Tails of Iron - Overrated...

It is not common in cultural society to scold creative people, especially creative newcomers. Games are just as creative as fine art, music, and sculpture, so the rule in the first sentence applies in part to the games industry as well. Faded works simply get lost in the flood of information and stagnate in obscurity...

Tails of Iron, however, has suffered such a fate. As the debut project of Odd Bug Studio the game was warmly received by both critics and players. An average score from the publishers - 9/10 and an impressive 81 points on Metacritic - is not a measure of success? The developers from Odd Bug Studio admitted that while working on their brainchild they were inspired by Dark Souls - another trigger for any player. However, what is the game for us pretentious gamers?

In the kingdom behind nine mountains

From the opening video Odd Bug Studio clearly make it clear that we are waiting for the usual fairy tale. In a certain fantasy state, there has been a long war between rats and toads. The toads are portrayed as vile, belly-laughing creatures with the only motivation being land grabbing. The rats, on the other hand, have suffered monstrous losses for years, fighting off the attacks of the invaders. But war cannot last forever. The Rats have been saved by a leader, and a new Rat King has ascended to the throne. With a will of steel, he united the kingdom and gave the toads a fight.

For a moment peace prevailed, but time spared no one. The once brave king has become so old that he cannot hold not only a sword, he can barely hold his crown in his hands. But the king has two sons, heirs to the throne: the elder Dennis and the younger Reggie. One of them is our protagonist. Guess who. To inherit the crown, the sons must fight in the arena. The winner gets the crown.

Of course, our protagonist, Reggie, wins the fight. But the triumph was short-lived. At the coronation, the toads seize the moment and raid the kingdom.

Losing consciousness, Reggie is saved from death. The rat kingdom tries in vain to defend itself, but in vain. Yesterday's loser Reggie, who can't even hold a sword well, decides to restore justice and kill the toad king.

Ahead are adventures, difficulties, courage and honor...

...As we can see, Odd Bug Studio decided to take the path of least resistance and tried to tell the classic three-act story without script extravagances. They tried - for the story came out too classic. Avoiding spoilers we can say that Reggie has only point "A" and point "B". And in general Tails of Iron - the game is not about the story with unexpected plot twists. The story is just a background for logical reasoning. No heated passions, vicissitudes or grey morality. We are faced with a children's fairy tale in a not-so-children's wrapper...

What was loved and what was embarrassing...

Don't let the eye-catching visuals deceive you. Yes, Odd Bug Studio was largely inspired by their pets, but the game strangely combines the stylistics of a medieval European mural and the drawings of the notorious Darkest Dungeon. No, it's not Cult of the Lamb, which falls in love at first sight and the picture and the music, but it is not a mediocre copy, Tails of Iron has its own style, any thoughtful person will notice it. What stands out is the movement animation - Reggie doesn't walk on his hind legs like a disguised rat, but runs hopping, as befits a rodent. The movement animation is probably the only truly unique mechanic of the game. In addition, the backdrops are drawn with great love for detail, moving slower than the foreground, which creates the illusion of a three-dimensional picture.

The second thing Tails of Iron praises is its supposedly unique combat system. It's not a souls'like, even though Reggie's arsenal includes rolls, parries, and shield blocks - none of this is about the hardcore nature of Miyazaki's creations. First of all, Tails of Iron has no stamina scale, which is the core of any souls' gameplay. Secondly, there are no builds in Tails of Iron. Yes, just like in other souls'like, there is a division into light, medium, and heavy armor, but they do not play a special role in combat. Tails of Iron doesn't allow you to build a lightweight rover that plays from critical damage; or an impenetrable tank with a billion health points.

Moreover, the "defense" characteristic exists as if in isolation from the game, it is only the "resistance" to certain types of enemies that matters. In this the developers' attempts to make the player change the protagonist's clothes according to the situation can be seen. Odd Bug Studio did a good job - they added so much armor. The worn suit changes appearance, gets dirty after bloody battles and even visually wears out. As for the company's first work, the result is impressive. However, only developers and critics will understand and appreciate it, but for the players it is a trifle. Players want content, replayability and variability, this Tails of Iron can not boast. Is it a joke that in the first half of the game you get the most powerful weapon in the game after the most difficult boss?

The grades are not justified?

But the question remains: what's wrong with the combat? Why isn't it unique? Because the game supposedly lets you beat yourself. In any souls'like the player is brutally punished for mistakes and forced to learn the movements of opponents by heart, in Tails of Iron the opponents take long swings, as if to warn: "Now I'll hit you hard. Stand back!" A halo appears around the enemies: yellow if the blow can be blocked or parried, red if only rolling will help.

Add to all this the fact that the protagonist cannot stop in an instant, that movements have inertia, and you get a sour control. The pace of the game is as if you are playing with an extreme response delay. Perhaps the problem isn't felt as much on a gamepad, but on a keyboard it's an abomination.

The only thing that detracts from Odd Bug Studio's guilt is the normal default key assignment on both PC and console. No wonder, since you can't change the layout to your own, custom keys...

Tails of Iron is positioning itself as a role-playing game, but there are no character levels, no clear economy, no builds. From the role-playing game here is only a semi-open world, but here, too, the trouble. The thing is that all the locations are built in the usual way for metroidvans, take a look for yourself:

...Except that there are no elements of metroidvania here. Yes, sometimes you have to go back, but no original secret rooms, and certainly no "New Game Plus". Let the locations and painted with love, but the variety does not shine. To put for this game reprimand does not turn my tongue, because this is the debut project of the developer, but what does it matter to the players?

Bosses. Bosses are another pain of Tails of Iron. The situation with boss battles is ambiguous. On the one hand, the bosses make the player sweat, testing his reaction rate, on the other hand - the bosses are more like beating the pants off of the player than making him show his wits.

It is the boss battles that clearly illustrate the game in miniature. Bosses are colorful - just like the whole game; bosses have phases - an attempt to diversify the gameplay; bosses are moderately difficult - just like the whole game. And also the bosses make you do the same thing time after time and don't shine with variety - like the whole game...

Conclusions

Tails of Iron would be a great game if it were created by students as a thesis, but for a game on a budget, Tails of Iron is not amazing. It has no unique mechanics, which is the main point. Secondary is the viscosity of the gameplay and zero balance. For non pretentious players, Tails of Iron will do for passing a couple of evenings, but for those who are mired in the indie sector, it's better to pass by.