Kitsune Tails from developer Kitsune Games is a platformer inspired by the classics like Super Mario Bros, steeped in Japanese mythology and it's well worth playing. Note: key provided by the developer.
You play as Yuzu, a Kitsune (fox-lady), and it starts off very much like your traditional platformer. However, it has a whole lot of tricks and game mechanics that will just keep you playing and leave you wanting for more.
For starters, the voice acting, it's especially good. It actually reminds me of Anime-styled voices, which I mean in the nicest possible way as a big Anime fan. The characters sound exactly as I would expect them to and really does add nicely to the experience. With cut-scenes between certain levels and areas, it really helps to make the game feel like this grand adventure, it just feels…so much larger than a lot of other platformers I've played with a story that guides you through friendship, love, jealousy and quickly leads to betrayal.
Like Mario, you get a sort-of life system. Initially you start as a Kitsune (the humanoid form), but if you get hit once you will then be turned into a small fox but you can break special squares to grab an orb to turn back into the full Kitsune mode. Some areas actually need you to be the little fox too, so you can squeeze into some gaps and so if you want to collect everything sometimes it just pays to get hit.
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Fun creature design too like Armadillo looking things you can hit once to curl them into a ball, then give a little kick to launch them across the map, which is useful for knocking a few other creatures out of your way. However, they bounce between walls quite quickly so it might bounce back at you - ouch!
The creatures are designed quite carefully too, so you generally know at a glance what’s safe to jump onto to squish and what isn’t. Are they spiky or on fire? Yeah, best not to touch, they’re not friend shaped. Funny interactions with some of them on how you take them down too. Heck, there's even a little Boss Fight styled flair from early Sonic games in there too which really came as a surprise.
A lot of fun game mechanics to suck you in here. I especially enjoyed the ghost levels early on. If you get close they get angry and chase you across the level, but light lets you pass through them. So stay within the light, or in some cases you need to hold a button to pick up a light to run with it. Some levels require the light (or an enemy emitting a light) to show up something in the level you need, so you don't always squish enemies right away. Lots and lots of little features to make you really appreciate the design of it.
A nice difficulty system too. While the classics have you repeat a whole level when you die, that’s only the middle difficulty here. With the easier option being to let you respawn back in place on a little cloud so you get a short amount of movement to freely place yourself. A perfect touch for those who want a more leisurely pace if needed. You can change that difficulty at any time too, which I will admit 1 or 2 sections (okay maybe 3 or 4) gave me retro-platformer rage after falling to my death or mistiming something for the 100th time. Just having that option to go back to where I was on some difficult bits really helped me personally enjoy it. Although I did find a bug or two with the cloud respawn system, since it’s time limited there’s a few spots to fall where it doesn’t quite bring you back high enough in the level so you have to repeat it anyway.
There's a really good amount of level content here, so you'll be able to get your monies worth for sure. You get access to a shop too quite early on, so you then have an actual point to try and collect all the coins possible in each level, as some of the power-ups can really change how you smash through a level.
When you get further into the game with the elemental power-up system, it really begins to truly shine and becomes much more than just a throwback to Mario which it does feel just a tad too much like initially but soon comes into its own.
Sweet queer story too. Which for a retro platformer, really is far more fleshed-out and in-depth than I expected, and one that I don't want to spoil too much, but let's just say your pure innocence causes a bit of storm for everyone.
What they've done with it is quite ridiculous too, their custom game engine comes right out of the gate with modding support where you can make your own maps and mini-games with Lua and the Tiled editor. There's a few mini-games included like a first-person maze-crawling experience or a Boulder Dash-like game too. I can't wait to see what people come up with.
Overall, I think Kitsune Tails deserves a spot high up on your list of favourite retro platformers. It's an absolute shiny gem. Super charming.
Main Features:
- Classic platforming action set in a land inspired by Japanese mythology.
- Explore five elemental worlds and various haunted houses.
- Learn new elemental powers and use them to find secrets and optional story content.
- Use cute outfits to power up or stomp around by stealing a giant boot from enemies.
- Uncover the reasons behind your childhood friend's jealous betrayal.
- Stomp on pangos to make them curl into a ball, pick them up, and kick them around.
- Carry lights through haunted houses to reveal secret doors and ward off ghosts.
- Unlock and play over a half dozen minigames for cash and power ups.
- Struggling? Buy more power ups at the shop or change playstyles for an instant-revive.
- Play through the bonus world after rolling credits and prove you've got what it takes to beat the kaizo levels.
- Optional true-to-life CRT filter for maximum nostalgia.
- Make custom levels using mature open source tools.
- Create and play custom minigames using the same Lua scripting the developers used.
“Yuzu’s tale is so dear to our hearts,” said Eniko Fox, Founder, Kitsune Games. “We’re so excited to not only share with you all her story, but to see what the community creates in return. We see our community’s passion and want to foster that creativity with an accessible set of game-design tools. Kitsune Tails is just the start — we can’t wait to see where the community takes things from here.”
Available on itch.io and Steam. It has Native Linux support and worked perfectly on Steam Deck.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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