Tails of Iron Preview

Tails of Iron is a side-scrolling adventure RPG that’s best described as Hollow Knight, but without the metroidvania elements. The demo only featured the opening section of the game, but from what little I played it showed a lot of polish and show that’ll warrant your attention.

The game’s narrative is a tried and tested one: a young child, heir to the throne, about to be anointed to a king who came, conquered, and protected their kingdom from looming threats for prosperity and peace, is struck down and the kingdom attacked by those who would seek calamity over you all. With the king dead, your home devastated, it’s your duty to befall for fallen, and return in kind as they’ve done so to you.

Interestingly the game opts to use symbols and images rather than text for the game’s dialogue interaction between you and other NPCs. In its stead, you get the voice of Doug Cockle, known famously for Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher games. Your mileage for appreciating the narration will vary, as it does sometimes happen during combat sections. That said, the narration adds a certain levity to the experience, making it feel very kids book-like with its distinct art style that feels like Gruffalo series and the like.

That said, a kids friendly game this is not, from its over the top blood of your enemies and the executions you’re able to do to your foes. Alongside this, there should be a warning for the squeamish of bugs as that is ahead in the game. Beyond that, the game is also punishing in a good sense. The combat, for the beginning sections, is forgiving and very easy to learn. But there’s an element of mastery with using different weapons to best suit an encounter. At times, the combat feels like playing the Batman Arkham series when you have multiple enemies in front and back of you, sequencing counters and dodges as you lunge to finish and kill.

Playing Tails of Iron with a controller is recommended, keyboard controls are fixed inputs and you’re not able to rebind anything. Whilst not impossible, the keybindings are somewhat undesirable at times. Beyond that the music works as is, it’s not memorable but then the game doesn’t need it per se when the gameplay portion is as satisfying as it is. Whilst talking to the developers, the game will feature a crafting system and from the sounds of it will provide interesting side quest opportunities with the upgrading the health and your overall equipment being somewhat off the main beaten track. Also, in regards to progressing through the game you will be able to experience 100% of the game on first try. Whilst a small thing, is a welcoming change in case the prospect of missing something is a deterrence to the metroidvania meets Dark Souls amalgamation of games of recent times. A recommendation for those looking for a strong mechanical game that hits that side-scroller adventure RPG.