The Indie Informer

With smoke from the war — replete with losses, twists, and triumphs — still hanging in the air, I was excited to head back into Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter‘s world. The exploration, level design, and discoverable rewards are the game’s highest gameplay peaks.

The difficulty is I spent so much time in the game’s lowest gameplay valleys. The combination of limited saving and battles that demand a little more than the controls allow is a frustrating blow to my soul.

A beautiful medieval, hand-drawn fantasy cataloging the intrigues of the Ratdom, Tails of Iron 2 begins with a royal bastard and undead nightmares awakening. The narrative pulls me from comfortable sheets to the destruction of all I’ve ever known. I feel the weight of unexpected responsibility. I’m unprepared and unequipped to rebuild my crumbled world, but my burning rage pushes me to revenge.

It’s undeniably intriguing that Tails of Iron 2’s combat requires brain as much as brawn. Enemies’ color-coded moves indicate whether I should dodge, parry, or shield to survive the onslaught unscathed. When it all comes together, I feel wildly skilled — like I fought through fire and emerged tempered steel.

Unfortunately, these mechanics require just a little more than the controls allow. The movement doesn’t flow like a Dead Cells or Nine Sols, it’s much more weighted. This means dodging is uncertain, parry timing isn’t precise, and the shield takes a fraction too long to rise to my defense.

The frustrations compound with the game’s antiquated saving. Namely, there’s no autosave. This culminated in what, for me, was one of the most maddening gaming moments I’ve experienced in recent memory. Having taken on a harsh, two-phase boss battle multiple times, I slowly mastered the timing for each of my foe’s moves. Even then – with tools like exploding traps, element-based magic, and damaging-increasing whetstones – it was a bitter battle to snatch an eventual victory.

Out of healing and with only a sliver of health to my name, I rescue a captured cohort of rodents before heading back to the save point located in the next room over. Unfortunately, a series of elevated ramps separated me from this goal and, before reaching the save, I slipped off one. The damage from falling ten feet was enough to wipe the rest of my health. I respawned with all my hard work undone, with the boss waiting for me once more.

I saw red. I cursed. I thought of never playing again. But, to give credit to the devs, they offer a great tool to keep me from flinging the game away at this moment. As a saving grace, I can go into the settings at any moment to change the difficulty level, which I immediately did.

The sad thing about the lower difficulty is it robs combat of its unique strategy, reducing it to a smash-fest which is often over too quickly. In this case, it was worth it, but I grieved the loss of the intriguing back-and-forth elements. I also felt upset that the ingredients were all here for a combat system I would have adored, but it just doesn’t come together.

Refusing to be overshadowed, the world is so worth pushing through the frustration to revel in. Every level offers a unique and complex biome with a buffet of side quests, hunting opportunities, resources, and joyful traversal. Though the main story leads me through each realm, often to recruit a personality-filled member of the court I was rebuilding from ashes, there’s so much to see and do besides this.

One of my favorite off-the-beaten-path treats is the intricately designed equipment sets – a mind-boggling array of which will never be seen by the player. Each set offers its own elemental buffs, damage defense, or attack stats which could be the difference between victory and defeat. The effort that went into these is impressive – as are the characters and world-building that support the environments they lie in.

It’s disappointing how often Tails of Iron 2 leads me to wander the darkened valleys of over-demanding combat and back-track-demanding save points. However, the view from the mountain summits – the game’s secret-filled levels, propelling narrative, and magical visuals – cast sunlight on even my hardest experiences.