Tails of Iron from Odd Bug Studio was released in 2021 to relatively little fanfare. I had the pleasure to review it and, like others, I found it well-designed, charming, and deeper than it looked on the surface. Over time, it gained an audience and ended up being very well regarded. With Tails of Iron 2 : Whiskers of Winter, a direct sequel to the original, Odd Bug aimed to build upon the foundation while expanding the game in meaningful ways. With a larger game world, greater enemy variety, and a loot-crafting system, does it retain the charm of the original? Let’s burrow in.
Positive Rat-titude
Setting the table, in Whiskers of Winter you take the role of Arlo, the young heir to the Warden of the Wastes in the northern region of the “ratdom.” While the war between the rats and the frogs concluded in the South, a new evil threatens the North. It’s up to you to forge alliances with the other clans to combat the Dark Wings and save the kingdom.
Embarking on your journey, you’ll instantly feel at home if you’re coming from the first game. The 2D level structure is similar as you move screen to screen via fluid movement that is slightly more weighty than your standard 2D platformer. But it doesn’t take long to recognize some of the advancements the team at Odd Bug has made with the game world.
Tails of Iron already featured a rather unique art direction, and that’s highlighted more broadly in Whiskers of Winter. You’ll travel to several locations throughout the ratdom on your mission to align the clans, each with its own aesthetic and enemy types. Throughout, there are lovely environments on display benefiting from the layering of 2D assets to give the backgrounds depth and life. Combined with a full day-and-night cycle and targeted lighting effects, it’s a truly beautiful game at times.
Working your way through each location, you’ll continue building alliances that are key in re-building your home, eventually leading an army to take the fight to the Dark Wings. As I commented in the original, the story features more heart than you may expect, and I found myself endeared to a few of the NPCs and their personal struggles and/or vendettas. There are a few twists and turns along the way, of course, including a very cool connection to the first game that I obviously won’t spoil.
Overall, I really enjoyed the themes and story arc, and Odd Bug successfully retained the uplifting feeling they instilled in the original game. Thankfully, Doug Cockle (Geralt in The Witcher games) also returns as the story narrator, with a performance that is just as endearing as it was in the original. I also welcome the studio continuing to have fun with references to popular culture and an adept use of puns, which always gave me a laugh. By the end, though, you’re left with a few items that may be preparing you for future expansions. So we’ll have to see where Odd Bug decides to take it from here.
The Ratcher
Whiskers of Winter is a far deeper experience in terms of how you prepare for battles with the variety of beasts you’ll face off against. Retaining it’s brutal and unforgiving combat, Whiskers of Winter will challenge even the most seasoned player. Understanding the enemy you’re about to face, giving yourself all the possible advantages, and learning move sets and timing windows is imperative. Along those lines is also the aspect that’s easiest to nit-pick as sometimes the timing and short delays in action execution can feel a bit cumbersome. Once you tune yourself to it, it becomes second nature, but it does take some acclimating.
It’s worth noting this can be adjusted across three difficulty levels. For those who don’t want to have to master parry timing or worry about item usage as often, there is a story-focused setting that eases things up quite a bit. Of course, should you really want a challenge, you can go the other direction as well with the “Bloody Whiskers” setting that will really push you to the edge.
After experimenting with each, my advice, of all things, is a similar answer I’d give when speaking about The Witcher 3. That is, play on the hardest difficulty you can manage. This is primarily because Whiskers of Winter gives you the items and tools you need to overcome the challenges in front of you, and, in using them, it feels like a more complete game. It forces you to swap weaponry, use items, and to engage with the crafting system more extensively. In the few hours I played on story-mode, it felt decidedly one-note, where I could essentially just hack-and-slash my way to success. But, of course, the choice is left with you!
The arsenal at your disposal is greatly expanded in the sequel as you’ll collect resources and blueprints to be able to craft sets of armor and weaponry. Each has bonuses and drawbacks which are aligned, primarily, with the new status effect system.
There are four status effects introduced in Whiskers of Winter: fire, ice, lightning, and poison, which I naturally will refer to as plague from this point forward. Each enemy has strengths and weaknesses to different status effects, and many of the larger enemies and bosses have the ability to damage Arlo with them. Before fighting noteworthy enemies, Arlo will use his tracking ability to add their profile to your beastiary, thus allowing you to prepare for the hunt.
Adding an additional layer to the tried-and-true combat, Arlo also gains the ability to wield spells for each effect. Combining with your melee and ranged options, the game of cat and rat that you play with some of the more challenging enemies can become rather epic. Besting major enemies and hunts provides you with rarer resources, therefore allowing you to craft more advanced gear. It’s a system we’re all familiar with, yet it’s thoughtfully implemented into an already well-tuned combat system.
Don’t Get Rat-tled
The original Tails of Iron found an audience with it’s tough combat, secrets to uncover, and the feeling of continually making small chunks of progression. Whiskers of Winter is just as successful in this regard. A few times I found myself up way later than I planned simply because I wanted to “just do this one more thing” before turning the game off. And that felt continually true throughout the 15ish hours I spent with the game.
Similarly, the world is larger and offers secrets to uncover, special bosses to challenge, and side missions to complete. Some of these are rather epic and offer unique rewards and high-end gear or materials. Building out full sets of high-end gear requires rare resources, and, thus, you’re able to challenge the larger hunts repeatedly, should you so choose. Crafting the set that fits your playstyle the most is enjoyable, and the designs offer way more variety for the player this time around. And, of course, sometimes you simply latch onto a preferred look for Arlo. I nominate the moniker of “Fashion Rodent” for this, but I’m open to suggestions from the community.
There are a few additional layers for players’ a-mouse-ment. You’re able to customize your home kingdom with unique landmarks, and, over time, you’re tasked with building out your armory, shop, and kitchen. However, once you complete these tasks, there are very few additional aspects to engage with in the world, and I found myself overloaded with resources I had no use for. While it’s possible to continue battling big enemies, after crafting the sets of items you want, there’s little to no incentive to do so. Building in some sort of repeatable, escalating challenges would be very welcome in the future.
Rat-her Impressive
Odd Bug Studio has crafted another superb adventure with Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter. It’s nearly everything you’d want out of a sequel. It builds upon a solid foundation while expanding key aspects of the world, story, and combat in meaningful ways. While it could be argued that Odd Bug should have broken with convention a little further, I think delivering such a polished and fun experience that builds upon the original was the right call.
With two great games featuring enjoyable characters and a unique game world, Odd Bug has crafted a memorable new IP in Tails of Iron. I’m certainly excited to see where they take it next and hope we don’t have to wait too long to see it!
Thank you to the teams at Odd Bug Studio and United Label for providing a review code for Tails of Iron II: Whiskers of Winter. You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.
