Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter – Rats on Ice

Welcome to the Kingdom of Rats! No, we are not in the sewers. Like the name might imply, Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is a sequel to the excellent 2D-action adventure game Tails of Iron. And much like the first game, Tails of Iron 2 is great as well. Essentially, it’s more of the same, but bigger, with some new mechanics, while other things have changed a bit. So, with that, I can safely say already; if you like the first game, you will enjoy this. Nevertheless, let’s burrow into the details!

The North remembers
Just like the south, the north suffers from their own invasions. Instead of frogs, it’s bloodthirsty, and seemingly undead vampire bats of darkness & sharp teeth. They are unquestionably evil, and just like the main character Redgi from Tails of Iron, the new protagonist Arlo suffers his own personal trauma to the invaders. The stories are very similar, as both rats are of royal blood, and both take a hard loss in the beginning of the war. This forces them to step up early, and wield the mantle of leadership – prepared or not. And well, to stop an invasion that will end all rat-life, as we know it.

The story of Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter takes place years later after the first game, but it’s set in the same universe – the same continent, actually. While it has been some time, it’s within living age, which means characters from Tails of Iron will make an appearance in the sequel. Pretty cool stuff, since it’s a treat to see them all again, and to witness what happened to the south after the frogs were defeated. Other than that, it’s not that much more to the narrative. What it sets out to do, it does. It’s a fun fantasy revenge story about a bunch of rats that speak in squeaks. 

Slashing & bashing
Much like Tails of Iron, this sequel is more of the same. Dark Souls -esque combat, where dying and taking lessons from having your tail cut in two is as natural as anything else in the game. In the beginning, the combat is truly tough, before you get good equipment and armor. Even the lowliest worm of a creature can feel like an end-boss. Which is fine, because when you go back to that location, you will feel how the power within you has grown. Both in skill, actual player-skill, and in the form of protection and weapons. That worm that was a sweaty confrontation earlier, is now no more than a swift decapitation move with your ax. It has a pleasing feeling of progression that games with level-scaling miss out on.

What’s new here, beyond the slashing, and the dodging of vicious attacks, is that you now have magic. It’s based on the elements within the game, with poison thrown in for good measure. You have fire, cold, lighting, and poison. The elemental forces also form a crucial part of resistance, both for you and your enemies. The first game also had resistance, but it was linked to the armor, based on the foes you were fighting. With some gear being better than others against certain creatures. Here, most of the creatures will have two elemental strengths and two weaknesses instead of being linked to a specific armor. This means that carrying the right kind of weapon, and armor will be of the highest importance when it comes to combat, but it does not have to be a precise combo.

Not only will you do more damage, if you use for example a sword coated in fire against a creature weak to it, you will also set it on fire, which has a nice damage-over-time effect. With ice, there is a chance of freezing the monster, letting you hack at it like you are a mad ice sculptor. Lighting will stun, and poison, will poison. I’m not actually sure what the last one does, but I suspect it slows down the enemy, beyond doing more damage on direct hits. Having the best weapons and armors will cost you, though, as you will want to carry around equipment for all kinds of encounters. I highly recommend keeping all the armors you earn instead of selling the pieces. Because you never know when you’re forced to switch to something else in a hurry. It also makes upgrading cheaper in the future, seeing as you don’t have to build the armor in question before improving it, if you decide you want to try something new.

Bestiary
To keep you updated on all the animals and monsters out there, you get a book of bestiary. It will list every creature encountered, but to get the juiciest information, you will have to kill them a couple of times first. Now, what is interesting here, is that you might expect elemental power when used against you to do normal damage. This isn’t that case. Instead of suffering from direct health point damage when your resistance has been broken, you instead get stunned – forcing you to scramble from its elemental grip by pressing B (on the gamepad). This can become a real annoyance, and above all dangerous in the middle of a fight. To counter this, you can wear the correct gear, and drink resistance potions. However, you will never become fully immune, it only slows down the build-up effect for the stun. Fighting something that uses elemental attacks in which you carry no protection, becomes a real pain in the neck fast.

I like this addition, even if it can feel unfair at times – seeing your little guy getting blasted back to the rathole from something otherwise avoidable. What is cool here, though, is that you can both sense and see the difference when you prepare for an encounter, to when you have not. It adds another layer of satisfaction to the fighting. Preparing is half the battle, as they say. Yet, I have to add, all these things, from the new gameplay mechanics to the old, can get a bit much to keep tabs on when brawling. However, if I can do it, you can too! And I’m an old guy by now. Regardless, it’s a challenge on normal difficulty, and defeating bosses will feel incredibly gratifying. Making you feel accomplished for days!

Loot & armor
When it comes to weapons, armors and general loot, there is a lot to be found in the world. There are a hilarious amount of gear sets, all with their unique visual style, resistances, and weight. At the beginning, you will probably look like a medieval fantasy rat-clown, as nothing will match. This gets improved when you reach tier two of armors and weapons. Then the life of being a fashionista becomes very much improved. In other words: there is a fantastic amount of customization for all kinds of playstyles. Fast and nimble, or a slow tanky bastard? It’s all up to you. 

There is also special loot to find, but these items, beyond the consumables for combat, are mostly for quests. Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter are filled with side-content, but I wouldn’t say that they are that interesting on a narrative level. They do add to the exploration phase, and overall, the setting made me want to complete them out of curiosity, and for the loot reward. It also gave my cold old heart some warmth when making the kingdom safer for my fellow rats. No deep dive of ten pages of dialogue needed for that, which to me speaks for the game. Sometimes a well-timed squeak is enough to get sympathy and drive a dedicated rat into action!

Painted world
If there is one major stand-out thing about Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter, and its predecessor, it’s the art style. It’s fantastic and full of detail. Everything from the weapons, to the environments are just exquisite. Chef’s kiss! What’s splendid also, is that the excellent art doubles for the animations. It’s great, and very smooth, it’s much like participating in your own adult fantasy cartoon from the 90s. You know the ones, with blood, gore, and sadness for when the inevitable death occurs. It’s all very impressive. Even the backgrounds of the different areas are full of life, and usually reflect the current standing in the story. Town ransacked? Then you will see fleeing rats, or in some cases bunnies hopping for dear life in the background. It’s very pleasing for the eyes, and the same goes for the sound. 

Surprisingly enough, I can’t pinpoint any specific music tracks, but I know it was there, and that it was good. I guess it did its job well enough for me to not notice the tunes that much – except when it was having an extra stress effect on me while trying to survive a boss.

Conclusion
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is a fantastic game, much like the first. It’s bigger, and there are a lot more monsters, and bosses to slay this time around. The first game lasted me around twelve hours, while this one clocked in at around twenty-two hours. The gameplay additions are also fine, even if keeping everything in mind can become hard when engaged in the fast-paced combat. The thing is, I usually complain about bosses on this site. How they often slow the pacing down, and often frustrate instead of being a fun part of the experience. However, in the case of Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter, I didn’t mind them. I did get stuck a few times, yet, it never angered me. It’s weird, but I do think I know one reason why, and that’s because the game does not punish failure that hard. Typically, on death, you are only one step away from trying again. In some games, you must run a whole level before a second attempt, and that can be grating.

If you enjoy 2D-platformers, and Dark Souls -esque combat, this is certainly a buy. I highly recommend Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter. It’s challenging, but it isn’t too difficult if you take the time to learn the patterns of enemies and the mechanics of the game. And it does not overstay its welcome. The story gets wrapped up nicely, but it’s clear the developers left a few threads hanging. I’m expecting DLCs, or some sort of expansion in the future to continue the tail.

Thanks for reading, and have a rat day!

/Thomas