Like playing as a losing contestant on Bullseye, you get to see what you could have won – a gorgeous kingdom, supportive and helpful friends and siblings, a crown and throne – only for a giant, violent frog version of Jim Bowen to arrive and say “Now take it away”. You begin by exploring a flourishing rat kingdom only to see it decimated by a villain you immediately want to take revenge on. The plot setup to Tails of Iron works incredibly well. Among the ruins of the once glorious rat throne room, Redgi sets out on a quest to rescue any family and friends that survived the invasion and hopefully take the fight to the frogs. Just as he’s about to be coroneted, the frogs return with a vengeance. Greenwart and his army trash the crimson keep, massacre the rat forces and leave Redgi to die. The little-rat-that-could proves to his father that he’s the rightful heir to the throne by defeating his big, burly brother in combat. The game follows the adventure of Redgi, the smallest of the rat king’s children. This is where we begin with Tails of Iron. That was years ago now and the king had grown old. Finally, there was peace across the land. That was until the rat king rose, united all of rat-kind under his banner and forced the frogs, lead by the fearsome Greenwart, hopping back to their swamps. Combined, it makes for a heady blend which is easily one of my favourite games of 2021.Ī story primer: The frogs and the rats had been at war with one another for years with neither side managing to make ground on the other. Unlike many Soulslikes though, Tails of Iron comes with an arresting amount of charm and a heart felt story.
Combining a metroidvania structure with an RPG loot system, combat that’s challenging but with readable tells to learn and exploit, it ticks all of the sub-genre’s tick boxes. Tails of Iron can affectionately be called a Soulslike despite it looking nothing like the genre staples. Tails of Iron is filled with exhilarating moments like this that pose a real challenge but are always surmountable with enough concentration and patience, and maybe a little bit of luck. I’d be frustrated but I’m too busy smiling. I load back up at the generous save point shortly before this fight. I take a deep breath to survey my handwork as a frog enters from the left and looses an arrow that flies across the screen. My fingers kick into over drive, stabbing, dodging and parrying all 3 frogs as they attack from all directions. There’s barely a figment of my health bar left. It stabs me with a basic attack and immediately follows up with a running attack that I’m too slow to parry. Dodge, dodge roll and I can attack again – only I failed to see the trident carrying frog enter from the far right. Now it’s 2 shield wielding frogs coming from either side.
Attack, attack, attack with my little rat spear. A frog with a nailed club comes at me first. I venture forth and the amphibian warriors finally see me, turn and yell out their battle call. I can see the armoured frog enemies up ahead, gathered around a camp fire. A gorgeous, enormously charming 2D aRPG, Tails of Iron is a challenging and deeply rewarding soulslike game.
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