Indie Tails of Iron - Rat-Souls Narrated by Geralt.

[cyborgboy95]

https://www.oddbug.co.uk

Spoiler

ABOUT THIS GAME

Set in a grim land plagued by war, Tails of Iron is a hand-drawn RPG Adventure with punishingly brutal combat. As Redgi, heir to the Rat Throne, you must restore your broken Kingdom by banishing the merciless Frog Clan and their ferocious leader, Greenwart.

As you explore the deceivingly charming world, you’ll encounter a cast of unique companions, ready to aid you in your adventure. And you’ll need all the help you can get, whether that’s new meal recipes, blueprints to forge deadly weapons and armour, or even a land-chugging, armour-plated mole mobile!

Overcome your fears. Rescue your brothers. Restore Your Kingdom.

Your tail has begun…
Explore a Treacherous Kingdom
Fully accompanied by the deep, raspy narrations of the legendary Doug Cockle (celebrated within the world of RPGs), prepare to embark on an epic adventure across the mediaeval-fantasy Rat Kingdom. Complete side quests and faction hunts for some additional gold-on-the-side, or join forces with a sharp-eyed companion to help even the playing field.

Master Brutal Combat
From frog zombies to gargantuan grubs - and everything in-between - the Kingdom is awash with danger. To overcome each perilous encounter, you’ll need to study your opponent’s attacks and react accordingly! Thankfully, there’s a range of deadly abilities at your disposal, including parry bashes and fatal executions, not to mention ranged attacks with your nifty bow and arrow.

Customise your Attack
Adapt Redgi’s combat style to the task at hand. Heavy armour may provide better protection but can you really afford to slow down your dodge-roll? And then there’s the question of weapon; axes pack a punch, while spears are quick and nimble. Perhaps you’d prefer the all-round performance of a trusty broadsword?

Overcome Savage Boss Fights
While danger lurks around every toadstool, you’ll need to keep your wits sharp and your blade sharper when it comes to the devastating boss fights. Cold-blooded in every sense of the word, these oversized amphibians each present their own unique combat challenge, and you’ll need more than a good set of armour to come out on top.

Brew Recipes, Craft Weapons, Forge Armour
Redgi’s keep is also home to his brothers, Rem-Rem, Bam-Bam and Dug. Rem can cook up a health-boosting feast with ingredients found throughout the world, while Bam can craft new weapons and armors from special blueprints you’ll uncover… if you look hard enough. And then there’s Dug, who’ll update you about new quests available throughout the Kingdom.

Features:

• Master brutal combat, inspired by the souls-like genre, featuring dodge-rolls, parry bashes, and fatal executions!
  
• Explore a vast and treacherous Kingdom, comprising six distinct biomes, each with its own hidden paths and secrets
  
• Immerse yourself in a compelling story, narrated by the deep, raspy vocals of the legendary Doug Cockle
  
• Customise your attack style with a vast array of distinct weapons and armour
  
• Assemble a band of brave companions, ready to aid you on select missions
  
• Complete side quests to earn additional gold-on-the-side
  
• Unearth special blueprints to forge new and powerful weapons
  
• Collect rare ingredients to cook up health-boosting feasts
  
• Overcome savage boss fights against the Frog Clan’s deadly, oversized generals
  
• Lose yourself in the gorgeous and lovingly-crafted 2D hand-drawn art style.

 

[agris]

reported for harvesting Darth Roxor +rep

 

[Darth Roxor]

reported for harvesting Darth Roxor +rep

too bad derp souls is shit

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Squeak squeak!!

we have doggy, and kitty.... we need ratty or mousey

 

[DraQ]

So someone made Batrachomyomachia into a vidya?
More importantly, is it good?

 

[DraQ]

Ok, I decided to try it out.

Seems pretty ok, but not as good as it could have been.
Badly suffers from fairly inane storytelling and lack of interesting worldbuilding - I know it's a 2D slasher, but those things can make or break the experience and atmosphere, and neither being 2D slasher nor being about cute little rodents precludes good storytelling.
Combat works pretty nicely, especially if you disable the tokenized tells.
Art style is pretty charming if not entirely my kind of thing.

Frogs have inexplicably green blood even though this isn't the kind of game that's particularly squeamish about gore (despite cartoony style).

If you want to play something where you're a cute little rat or some other rodent, have already played Ghost of a Tale and/or want your cute little rat to gruesomely murder shit all over the place with a cute little zweihander (or other nasty piece of metal) while wearing cute little armour (pretty large variety, actually) soon to be covered by cute little gratuitous blood/haemolymph splatter, then go ahead and give it a whirl.

If not, you are probably not missing out on a life-changing experience (but still do play GoaT).

Overall, whether or not you want to play this, play GoaT first unless you're in a really violent mood (GoaT is almost completely non-violent as far as player's actions are concerned).

 

[Alienman]

Finished this the other day, charming game, not too big, and not too hard. Great visuals. Anyway, decided to write a review of it, which you can find here on my blog, or down below.

Spoiler

Tails of Iron is a 2D action/adventure platformer with light RPG elements made by the British studio Odd Bug Studio. A bit on the “dime a dozen” nowadays, but what makes this title stand out from the rest is the intense care and love that went into it. It’s absolutely beautiful, with charming art, story and characters. Yet, as we all know, graphics and setting isn’t everything. Luckily for us gamers, Tails of Iron hold its own on the gameplay front too!

You play as the little rat Redgi, prince of the rat kingdom, living the royal rat life, when the evil frogs attack the kingdom and kills the king – your dad. The kingdom barely survives, with the survivors ready to take revenge on the frogs, to slowly build up the kingdom once again, and eventually for you to take the throne.

From here on you have to fight your way through frogs, bugs, and other creatures, taking you all over the kingdom. The combat is brutal and fast, and in the usual “Dark Souls” manner there will be a lot of trial and error, but honestly, it wasn’t too bad. I played on normal and only got held up on bosses, not all of them mind you. It is rather forgiving, giving you ways to recuperate just before bosses, and the harder challenges you will have to face. There is plenty of different kind of armors and weapons to find, some secret, some you gain from loot, and some you buy. They have all different stats, but it is rather simple, as in you have to consider how much armor it gives you, how much weight the item has, and if there is any kind of resistance. Not exactly Pathfinder itemization, but changing out weapons and armor still has some satisfaction to it – even if you in general want the one that does the most damage. Heavy weight will slow you down, though, so I kept my weight limit to the middle bracket, which gave me protection and kept me relatively nimble for dodging.

During your romp through the lands, you will gather different quests, and side-quests, but what is a bit odd here is that the game is very linear, and the side-quests aren’t actually side-quests per say. You have to do them to progress, so I’m not really sure why they are called that in-game. Maybe it’s supposed to be some tongue in cheek meta thing, since most people do all the side-content? I don’t really know. And while the game is linear, it does allow you to travel freely, so areas you once couldn’t enter, now you can (if you got the right tool for it). With that I mean it will be a lot of traveling and backtracking if you want to find all the stuff, and kill all the things. Personally, I didn’t mind it. I like getting familiar with the different areas, and the game isn’t that big to begin with.

Gameplay-wise, it’s very entertaining, dodging and hacking foes to the left and right. What does enhance it tremendously is the visuals. Everything is looking top-notch, but what stood out to me the most was the living backgrounds. The man, or woman that made these is a master of his or her craft. The background have several layers to them, which add real depth, and they are full of little quirky animations – like animals running by. It’s a beautiful game, and a real pleasure for the eyes. For some reason, it takes me back to the cartoons of my childhood, and that is always a nice warm nostalgic feeling. Another aspect that is well done is the general background sound and music, and together with the visuals it sets the atmosphere splendidly.

There isn’t much to the story, but in this kind of game I don’t think it matters much, I think it’s probably for the best, actually. I’m not saying there isn’t a narrative, it’s just rather simple – it’s a tale of revenge/survival and helping your fellow man/rat. It is filled with cute moments, though, from characters to areas that often put a smile on my face.

Do I recommend it? Of course, but only if you like 2D-adventures with backtracking required. If you don’t mind that, you are in for great fun, and a cute story of a rat fighting for his kingdom.

Easily worth the buy, especially if you can find on discount.

 

[Modron]

They expanded the end game among other stuff full log here with the pertinent bit below: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1283410/view/6359709656714067923

Bright Fir Forest A New FREE End Game Expansion Now Available!
Greetings Royal Rodents,
Set after the climactic events of the base campaign (straight after the credits), ‘Bright Fir Forest’, a new free end-game expansion, sees our noble Rat King Redgi invited by the Squirrels to celebrate the Festival of Leaf Fall… However, a new foul and revenge-seeking adversary stands to ruin the celebrations.

In addition to 13 new quests that take Redgi to the heart of Castle Drey, the ancestral home of the Squirrels, Bright Fir Forest also debuts three new challengers at the Mole Arena for the King to vanquish.

For those who are ready to rise to the challenge, you will have an even greater choice of weaponry and armour available to forge and use on the battlefield (96 in total), together with more options to customise Redgi’s seat of power – The Crimson Keep – with eight new cosmetic upgrades available.