Song of Iron is a welcome palate cleanse. If you’re someone, like me, that feels many contemporary action games have become unnecessarily fiddly in an attempt to extend play time, you’ll find this gritty side scrolling adventure to be refreshingly stripped down.
No forced crafting. No fussy upgradable inventory system. No skill tree micromanagement. Most importantly, no 80-hour commitment, stuffed with side quests and lengthy mo-cap cut scenes, to feel like a Viking badass. From one-man indie development studio Resting Relic (AKA Joe Winter), Song of Iron is sleek, visually striking and satisfying on multiple levels.
Simplicity in action
Song of Iron consistently keeps things straightforward. Story-wise, your Norse village has been razed by raiders, and the only way to save your people, and avenge your loved one, is to gain the aid of the gods. That means proving your worth by battling your way to their mountain temple.
Once you choose your warrior’s gender (a welcome option), you’re off on your punishing quest, which consistently pits you against man, monster and nature. Stripped of all narrative fat, a lean sub-six-hour quest awaits.
Song of Iron adopts a realistic approach to combat resources. Your shield needs to be replaced when it takes too much damage. You also need to pick up arrows, whether they’re found in the world, retrieved from missed shots or plucked from the bodies of your enemies.
Meanwhile, your hero has heath, stamina and magic bars. They’re depleted as you would expect, although health and stamina naturally replenish with rest, while magic requires exposure to granite markers dotted around the world.
Bolstering and diversifying your combat abilities, throughout your journey you’ll find magical gear in the sarcophagi of dead heroes. For short bursts, these activate powers like flaming weapons, a lightning stomp, and a speed buff which is especially handy for the game’s trap-filled platforming sections.
Finally, there are towering runestones that permanently extend your attribute bars – an upgrade that’s essential as your foes become tougher and more numerous. Even if you adopt a more stealthy approach, trying to sneak past enemy clusters, inevitably you will be sucked into some very demanding brawls.
Those are the basics of Song of Iron, pretty much.
Fantasy wish fulfilment trumps flaws
As a one-man project, Song of Iron is a bit rough around the edges. On death, your character often drops straight through the bottom of the screen, and you’ll respawn with lengthy sections to replay. Climbing takes time to master, and switches between ranged and melee weapons are slow. There also isn’t much diversity in terms of adversaries.
This said, Song of Iron is a game where you can put an enemy on his back with a dropkick, follow that move by flinging a cleaver at another foe, and then call the weapon back, straight out of their skull and into your hand to use again. If you want to feel like a hero of Norse legend, someone able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Thor and lumbering frost giants, play Song of Iron.
The game is so immensely satisfying at an emotional and sensorial level that you’re willing to overlook most of its technical shortfalls. It absolutely nails the sense of fantasy wish fulfillment.
There are few things that can top Song of Iron for atmosphere, thanks to its breathtaking, moody backdrops that mix rugged nature and fading mythology. Adding to the sense of immersion is a growling score by composer Will Goss that you feel in your chest, and which brings to mind traditional Nordic/Viking Age folk music from the likes of Danheim and Heilung.
Song of Iron doesn’t just evoke feelings of being Beowulf either. With long stints fighting goblins in mountain halls, and staggering through blizzards that camouflage ice dragons, the game also calls to mind Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. No complaints there.
For the record, probably fifty percent of Song of Iron is just your hero striding across the landscape, but there are unlikely to be many grumbles about that either. It’s such a pleasure to just be in the beautiful game world; to pause and screenshot the diverse in-game environments.
For anyone concerned that Song of Iron will be too samey, there’s actually a pleasing sense of progress. The locations change regularly. Meanwhile, enemies that can kill you with a single strike return later on for duels that are more evenly matched.
The game is what you make of it, though. Song of Iron is never overtly challenging, so you’re encouraged to mix things up in combat for the maximum gratification that comes from choreographing a fight as elegant as it is ferocious. But if you just stick to the standard move set of hack, slash, block and well timed dodges, you will still advance in the game.
“What now?”
Which brings us to the final act. The only thing that’s not especially satisfying about Song of Iron is its conclusion, which takes the game in a surprise direction. It presents a different kind of fantasy fulfillment, to be sure, but the game’s big motivational set-up is never resolved.
Even worse, the last level’s more enclosed environments tend to be buggy – push a block instead of pull, and it’ll get stuck – and you may spend 15 minutes running back and forth before you realise an obscured surface is climbable.
Again, it doesn’t really matter. Song of Iron may not end as strongly as everything that precedes it. However, it consistently strikes so many chords at a visceral level that you’ll probably find yourself revisiting it much like your favorite fantasy epic – to once more feel like a battle axe-swinging badass of legend. Embark on this hero’s journey.
Song of Iron releases tomorrow, August 31, on PC (via Steam) and Xbox consoles.
| Song of Iron review | |
Song of Iron may be a bit rough around the edges, and its ending is more concerned with leaving a door open than providing resolution. That said, the game delivers a visceral wallop. It’s both stirring and stunning, encouraging you to feel like a hero striding through legend, as you ascend to legendary status yourself. It’s fantasy wish fulfillment done right, and comes recommended as satisfying escapism in compact, highly digestible form. |
8.5 |
| Song of Iron was reviewed on PC | |
Gary
This looks fantastic!