On Your Tail

On Your Tail was provided by Humble Games for review. Thank you!

Back at Gamescom in 2023, I checked out some of Humble Games' upcoming titles and saw some intriguing ones. One of these was a detective game where you would use a special device to see into the past to find clues and deduce what was happening. It had a unique premise and used a card system to categorize the people, clues, and events you encounter. It was a cool premise, and I love the world that was being crafted, but I was curious how it would hold up in the full game. Well, that curiosity is now satiated since On Your Tail is here! And aside from some minor hiccups, this is a fantastic experience.

On Your Tail lives right up to its description of a cozy detective adventure. You play as Diana, a college writer looking for inspiration to write their next piece. You end up in Borgo Marina, hoping to find the perfect vacation getaway to clear your head. However, the town is racked by a mischievous thief, and it falls on you to investigate and figure out what is going on using your trusty compass-like device, called a Chronolens, that can see into the past.

Without going into detail, the story itself is solid and is brought together by a fantastic cast of characters. The residents of Borgo Marina all feel unique from each other and are a joy to interact with. I was invested in the story and the people of the town, and I didn't find any moment in the tale I disassociated from. Developer Memorable Games did a fantastic job creating an intriguing detective story filled with unique characters.

I also love the visual design that the team went for. Memorable Games is based in Italy, and the inspiration can be seen throughout. From the vibrant building designs to the vocabulary in the way people talk, the influence is clear and seeps through in a very appealing way. It reminds me of Enotria: The Last Song, whose Italian developers also based much of their lore and locations around Italy. It's also exceptionally vibrant, which just shines on the OLED screen that I played on. Even with some very minor graphical hiccups, the aesthetics are clean and gorgeous to look at.

The characters' designs, both in 2D and 3D, are all well done, but I especially loved the 2D designs. The character portraits that pop up when talking and the drawings on each of the cards you collect are just brimming with personality. It made me want to talk to and meet everyone to see what other designs would appear.

For the most part, On Your Tail's gameplay also hits all the right marks for me. You will spend much of your time running around Borgo Marina, talking to individuals, and solving cases to figure out who the thief is and their ultimate goal. To do this, you will first survey the area, talking to individuals and using your Chronolens to gather clues, and then you will put the pieces together to create a timeline of events that transpired. All the clues you gather are in the form of cards, which you will place in the correct order to solve each case.

I had a blast with this system. Putting down the clue cards and seeing how everything plays out in real-time on a diorama board is great, and even if you get the order wrong, the scene will still try to play out. Seeing it visually helped me figure out exactly where I went wrong if I put a card in the wrong spot, and I felt great when I got it right. It always made logical sense and felt balanced in each case, and as the main gameplay mechanic, the team hit it out of the park.

I also really enjoyed the mini-games that are scattered throughout the game. Things like Rock Skipping, playing marbles, fishing, and cooking were all nice distractions to ensure the core gameplay loop didn't get stale. I think this worked out well and evened out the experience to make it feel more varied and keep me interested. You can always go into your mind palace to look at everything you have discovered in that beautifully designed card format.

However, I have some issues with On Your Tail's general mechanics. Using the Chronolens to find clues can be a bit difficult, and with no hand-holding, I did take a while to figure out where the next clue was. There was one time I had to find a bush with some leaves rustles and scan it with the Chronolens, but since it was a little bit away from the crime scene, I didn't think much of it. You can use these Joker Cards to supercharge your device, which will spin fast when it is near a clue, but without that, I did easily miss some of the spots I had to scan.

Traveling around the town is obnoxious as well. There's no fast traveling, so you must run around the whole time. Paired with Diana being a bit slow, even when running, it can take a while to get where you need to go. On top of that, the town's design can be confusing, and the map doesn't help nearly as much as I would have liked it to. Ultimately, these are minor issues in the grand scheme, but they made it take me longer to complete different aspects of the game than I should have.

Luckily, the game is perfectly playable on the Steam Deck, and I loved playing it this way.

On Your Tail - Steam Deck Performance

On Your Tail generally performs quite well on the Steam Deck, and for a bigger 3D world, I am impressed. However, some minor issues consistently popped up for me while I was playing. While running around, it would stick to 60 FPS, but going into new areas would cause some stuttering that I couldn't get rid of. There was also some noticeable pop-in on far-away objects that I would see as I explored around town. Unfortunately, there aren't many graphical settings to change, so I couldn't try playing around with what could have helped.

I also want to point out that the developer also posted some recommended settings they give for maximum performance and battery life. While I did find issues with both of them, whether it be unstable frame rates or stuttering, I want to commend them for trying to give details like the TDP limit and GPU Clock. I wouldn't personally recommend them due to minor issues I found, but again, I appreciate that they tried.

Other than this, the game runs wonderfully. There are a couple of different ways to play it and enjoy it on the go, though I have one clear personal preference as well:

Recommended Settings

I am someone who uses the Steam Deck like it is a portable device, so I like to find a balance and make some sacrifices to ensure good battery life. This is that group of settings. I felt the default settings looked great, and with a FPS limit of 50, it still felt smooth too while saving some extra battery. This felt like the best compromise to keep everything looking wonderful without going overboard on battery life. The only setting that is disabled is Anti-Aliasing, which doesn't change a lot about the visuals overall:

On average, I was getting a battery drain of around 10W - 11W, with some spikes to 13W. There are also some parts of the game, like investigations, the drain less, like around 8.5W - 9W.

Quality/Framerate Settings

However, if you don't care about battery life at all, you can push the game to its limits with the highest graphical quality and 60 FPS. Some of the stutters will make more of an impact, but it is still relatively playable. Running around the city will drain your battery on average at 14W, with some areas going up to 19W - 20W. It's a bit too high for my liking, but it does mean we get the best picture and highest framerate.

Accessibility

On Your Tail does have a specific accessibility section that has 8 different color blindness modes: Protanopy, Protoanomaly, Deuteranopy, Deuteranomaly, Tritanopia, Tritanomaly, Achromatomaly, and Archromatopsia. You can also toggle instant dialogue, auto running, camera sensitivity and inversion, and audio sliders. If you get stuck, there's also an option to unstick the player.

The game does support 16:10 resolutions, cloud saves, and controllers, so it is great to play on the Deck. There are no HDR settings.

Conclusion

On Your Tail is a great cozy detective game that succeeds in almost every aspect that it needs to, with only some minor inconveniences sprinkled throughout. The core gameplay loop is solid, and I really enjoy the way you both get clues and figure out the timeline of events. The mini-games are also a great way to break up the loop, and the world itself is amazing and colorful to explore. It is a bit difficult to navigate sometimes, and using the Chronolens isn't the easiest, but it doesn't change how enjoyable the game is.

And it is wonderful to play on the Steam Deck. The default settings look great and perform well, and with some slight changes to framerate and refresh rate, we can enjoy the portable experience, making this easily the best way to play.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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