Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest Review
Reviewed on: PC
By: John Cano
Growing up I always had an affinity for DOS text-based games. Be it we have come along way technology-wise you can say that those are a thing of the past, or something only found in tabletop games, but after playing this it was like stepping back into a simpler time when games were driven solely by the story and the power of your imagination. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is an upcoming visual novel role-playing video game developed by Different Tales and published by Walkabout Games, coming out on steam. It is based on White Wolf Publishing’s tabletop role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. I can say my time with this game was really enjoyable, from the amazing story, art and the immersive soundtrack it was easy to get drawn into this scary yet serene game that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way. The player takes the role of Maia Boroditch, an American woman of Polish descent, who has recurring nightmares about a forest and wolves and travels to Białowieża in Poland to learn about her family history and investigate the primeval Białowieża Forest. The gameplay is text-based and consists of reading narration while making decisions that affect the story’s direction and Maia’s personality. Actions consume rage and willpower resources and affect what actions can be performed in the future.
As of now, the full game is set to be released in Q4 of this year but I’ve spent the latter part of 5 hours navigation this game but not because it drags but because the number of choices you are given that will affect the narrative of the story, will have you sitting and debating with yourself of what could be the right move and how will this affect my later decisions. Throughout the game, you make decisions that affect the player character’s personality and goal, how other characters feel about you, the direction of the narrative, and what actions can be performed in different situations. Performing actions consumes two resources – rage, which allows the player to be brazen, direct and proactive, but possibly less open and empathetic, and willpower, which allows the player to make hard choices – meaning that the player must decide what moments are worth spending them on. Willpower is regained by taking steps toward the player character’s goal, which is chosen by the player at the beginning of the game. Your player character’s personality, her health, and the condition of her mind and body are updated on an in-game character sheet.
The games audio is quite amazing from the voice acting all way to the exquisite soundtrack helps you get lost in this thrilling story. When I played texted based games growing up you had to imagine the scene playing out in your head but, when with this beautiful masterpiece not only do you get legendary audio, you also get beautiful, distinctive collage art that combines hand-drawn characters with pictures of real places to help immerse you even more into the game. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is an amazing game that when it’s release in Q4 of this year. You should get your self a copy and play it, this game has everything that you’d want from a textbase game, beautiful music, amazing voice acting, and stunning visuals you have to be crazy not to try this for yourself, so go to steam and put this game and watch and wait I promise you, you’re going to love it “but you don’t have to take my word for it”.
Rating: 10
