Tooth and Tail is set during the 19th century in a society where anthropomorphic animals are facing chronic food shortages. Many animals decided to resort to cannibalism to overcome the shortage. The Civilized, led by Archimedes, created a lottery system that ultimately controlled who was eaten. This way of life sparked controversy throughout the nation; the Commonfolk liked neither the idea of being eaten nor the high cost of food. The son of the wealthy merchant Bellafide was selected to be eaten; he revolted, intending to reshape the food-selection system into one based on some version of a meritocracy. The Commonfolk—led by Hopper who wanted to impose a voting system to replace the lottery—also revolted. To overthrow the Civilized, Hopper and Bellafide joined forces despite their different ideals.
The Civilized engaged in the fight to maintain power and the status quo. Though the revolution had thrown the leadership into general chaos, certain military elements remained organized. Quartermaster, the shady and pragmatic head of the late Tsarina's K.S.R secret police, seized control of military elements and supported Archimedes and the Civilized for the time being.
Towards the end of the game, the pigs, who are dying out from the war, tell the four armies they had relayed false information to the three other armies, tricking them into gathering in one location. As the armies fight each other to the point of destruction, the pigs revolt, revealing they had a plan to overthrow the Tsarina and get revenge for the slavery and eating of their kind. A horde of pigs then ambushes the final standing army, destroying it and leaving the fate of the commanders and the rest of the meat-eating animals ambiguous.
Gameplay
Tooth and Tail is a real-time strategy video game designed for use with gamepads and keyboard-and-mouse setups. The game has single-player and multiplayer modes. In the single-player mode, the player progresses through the story by completing levels of increasing difficulty. Each level features objectives with varying degrees of onerousness, depending on the player's advancement. To complete each level, the basic objectives must be met while "heroic" ones—usually more arduous—are optional. Multiplayer mode can be accomplished through ranked or unranked online matchmaking and local multiplayer split screen. Up to four players may play at once, either as teams of two or compete to be the last one standing.
Before a match begins, players must choose a commander from four factions and then draft six units from a pool of twenty to use during the match. Fifteen of these units are offensive and tiered depending on their strength and cost. The other five units are defensive. All choices are final; other units cannot be unlocked during the match. Once all players have chosen their units, they control a commander of an army and must build structures, such as farms, to gather required resources. Most structures can only be built near gristmills, preventing players from building near enemies while scouting or spying. At any time, players can burrow their commanders back to allow them to create structures. Units are produced at structures called warrens, assuming the player has sufficient food to summon the desired units. Depending on the tier, some units cost more than others. Food is a limited resource, meaning players must strategize their attack in advance. Structures called campfires act as a combination of gristmills and farms, allowing structures to be built near them while also producing food. To win, the player must destroy the enemy's gristmills and campfires. The map is procedurally generated, implying each player will have different advantages and disadvantages each match.
Reception
Pre-release
Prior to Tooth and Tail's release, the game received substantial media coverage because of the development process being made public and the release of alpha play tests. Many writers compared Tooth and Tail to the novels Animal Farm and Redwall. Reviewers including Adam Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Kyle LeClair of Hardcore Gamer and Tom Marks of PC Gamer praised the game for redesigning the concept of the real-time strategy genre. In March 2017, Marks described the single player campaign as being similar to "a bite-sized StarCraft campaign." The art style was also praised prior to release.
Post-release
Tooth and Tail was released to positive reviews from critics, garnering "generally favorable reviews" on both PC and PS4 according to review aggregator website Metacritic.
Critics, such as Eric Van Allen of Kotaku, praised the game's ability to be inviting to newcomers to the real-time strategy genre while also appealing to veterans. Because of this, IGN listed it as a "game you might have missed" in September 2017. Davide Pessach of Eurogamer Italy recommended the game to everyone because of its many hours of fun. Patrick Hancock of Destructoid listed Tooth and Tail on his personal Game of the Year (GOTY) list, saying he would recommend it to anyone, including those who dislike real-time strategy games. Polygon writer Charlie Hall compared the game to StarCraft and wrote "the initial learning curve right now is simply too steep for most players". Brendan Caldwell of Rock, Paper, Shotgun concurred, saying "a tough mission can come along and take a chunk out of your enjoyment".
The gameplay mechanics of multiplayer matches, such as the length and controls, received mostly positive reception. Hall wrote that while the game's single-player mode may be poorly balanced, the multiplayer mode is where the game excels. In Hancock's GOTY list, he noted the game would have appeared on it had it been a single-player game with the multiplayer mode as "a cherry on top". Hall said that because matches last around ten minutes, he found himself saying "just one more match". He said while the controls were good for newcomers, they have the potential to dissuade strategy veterans because of the inability to directly control certain units.
