Note: This covers most of the single-player campaign. A few matches were done in multiplayer.

Tooth and Tail is a pretty-looking game at first, with an effort to simplify RTS mechanics to create a fun and action packed rally of troops. That effort runs out of steam after a few multiplayer matches and grinds to a frustrating halt during the abysmal single player campaign.

In a society where anthropomorphic animals are facing extreme food shortages and resorting to cannibalism, a ruling class called the Civilized ultimately sought to control that system but faced skirmishes from revolutionary forces (Longcoats, Commonfolk) and the militant KSR. It appears to very much allude to or satire something about the Bolshevik Revolution but gets very difficult to follow and stumbles over whatever point it tries to make about these events up near the end. The game takes these vaguely Slavic influences and makes some fun music out of them as well as very beautiful looking pixel art, at least.

As for the gameplay, the controller is a rallying player who moves from point to point across the map. They may rally an entire army or a type of troop, so that troops with special abilities suited for breaking out prisoners or taking out troops can go forth. However, especially as the chaos breaks out in later campaign missions and some matches, there is no real way to control these troops to defend certain areas while rallying others like in other RTS games, making it often a rush across the map with the entire army having to lead behind. It doesn't help that movement is slow in this regard and gaining resources (food) makes it frustrating to make the most of one's time.

For multiplayer matches, there's a lot of random elements that make this a bit fun, but the standard single-player campaign is vicious with its difficulty. Often the player will be easily overwhelmed and find themselves unable to do anything other than crank down the difficulty slider unless a miracle happens. There are various mechanics and tips like drinking water to restore health, selling turrets to get food, scouting ahead on the map to pick up other resources and hire more troops but the sheer act of survival can be a painful one most of the time, especially near the end.

Tooth and Tail shines most when most of its content is ignored - as for its actual campaign design and its mildly confusing story, it might have been best off to keep this a multiplayer-only title.