4/5 ★ – JacccBlaccc's review of Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter.

Finished: Tails of Iron 2 Whiskers of Winter Platform: Playstation 5 Pro Time: 14:10 Hours Verdict: SUPERB PLATNIUMED Foreword: Tails of Iron 2 Whiskers of Winter is a 2D Action RPG from Odd Bug studio. The Game takes place after the events of its predecessor in the northern region. The Gameplay is GOOD You have some good traversal. The Exploration is good. There are few secrets to discover. The Platforming is really disappointing and especially the jumping is enormously bad. The Combat is SUPERB It offers a broad range of weapons with various focus points and elemental tendencies. The melee is simple but fantastically implemented. It's pacing is rather medium but it works well that way. You also have a range weapon on your proposal, that has, as aforementioned, various tendencies. In addition, the elemental spells are a new battle mechanic in the Tails of Iron Series. It opens up a new way to damage and be tactical as encounters have elemental weaknesses and strengths. On your defense side of things, you have your block, parry and dodge. The block scales the damage you take, depending on the encounter's elemental strength or weakness as well the damage amount itself. Non-colored attacks can be dodged, blocked and parried. Same with yellow-colored attacks, aside it knocks you out for a few seconds if you try to block it. The red-colored attacks only can be dodged to avoid taking damage. Overall, it is a superbly integrated combat system. The Bosses are SUPERB The Fights have great variations and ideas to it. The Arenas are average. The Movesets of the bosses are plenty and well qualitative. The Designs are great. High in quality and high in quantity and fits the games theme magnificently. The Enemy Types are AMAZING The sheer amount is extremely respectable. Their designs are creme de la creme. Their movesets, by their nature of high quality of quantity, are inevitably outstanding. The fights always have excitement to it. It is one of Odd Bugs best executions in Tails of Iron 2 Whiskers of Winter. The Main Quest Designs are SUPERB They are in biteable sizes and never overstay their welcome. They make smart usage of the levels volume by adding points of interest in before blank areas to revisit them that creates a neat familiarity to it. You travel through different locations and meet various tribes and their tribulations and try to ease them. You rebuild your outpost by recruiting new fundamental members and assist them by scavenging necessary materials to do so. You prepare an offensive against the Dark Wings by improving your weaponry and vitality through strengthening your smith and your cook. You battle your fiends who come in all sorts of races and places. The Side Content Design is SUPERB You fulfill NPCs' requests to find items scattered in the world. Some are found by exploration, others by trades or loot drops. There are also hunt quests with various designs. Some demand to diminish a group of Enemy Types on a certain spot, others are designed to hunt down Mini Bosses that drag from location to location and result in a climax. There are also optional paths that require collectables to enter, that have mysteries to it. The Upgrade System is GOOD There are essentially three pillars of upgrade possibilities. The initial upgrades of fundamental buildings that are required for subsequent upgrades. The Smith, the Cookhouse and the Shop. Each Building can be further upgraded for extending the building's proposition. The Smith offers a higher level of weapon and armor upgrades. The Cookhouse offers a permanent upgrade of your health bar after delivering the necessary ingredients. The Shops proposition widens and deepens by each upgrade. All upgrades have a neat sensation of accomplishment and provides advantage to beat the Bats. The Loot System is GOOD There is a ton of loot, material and items. Especially, the amount of weapons and armor is astonishing. A lot of the loot is a requirement for upgrade purposes. Other loot is solely meant for exchange for currency. The Story is GREAT Arlo, the son of the Warden, is confronted with the task to rebuild the destroyed northern outpost, Winter's Edge, after the Dark Wings and its monstrosity have killed the Warden and most of his people. The Plot is GREAT It follows Arlo, who is out for blood of the Bats, who murdered his father and a big portion of his people. He travels across land and water to find equals to join Winter's Edge to build it to its old glory. He meets new kinds, assists them to handle their affairs and offers them a new home to heal wounds and grow together. They prepare for a war against a common Enemy - The Dark Wings. The Screenplay is GREAT It introduces Arlo, on a father and son hunt. It sets the mood quite sweet and develops it quite bitter. You are attached, not only to Arlo, but to all people fallen victim to the iniquities of the Bats. The Characters are SUPERB They are relatable and understandable and that without voice performances but with their aura and gestures alone. You root for them right from the get go. The Voice Acting is SOLID Aside from the narrator, who has an amazing voice acting performance, there is no voice acting being covered. I think its a real bummer as the story would benefit from a similar performance level as Doug Cockle to uplift the overall experience. The Dialogs and Texts are GOOD The only dialogs and texts that can be found are the coverage of the narrator. They nail the current events perfectly. Nonetheless, the game would have benefited immensely, if there were dialogs and texts among characters instead of pictures in text boxes. The World Building is SUPERB Various biomes contain various atmospheres. The Fall feeling, the Winter's Bleak, the Spring and its rain, the Summer in the south. They're all distinctive and stand on their own. It is fulfilling to travel across these locations and witness unique architecture and fashion. Odd Bug sincerely delivers the sensation of tribes having own traditions and lifestyles. The Level Designs are GOOD They are well connected and the placement of objects is mostly unproblematic (given the above mentioned disappointing platforming). There are a handful of shortcuts that are barely necessary as the connection of the levels are very good. The Fast Travel Points are good as well. In some areas I'd like some more but there is never a road too long to make me annoyed about the lack of Fast Travel Points. Loot has prefixed positions that constantly respawn which is odd but useful, I guess. I think the levels could have had a more complex structure to contain a more dense constitution of secrecy and mystery. The CGI / Cut-Scenes are SUPERB They are all in-game with the incredible artstyle. It is a blessing to watch a rather little yet magnificent Cut-Scene roll out. The Graphics are AMAZING Every single screen is beautiful. The developers used the Parallax artstyle and it translates the entire scenery to an absolute eye candy. Every frame is gorgeous. The Animations are SUPERB Arlos' animations are mostly fine. The animations of the NPCs around Arlo and in the background layer behind him creates the immersion of a breathing and living world. The Finishers are the highlight of the created animations. They look super satisfying in the process. Absolute Cinema. The OST is GOOD It has some very subtle tracks that give the moment to moment their moment. The Audio Design is SUPERB I am constantly surprised by the sound executions of smaller titles. And Tails of Iron 2 Whiskers of Winter is also one of them. It is all these small audio cues that help to sell me the world. Refilling the healing potion, the heavy armor set of Arlo when he marches against a group of foes, the wind blowing on a landslide, a forge hammer in a tent when passing by, all that and many many more are just a subtle delight and a convincing assistance for immersion. The Internal Trophy Overview are GREAT I always appreciate an internal trophy overview with quick access and clean sight. Every game should follow suit. It encourages to hunt trophies. The Fall Damage is BAD It is totally unnecessary as there's barely any repercussions. Neither the level designs nor any quest design aligns any logic for the choice of Fall Damage with that intensy. It is just obnoxious. The Bestiary is GREAT It comes very handy when confronting encounters. Notably, against Bosses and Mini-Bosses as it contains not only the activity of area and time of enemies but also their weaknesses and strengths. Gameplay GOOD Combat SUPERB Bosses SUPERB Enemy Types AMAZING Main Quest Designs SUPERB Side Content Designs SUPERB Upgrade Systems GOOD Loot System GOOD Story GREAT Plot GREAT Screenplay GREAT Characters SUPERB Voice Acting SOLID Dialogs & Texts GOOD World Building SUPERB Level Designs GOOD CGI / Cut-Scenes SUPERB Graphics AMAZING Animations SUPERB OST GOOD Audio Design SUPERB EXTRAS Internal Trophy Overview GREAT Fall Damage BAD The Bestiary GREAT BREAKDOWN Gameplay - Jumping BAD Voice Acting - Narrator AMAZING Animations - Finishers SUPERB