Tails Of Iron 2 Seems To Improve On Its Predecessor In Almost Every Way - Preview

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

Ever since the release of Dark Souls, the rise of the souls-like genre has become one of the most well-known types of games in existence. Many developers have tried to create their spark in a more unique way, usually taking a 3D route with a new setting or focusing on interesting mechanics, but it all still has the heart and soul of the Souls games that FROMSOFTWARE developed. However for me, it's the 2D style that interests me the most, and Tails of Iron is one of my favorites.

It feels unique when compared to other titles in the genre. The story is engrossing, with interesting anthropomorphic characters and very solid gameplay, but the visuals hooked me. There's something truly beautiful with how the game was designed, with fantastic lighting that illuminates the hand-drawn art. To my joy, I got hands-on with the sequel, Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter, and while the demo I played was shorter, it improved upon the original game in almost every way.

The game starts off with a bang, with The Dark Wings returning to exact revenge after being defeated in the past. You play as Arlo, the heir to the Warden of the Wastes, whose entire life has been flipped upside down after The Dark Wings attack the kingdom. Now, he vows to take revenge for his kingdom being razed and his father being killed while balancing rebuilding the area. While everything was happening quickly, and Arlo went right into his role as the new king, I was hooked. The introduction of The Dark Wings and fighting off the remnants of the Frog Clans from the first game meshed well together.

As far as combat goes, it feels more refined and retains the toughness I would expect from souls-like titles. You will rely heavily on dodge rolling, blocking, and parrying to take down enemies relentlessly attacking you. Luckily, the enemy will have either white, yellow, or red lines around them when they are about to attack, which tells you how to combat the attack. White means you can block easily, yellow means you can parry or block, and red means you must dodge. Balancing all this while attacking the enemy is essential, and even the non-boss foes can take you down if you don't pay enough attention.

When killing enemies, you can loot and get crafting material to make and upgrade weapons and armor. Each weapon has its stats and elemental affinities, which can cause your attacks to do much more damage if you have the correct ones. Because of this, I ended up hoarding weapons and trying to get my favorite one for each element. Armor and ranged weapons, like bows and guns, also have different elemental affinities, so planning all of that out to give you an advantage against some of the tougher bosses will be very helpful, and there are some huge, obnoxious bosses to overcome.

But that's not all. One of the other new elements added to Tails of Iron 2 is Magic, which you will unlock as you play. You will get spells for each element, which can also be upgraded by going to totems you find while exploring. These can be extremely helpful, inflict status effects, do massive damage, and act as another ranged attack if you need to keep some space. Weaving magic in is extremely easy to do and made each battle I had feel more intense.

Balancing dodging, parrying, blocking, normal attacks, ranged attacks, and magic made each fight a fierce one that I looked forward to. Combat quickly became one of the highlights as I eliminated my foes. There are traps you can buy and use, as well as whetstones to sharpen your weapon for extra temporary damage, but I didn't find myself using them much. I can see them being very helpful, especially with the whetstones and mine, but I was having so much fun with the other mechanics that I didn't think about it.

And then we have my favorite part of the game, the visuals. Tails of Iron 2 continues the trends started in the first game, and I couldn't be happier. The OLED screen of the Steam Deck helped highlight a lot of the color to make each scene vivid and bright, and it was very appealing. There were multiple areas where I just stopped to take a photo and could even see it hung up on my wall.

I also wanted to take a moment to mention how well it runs on the Steam Deck, even in its non-finished form. At 60 FPS, I saw the battery drain around 9W - 11W throughout without any dips. If this trend keeps up, this is going to be a perfect game to play on the Deck, which I am not surprised by, as the first game is also fantastic to play on the go. I did try 90 FPS, and while it does hit it in some areas, I found others that would cap at 67 or not make it to 90. So, for stability purposes, I think 60 will be the way to go.

Overall, it's going to be very hard not to recommend Tails of Iron 2 if the rest of the game is just like the demo I played. It is fantastic, with gorgeous visuals, intense combat, and an enjoyable story filled with side quests and the ability to construct and upgrade your kingdom. I truly can't wait to experience the rest of the game and see what else it will have to offer.

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter can be wishlisted on Steam ahead of its January 28th release, and it is already rated Steam Deck Verified.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!