Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter Review

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter 2 Review

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is a 2D platformer souls-lite where players defend their kingdom from necromantic bats and other menacing predators, all from the perspective of a rat.

In this snowy sequel, players are put in the shoes of Arlo, a young rat who has to step in as the Warden of the Wastes after his father is killed during a raid. Arlo is now the commander of Winter’s Edge and must rebuild his outpost before seeking vengeance.

Will you succumb to the harsh winter cold after having your kingdom destroyed, or will you rise up and claim revenge in Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter?

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter
Developer: Odd Bug Studio
Publisher: United Label
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: January 28, 2024
Players: 1
Price: $24.99

Tails of Iron 2 is a direct sequel to the previous game in the series, picking up on its story after the frog and rodent wars have been settled. The game is framed as one of the many tales found in a storybook, which its narrative and visuals help sell as a concept.

The characters only speak to each other through emotes and various animal squeaks, so a narrator fills in the gaps for the player by either describing the current scene or by delivering some insight into what Arlo is thinking.

The story is surprisingly dramatic at points, even if mostly straightforward and devoid of any big twists or reveals. The supporting cast that joins Arlo in rebuilding his outpost is also composed of interesting characters, although they don’t have many individual moments to shine.

Tails of Iron 2 is best described as a souls-lite, as it picks and chooses certain elements from the genre but doesn’t necessarily adhere too closely to them. Combat is mostly a game of Simon Says, where enemy attacks have different colors that expect different reactions from the player.

Most enemies have four types of attacks, which need to be acted against accordingly. White attacks are meant to be blocked, yellow attacks are meant to be parried, red attacks are meant to be dodged, and non-colored attacks can be dealt with any way you want. In reality, the player can dodge through all attacks, but their windows tend to be much shorter if they aren’t red.

Combat is smooth and mostly generous with its opportunity windows, especially for parries, making it a somewhat friendly entry into the souls genre. That doesn’t necessarily mean the game is easy, at least not at first anyway, as it features what feels like a reverse difficulty curve.

Tails of Iron 2 features a Monster Hunter-esque gear system, letting players craft armor sets and weapons out of body parts collected from deceased enemies. Combat mostly revolves around different elements, with each enemy having damage types they are weak or strong against.

This system also applies to weapons, meaning that players can do regular, increased, or decreased damage to enemies, depending on the element used. Matching elemental weaknesses properly is the game’s bread and butter, but it also messes with the difficulty a lot.

Players looking for a challenge might have to purposefully neglect the gear system, because matching elements properly somewhat trivializes the game. Tails of Iron 2 is at its hardest right near the beginning and never really manages to escalate properly after the player starts upgrading their armor and weapons.

The game features a solid story campaign with more than double the length of the previous game, as well as different side quests in each area. Most side quests rely on backtracking to a boss arena and killing a group of enemies or different elemental bosses, which feels a little uninspired.

One of the more egregious examples is found early in the game, where the player can fight the same boss four times in a row. A player looking to complete the game’s first area will encounter the Slither Scale boss during the main quest, as a hunt, as a surprise encounter at the end of an extermination quest, and then roaming around the map, which is not a good first impression.

Most bosses have either very similar or shared moves, as it feels like they were all created around some framework that split them into different categories to make their fights uniform. It’s understandable that two different flying bosses would behave somewhat similarly, but the lack of varied movesets makes fights blend together.

Overall, Tails of Iron 2 is a fine souls-like, although it plays things so safely that it fails to be interesting in the end. The gear system is basic, the bosses are very similar to each other, and the exploration is bland. The game’s best feature is its combat system, which eventually fails to provide any sort of challenge to the player.

As someone who routinely plays short demos and turns them into full-length articles, it feels weird to have played a game for 22 hours and not have that much to say about it. Tails of Iron 2 is so straightforward for the most part that it fails to register on a conscious level, despite not even being a bad game.

It doesn’t feel great to criticize a title that has clearly had effort put into it and is even somewhat charming in its execution, but Tails of Iron 2 simply fails to be different or interesting, at least to someone who is more than familiar with the genres it borrows from.

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter was reviewed on Microsoft Windows using a game code provided by United Label. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. The game is set to release January 28, 2025, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Windows (through Steam).

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The Verdict: 6.5

The Good

  • Combat is smooth and engaging for the most part
  • The game's story is very safe, but still entertaining
  • The art style and visuals are nice

The Bad

  • The game's side quests are repetitive and constantly recycle content
  • The difficulty curve is somehow backwards
  • Most bosses feel very similar to each other

About

Fan of skeletons, plays too many video games, MMO addict, souls-like and character action enthusiast.


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