I can’t tell if there simply isn’t any invulnerability on the dodge, if I’m just constantly mistiming it, or what. I’ve only ever successfully avoided an attack when I was either already a ways off from the enemy and could easily roll to safety without their weapons ever coming close to me or the attack made the enemy leap into the air long enough for me to slip underneath them. It begs the question: when am I supposed to dodge? Am I supposed to dodge through attacks or away from them? I’ve put several hours in at this point and I still don’t have an answer.

I once got hit by a ground pound attack from a large enemy and, despite it looking like I was clear by all accounts, I was still hit because I guess the hitbox is deceptively large. But if I try to time it properly or am just a touch late, I end up getting hit while dodging. If I’m early, I end up getting hit during the recovery, which - fair probably got the timing wrong. Every time I’ve tried to dodge an attack, unless I’m well out of the enemy’s range, I’m almost always getting hit no matter when I time the dodge. Tails of Iron, far as I can tell, doesn’t subscribe to that notion. Traditionally action games always have some measure of invincibility on evasive moves to ensure you can use them to avoid damage, ideally so you can roll through attacks to not get hit and still maintain a good position or even retreat safely. The indicators of such attacks are clear and easy to spot (red icons that appear over their head as they prepare to strike), giving you plenty of time to see them and dodge on reaction. Your shield can absorb some hits perfectly and parry others (the parry is very good, by the way), but the majority of the time you need to roll out of the way.

Tails of Iron is a game that emphasizes defense partially because most of the attacks every enemy uses are unblockable. It’s the nature of the game’s dodge roll that’s the problem. Translating that sort of combat design onto a 2D plane isn’t easy, but Tails of Iron does a really strong job of doing so. Coupled with how much damage one good hit does, it makes most fights - even the most general encounters - feel tense. It often feels like a standoff due to how much time you and your foes alike spend waiting for the other to act. Most of the time, this creates a very measured sort of combat: lots of moving back and forth waiting to see what the enemy does, preparing yourself to react accordingly. The game instead wants you to hang back and wait for an opening. Rushing in and swinging wildly is a quick way to meet your demise. In Tails of Iron, you’re encouraged to play a very defensive game. There’s no stamina meter, but equip burden (which does affect the speed of your dodge roll), attack animations with long wind-up and recovery, a measured approach to combat… that sort of thing. When I say small Souls-like influences, I mean in terms of feel and some basic mechanical similarities. From developer Odd Bug Studio, Tails of Iron is a side-scrolling action-RPG with some small Souls-like influences in its combat design that is largely successful at what it does - mostly.

You ever play a game you were largely enjoying but eventually had to put down because you couldn’t put up with one small problem anymore? That’s me with Tails of Iron.

Tails of iron all weapons