart, the chieftain of the frog clan, but instead with Count Kazak, the leader of the great bat army atop the northern mountains. It's a bit weird because it's not something that is seen very often; that is, everything is a mirror image of the original game, just with a different coat of paint, as Tails of Iron 2 tries very hard to be more in line with the thematic style of dark fantasy that was first adopted by the original, which it actually pulls off quite well.
Following the early events of the game, Arlo is cast into the role of monarch of his newly shattered home, which requires extensive repairs. Of course, instead of sending out workers or squires, Arlo must perform all of the heavy lifting, uniting the realm together as one in its struggle against the Dark Wings, an ever-looming threat that will stop at nothing until the world is but cinders beneath their feet.
Issues
There are quite a few fundamental issues with this series. Player progression has always been unpolished and unsatisfying. Instead of making items desirable and worthy of expending effort to obtain, the series loves to spoil players with everything on a silver platter.
Tails of Iron 2 appears to be more linear than the original game, with no dungeons or puzzles, just freely accessible weapons, powers, spells, and effects that would almost certainly never be used since they provided nothing of remote value, which certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Let's take, for example, the grappling hook, which is a feature new to the sequel. It's not something you obtain, and it's not something you actually physically use for anything special or interesting. A few hooks are placed on ledges and platforms that are already accessible to Arlo, but sadly not for bosses or anything outside of general platforming that can be traversed normally. It’s more of an ease of access feature.
That being said, most of the original game’s flaws have been addressed with the release of this sequel. The player is no longer dragged through hours of backtracking, cutting through the same respawned vine and barricaded walls. Cleared obstacles now properly despawn for the rest of the game. Players are also now given the option to do whatever fetch quests they want, whether hunting bosses or groups of creatures or crafting and selling their equipment for a decent price. This makes the time investment much more manageable regarding farming materials and gear, especially for repairing Arlo’s home. While it's a great element to have reworked, it becomes clear that Odd Bug Studio really didn't bother too much in actually fixing most of the severely frustrating combat portions that were present throughout the first game. Instead, the studio added more on top of it all in an attempt to bury it beneath a lot of polish that the player will most likely overlook.
One such feature is that the visual cues of enemies and bosses still do not match the gameplay. Count Kazak, for example, indicates that he is about to strike the ground with a red area of effect aura; however, you cannot avoid this because it is a much larger and delayed multistrike with no indications ending at the edge of the second lightning strike’s particle effect, hitting not only this area but also in a large circle around him from both the front and back.
This is what makes the combat feel unresponsive at times. Unfortunately, that isn't the end of the game’s problems; many elements, such as magic and ranged weapons, are polar opposites. Magic is potent and provides invincibility frames when used. In contrast, ranged weapons do not allow Arlo to dodge or cancel out animations, frequently baiting the player into using it against many flying enemies, which is how the game tries to surprise players that commit to that specific action. It’s trial and error discovery, which is made worse by the fact that many may claim it is a "skill issue" when, in truth, it's a development flaw that hasn’t been fixed with this sequel.
New Features
In Tails of Iron 2, Odd Bug introduces a much needed improvement on the inventory system and aspects that give a little more incentive to play around enemy weaknesses and defenses. It's critical, primarily if the enemies being fought have specific weaknesses and strengths. You should set aside some time to upgrade and create all four equipment styles and resistances, which will significantly increase your chances of surviving. In the above example, we have -50 electric resistance, and if we encounter a boss that deals a lot of that element, we're almost guaranteed to get killed in one shot. A positive green colour or a negative red colour indicates whether or not status effects are practical and how much faster or more slowly they can be applied to do less or more damage.
One of the most valuable additions would have to be the general shop and fast travel, which dramatically reduces the amount of backtracking needed through empty biomes throughout the adventure. One can even unlock a much more efficient version of this shop within the town upgrade facilities, which offers weapons as well as consumable traps, potions, and effects and materials that players would otherwise have had to spend a lengthy amount of time farming on the outskirts of the world.
Aside from these significant adjustments, little else is new. It's almost 85% the same as the first game.
Presentation
Aside from a slight change in illumination, there is virtually no difference between the visual style of the two games. Many speech bubbles and visual elements have been repurposed and reused several times. However, this is a positive thing as it keeps the story and worldbuilding on track with the game’s gradual return to the original games setting in the south. While it didn't need any graphical changes or components to help it stand out from what it already had, the sequel’s slight change in lighting made it feel more fitting of that dark fantasy vibe of the series. Tails of Iron 2 added in a much darker background ambience, foggier scenes, lightning, and a bit more mystique, whereas the original felt a little too bright and overly positive, regardless of where the player was located.
The voice narration has toned down a little, making it feel a little more unique and adding a bit more depth to the storytelling, which definitely is the game’s strongest suit. However, it persistently came across as condescending to the player's intelligence. It's often narrated in such a way as to explain everything Arlo does or needs to do, making most actions feel very unsatisfying when the solution is so blatantly obvious.
Gameplay
It’s a struggle to defend the realm from the invading Dark Wing army in the weirdest of ways. The player may face a specific boss who is not directly related to the story but is still sufficiently challenging to defeat, in this case any of the Dark Wings within the final fortress, and when it comes time to battle the actual story bosses, it may feel like one of the easiest fights that the player has ever encountered up until then.
The gameplay did feel a little forced, and while it is generally quite entertaining to play, it may be a little irritating for those who would prefer an increasingly difficult playthrough or for the story alone; in this case, the option to play on a lower or harder difficulty is available. Overall, it's still more of a flawed mixture of story narration mixed with some questionably designed fights, with significant focus on Arlo and his successes and mistakes, which is one of the motivators that keeps you going no matter how arduous the journey.
Conclusion
Despite all of the flaws and the fact that it genuinely feels like DLC that expanded on the already established world, Tails of Iron 2 should still be given a chance. It would be in your best interest to play the first game to get a sense of what it has to offer before attempting to play the sequel, as it will add a little more to the story, eliciting a stronger emotion toward each character.
A frequently neglected yet crucial characteristic when selecting a game is the time to fun metric; it should not take more than two hours to feel like something is beginning to become genuinely fun, nor should there be a search to find that fun factor. If rushed, the first game can be completed within two hours. This gives enough understanding of what is to be expected within Tails of Iron 2.
The sequel is more polished, offering eight hours minimum of content, yet it's still difficult to fully recommend. It doesn't reward player effort, as it mainly guides them through everything like a toddler’s story, outside of boss fights. It felt too recycled, with numerous uninteresting components mixed in with the good ones. In the end, partly because Arlo is somewhat introduced to the player through the first game's DLC, "Bloody Whiskers," Tails of Iron 2 feels more like an extension to continue a previously displayed story to tie up some loose ends.
