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Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood Review
4 years ago
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This is the first and last time I’m going to agree with IGN’s score on a game. >__>
RATING: 4/10
All right, so. Just finished the new indie-ish game that came out a few weeks ago. And I had quite a bit of fun with it!
It’s not good though.
Okay so basically you play as an eco-terrorist werewolf who’s part of a pack of werewolves who go around destroying and dismantling big corporate industries that plague the planet. You’re a rugged hairy dad named Cahal and you have a wife named Ludmila and a daughter named Aedana. And because this is a dark and dreary game, you can bet that one of those two will be killed in the prologue! Spoilers, but not really—it’s Cahal’s wife. He goes into exile for years, but then finds out the big bad oil company Endron is doing more horrible shit, so now he’s come back to fuck shit up and level up his stats by sniffing enchanted plants and mushrooms.
And now we have out ludicrously fun but repetitive game! :D
You got combat, you got stealth. Stealth is just sneaking around the enemy through vents, around walls, or using stealth takedowns in private. Combat is basically just Sonic Unleashed again. You go all sexy werewolf and use the Agile fighting stance for quick, fast-paced combos and the Heavy(?) fighting stance for slow, but hard-hitting, devastating blows. You can upgrade throughout the game to do more damage and regenerate health, you can use upgrades to be more stealthy, earn some powerups, etc. Pretty basic, nothing unique. But it works. Sort of. The game gives you the option to be stealthy or to be aggressive (although sometimes you’re forced to fight). If you’re impatient, go werewolf form and beat some ass. If you suck at fighting, wiggle your way around the enemies. This is all fine and dandy.
This is also the whole game, along with some combat boss fights.
Let’s break for a moment and look at another game this company made, Styx: Shards of Darkness. That game focused entirely on stealthy and gave you a vast amount of options to choose from with how to handle a situation. Say you encounter an enemy in a room. Do you avoid him? Do you knock him out? Do you sneak up and snap his neck? Do you deploy a smoke bomb to cloud his vision as you run past him? Do you engage him in combat with your dagger? Do you set a trap that kills him? Do you poison his wine? Do you cut a rope holding up a chandelier and crush him with it? Do you exit the room and go a different route altogether? There’s loads upon loads of options here.
Now let’s look at this game. Say you encounter an enemy in a room. Do you stealth kill him? Do you walk past him? Do you shoot him with your crossbow? Do you distract him by sabotaging an electrical unit? Do you turn werewolf and tear him apart? Do you…
…
…Um.
Welp. That’s about it really.
The stealth never changes. The combat changes a little bit and becomes more fun as the game goes along when you learn new stuff. Eventually you end up fighting really tough, disgusting enemies that are humanoid monsters and you can’t just button mash. You have to think while you’re in combat—especially because the enemies and some bosses can rush you and quickly drain your health. The combat was repetitive, yes, but I never got tired of it. I got tired of the stealth in the first half of the game, and when I knew how to fight properly, most of the time I just said “fuck it” and killed everyone in the room as a werewolf during the second half of the game. The combat’s on par with Sonic Unleashed, but not as slick or stylish, and without the platforming (granted, this meant no glitches while jumping and falling to my death, so yay).
The story’s cliché, but it works. The first half of the game is dull. It’s literally just “Go to this industrial building, wreck some industrial shit. Okay good—now do it again, but in this other location that looks very similar.” I kinda spent more time playing Dark Souls II instead because it was more fun. But then something drastic happens halfway into the game and the plot got much more investing! Not exactly better, but I found myself playing the game for multiple hours because I wanted to see what would happen next. And the plot gets a lot darker than I expected—which I liked! Towards the end of the game, something incredibly tragic happens and it actually worked for me! I wasn’t crying or anything but I did feel genuinely upset over the situation.
The graphics are fine. It’s Cyanide Studio, so it’s not top quality, but it works. The voice acting was bland, but there were multiple cases where the voice actors and actresses delivered the lines really well. Which makes me wonder if the fault is the people whose jobs were to direct the voice actors/actresses instead of the voice acting itself.
The main villain is cartoonishly evil. And it worked for this game, because the level of depravity fit the tone of the game and you could genuinely believe he would be capable of doing all the nasty shit he does. He’s not over-the-top or does anything like raping baby seals. But the shit he did seriously pissed me off by the end.
Lots of characters die. I’m fine with that. Many of them were bland anyways and I didn’t start to really care for them until the second half of the game…which was when everyone started dying. I like it when media doesn’t just tell you that people are in danger. They show you that yes, anyone can die at any time and you just have to deal with it and continue with your journey. I can’t stand it when a movie is all like “hey guys, the main villain is plotting to murder everyone in the whole world but he or she isn’t gonna do it until the very end of the film so the heroes can stop him/her!” Drop some bodies man! Raise that tension!
The ending is a cliffhanger and a bullshit multiple choice thingy. I won’t spoil it, but it doesn’t matter, because the ending cutscene changes very little either way. Which is upsetting, because the choice in question happens after the really tragic moment. So you can’t prevent said tragedy from happening no matter how hard you try.
Lots of other reviewers don’t like this game because it’s nowhere near as in-depth or stylish as the tabletop game is. And I agree with that criticism. Apparently there’s tons of lore to this franchise and we only see a small segment of it. I wasn’t expecting another Mass Effect, mind you, but for a game that has such intriguing world building and such a ludicrous concept about an eco-terrorist werewolf and such inviting lore about werewolf and supernatural clans…it feels like at the end of the day, this game is just a generic stealth/combat game with some cool lore sprinkled in for a bit of flavor. And I shouldn’t be saying that about a game where the player character is a friggin’ eco-terrorist werewolf!
Also this game’s $50 or $60. Did I mention that? I don’t think I mentioned that. >__<
So would I recommend this game?
…Mm.
*sucks teeth*
No. If you’re really curious, wait until the price drops. Please. Do not spend over $30 on this game.
It’s a fun game. I was entertained by it. I saw it for what it was. But it’s not good. It’s repetitive, it’s cliché, and all of the game mechanics have been done better in older, cheaper games. If you want a game where you play as a badass werebeast, just go play Sonic Unleashed. It’s much more stylish, much more energetic, more colorful and fun, and if you still hate the combat, hey. The other half of the game is a series of fun speedy platforming missions with a banging soundtrack blasting in your ears. If you wanna play a stealth game, just go play Metal Gear Solid 3, a phenomenal sleuthing game that still holds up today.
Or hell, if you wanna support this company and play a stealth game, just go buy Styx: Shards of Darkness! That is a wonderful, wonderful stealth game where you play as a goblin venturing through new diverse areas, stealing shit, assassinating people, all that good shit. It’s more stylish, more energetic, it’s self-aware of what it is and has fun with itself. Half the time I was playing this game, I kept telling myself that I just wanna play Styx: Shards of Darkness again.
…Maybe I should do that. And do a more detailed review in the future.
RATING: 4/10
All right, so. Just finished the new indie-ish game that came out a few weeks ago. And I had quite a bit of fun with it!
It’s not good though.
Okay so basically you play as an eco-terrorist werewolf who’s part of a pack of werewolves who go around destroying and dismantling big corporate industries that plague the planet. You’re a rugged hairy dad named Cahal and you have a wife named Ludmila and a daughter named Aedana. And because this is a dark and dreary game, you can bet that one of those two will be killed in the prologue! Spoilers, but not really—it’s Cahal’s wife. He goes into exile for years, but then finds out the big bad oil company Endron is doing more horrible shit, so now he’s come back to fuck shit up and level up his stats by sniffing enchanted plants and mushrooms.
And now we have out ludicrously fun but repetitive game! :D
You got combat, you got stealth. Stealth is just sneaking around the enemy through vents, around walls, or using stealth takedowns in private. Combat is basically just Sonic Unleashed again. You go all sexy werewolf and use the Agile fighting stance for quick, fast-paced combos and the Heavy(?) fighting stance for slow, but hard-hitting, devastating blows. You can upgrade throughout the game to do more damage and regenerate health, you can use upgrades to be more stealthy, earn some powerups, etc. Pretty basic, nothing unique. But it works. Sort of. The game gives you the option to be stealthy or to be aggressive (although sometimes you’re forced to fight). If you’re impatient, go werewolf form and beat some ass. If you suck at fighting, wiggle your way around the enemies. This is all fine and dandy.
This is also the whole game, along with some combat boss fights.
Let’s break for a moment and look at another game this company made, Styx: Shards of Darkness. That game focused entirely on stealthy and gave you a vast amount of options to choose from with how to handle a situation. Say you encounter an enemy in a room. Do you avoid him? Do you knock him out? Do you sneak up and snap his neck? Do you deploy a smoke bomb to cloud his vision as you run past him? Do you engage him in combat with your dagger? Do you set a trap that kills him? Do you poison his wine? Do you cut a rope holding up a chandelier and crush him with it? Do you exit the room and go a different route altogether? There’s loads upon loads of options here.
Now let’s look at this game. Say you encounter an enemy in a room. Do you stealth kill him? Do you walk past him? Do you shoot him with your crossbow? Do you distract him by sabotaging an electrical unit? Do you turn werewolf and tear him apart? Do you…
…
…Um.
Welp. That’s about it really.
The stealth never changes. The combat changes a little bit and becomes more fun as the game goes along when you learn new stuff. Eventually you end up fighting really tough, disgusting enemies that are humanoid monsters and you can’t just button mash. You have to think while you’re in combat—especially because the enemies and some bosses can rush you and quickly drain your health. The combat was repetitive, yes, but I never got tired of it. I got tired of the stealth in the first half of the game, and when I knew how to fight properly, most of the time I just said “fuck it” and killed everyone in the room as a werewolf during the second half of the game. The combat’s on par with Sonic Unleashed, but not as slick or stylish, and without the platforming (granted, this meant no glitches while jumping and falling to my death, so yay).
The story’s cliché, but it works. The first half of the game is dull. It’s literally just “Go to this industrial building, wreck some industrial shit. Okay good—now do it again, but in this other location that looks very similar.” I kinda spent more time playing Dark Souls II instead because it was more fun. But then something drastic happens halfway into the game and the plot got much more investing! Not exactly better, but I found myself playing the game for multiple hours because I wanted to see what would happen next. And the plot gets a lot darker than I expected—which I liked! Towards the end of the game, something incredibly tragic happens and it actually worked for me! I wasn’t crying or anything but I did feel genuinely upset over the situation.
The graphics are fine. It’s Cyanide Studio, so it’s not top quality, but it works. The voice acting was bland, but there were multiple cases where the voice actors and actresses delivered the lines really well. Which makes me wonder if the fault is the people whose jobs were to direct the voice actors/actresses instead of the voice acting itself.
The main villain is cartoonishly evil. And it worked for this game, because the level of depravity fit the tone of the game and you could genuinely believe he would be capable of doing all the nasty shit he does. He’s not over-the-top or does anything like raping baby seals. But the shit he did seriously pissed me off by the end.
Lots of characters die. I’m fine with that. Many of them were bland anyways and I didn’t start to really care for them until the second half of the game…which was when everyone started dying. I like it when media doesn’t just tell you that people are in danger. They show you that yes, anyone can die at any time and you just have to deal with it and continue with your journey. I can’t stand it when a movie is all like “hey guys, the main villain is plotting to murder everyone in the whole world but he or she isn’t gonna do it until the very end of the film so the heroes can stop him/her!” Drop some bodies man! Raise that tension!
The ending is a cliffhanger and a bullshit multiple choice thingy. I won’t spoil it, but it doesn’t matter, because the ending cutscene changes very little either way. Which is upsetting, because the choice in question happens after the really tragic moment. So you can’t prevent said tragedy from happening no matter how hard you try.
Lots of other reviewers don’t like this game because it’s nowhere near as in-depth or stylish as the tabletop game is. And I agree with that criticism. Apparently there’s tons of lore to this franchise and we only see a small segment of it. I wasn’t expecting another Mass Effect, mind you, but for a game that has such intriguing world building and such a ludicrous concept about an eco-terrorist werewolf and such inviting lore about werewolf and supernatural clans…it feels like at the end of the day, this game is just a generic stealth/combat game with some cool lore sprinkled in for a bit of flavor. And I shouldn’t be saying that about a game where the player character is a friggin’ eco-terrorist werewolf!
Also this game’s $50 or $60. Did I mention that? I don’t think I mentioned that. >__<
So would I recommend this game?
…Mm.
*sucks teeth*
No. If you’re really curious, wait until the price drops. Please. Do not spend over $30 on this game.
It’s a fun game. I was entertained by it. I saw it for what it was. But it’s not good. It’s repetitive, it’s cliché, and all of the game mechanics have been done better in older, cheaper games. If you want a game where you play as a badass werebeast, just go play Sonic Unleashed. It’s much more stylish, much more energetic, more colorful and fun, and if you still hate the combat, hey. The other half of the game is a series of fun speedy platforming missions with a banging soundtrack blasting in your ears. If you wanna play a stealth game, just go play Metal Gear Solid 3, a phenomenal sleuthing game that still holds up today.
Or hell, if you wanna support this company and play a stealth game, just go buy Styx: Shards of Darkness! That is a wonderful, wonderful stealth game where you play as a goblin venturing through new diverse areas, stealing shit, assassinating people, all that good shit. It’s more stylish, more energetic, it’s self-aware of what it is and has fun with itself. Half the time I was playing this game, I kept telling myself that I just wanna play Styx: Shards of Darkness again.
…Maybe I should do that. And do a more detailed review in the future.
I'm looking forward to the reuse of the werewolf model in pornographic animation
My tabletop gaming group actually made a parody game using the 3rd ed. Werewolf rules to roll our own rules-legal Planeteers and actually come together to summon Furry Captain Planet. The minute he said "A blue anthro wolf in a red Speedo appears in a flash of light and says "By your powers combined, I am Furry Captain Planet!" we completely lost it, the comedy had hit maximum and we couldn't finish the game. Good times.