Tails of Iron Reviews
Essential for the remainder of the year and will surely be on the indies podium of 2021.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Not every task and mission is equally interesting and some of Tails’ movement mechanics feel slightly unresponsive, but those are small dings against an otherwise very enjoyable rat-centric game, and we don’t have nearly enough of those.
Tails of Iron's biggest highlight is its fun and challenging combat. The title is a pleasant surprise and one of the best indies games of the year.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Tails of Iron borrows inspiration from other challenging games, but its beautifully crafted world and thought-provoking narrative definitely deserve your attention. Every new area offers more to explore and tests your skills to see this rodent’s adventure through until the end. Tails of Iron is an under-rat-ed gem that will make a mighty fine addition to your indie game collection this year despite some rare bugs and needed updates to the combat systems.
Tails of Iron is a 2D action adventure with RPG elements, and various soulslike formulas particularly framed in demanding combat. Despite the many RPG elements, the core of the adventure is combat, so the progress ends up being quite linear and the lack of variety of situations is accused. Of course, the combat is well implemented - with many familiar elements from the Souls franchise - and it is quite fair as well as demanding. Audiovisually is at another level for the quality and the care put by the developers. One of the indie surprises of the year.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I had a really good time playing through Tails of Iron’s adventure, with the gorgeous visuals and robust combat mechanics the stand-out features. It was easy to root for Redgi to succeed, whilst venturing further across the world and vanquishing the enemies that roam it was a real treat. It was guilty of being a little bit repetitive with some of its side quests and the world isn’t as expansive as similar titles in the genre, but Tails of Iron never outstays its welcome and doesn’t stop being fun to play. Add to that the fact that it runs really smoothly on the Nintendo Switch and it becomes clear that it’s an adventure that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy.
Tails of Iron is a perfect adventure for ARPG lovers. It presents a gentler challenge than other similar titles, but equally enjoyable, and its 2D drawn world grabs you from the very first moment.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Tails of Iron is a fantastic action RPG with great hand-drawn art and challenging souls-like combat.
The indie developer Odd Bug Studio brings us Tails of Iron, a perfect combination of an RPG and souls like adventure that is a true gem not to be missed in 2021.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Tails of Iron has surprised me very pleasantly. For all the most demanding players and especially for lovers of the souls genre, this title will satisfy your taste while surprising you
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Tails of Iron is a difficult, brutal and fascinating action-RPG, a black fairy tale that deserves attention, especially if you want an adventure with tight and powerful combats.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Odd inventory design niggles aside and shopworn concepts aside, Tails of Iron is beautifully presented and a roundly entertaining, surprisingly grim action RPG that boasts a grandly enjoyable combat system. Fans of punishing action RPGs and grimdark fairy-tales will find much to love here.
Overall, Tails of Iron ties together a beautiful medieval world with RPG mechanics and a brutal combat system for a challenging adventure RPG you’ll be thinking about long after you put the controller down. Combat is brutally difficult, but although you’ll often be left howling at a defeat, Tails of Iron’s charming world and in-depth combat customisation will have you back before long, ready to try again. Oh, and just one more time for good measure: Damn you, Clubba!
I really enjoyed my time with Tails of Iron, it had a very mature story to tell wrapped up in a charming yet dark world. The clever use of communication between the creatures while using ‘Geralt’ for narration duties is definitely one of my highlights from this game. While I am not a fan of the ridiculously named ‘Souls-Borne’ genre, there was so much to love about Tails of Iron that it was easy to overlook. Sure, the combat was very difficult but who doesn’t like a challenge; I just hope we get to see more from Redgi and his brothers in the future.
In my final attack on Frog Village, I found farmer frogs tending to their fields in between fights with enemy frog soldiers. Odd Bug Studios including them shows that even the big enemy isn't only evil; this is a civilization that unfortunately happens to hate Redgi's. The care and attention to world building would have been enough to keep me playing Tails of Iron, but the tight combat made it a joy to play the whole time.
Tails of Iron isn’t the biggest adventure in the world – while it has numerous maps to explore, they’re not particularly expansive – but it does have a lot of heart. It’s easy to warm to Redgi despite him not having a voice, which is quite an achievement in itself, and as you travel around his kingdom, fighting off bugs, frogs and other pesky creatures, you’ll come to care about his fate. It’s the combat that’s the real star of the show here though, encouraging you to keep an eye on the various quest boards even when the tasks they offer only send you to the same few locations.
While it may not wholly lean in on its RPG roots enough, Tails of Iron is an indie to squeak about. Its combat is punchy, and the charm of its striking art style is nigh-undeniable. Odd Bug Studio seemingly includes a tease for a follow-up at the game’s end, so I hope Tails of Iron does not end up underrated—it deserves a sequel.
Its 2D world is truly engaging, while the challenging combat offers plenty of satisfaction once it is mastered. Tails of Iron might not be an overly ambitious game, but it is entertaining and rewarding.
Any game that tosses in a lovely homage to 90s wrestling via its medieval arena combat portions is at least worth your good attention.
Tails of Iron is a solid, confident entry to the genre. The tightly focused encounter design, meaty combat and enjoyable world-building and storytelling with adorable rodents who think they’re people, I didn’t find much not to like. The difficulty may be a turn-off for some, but the game keeps to the core soulslike tenet of playing fair and making sure that when you die (and you will die), you’ll know what you did wrong to bring it about. If you’re looking for a challenging, rich adventure then I’d highly recommend joining Redgi to reclaim his kingdom and his crown.