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Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood has a great premise and does a lot of good, but fails and is plagued by problems.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood isn’t the first attempt to make a video game of the popular desktop role-playing system World of Darkness. But it won’t be obvious at first glance.
With a rich atmosphere, lore and one of the most iconic monsters in history, making it a great game doesn’t seem difficult. However, sadly that’s what happened.
While Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood has the makings of a very good game, it falls short on some fundamentals.
As one of the few modern games that allows the player to control a werewolf, this is very disappointing.
Unlike its predecessor Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest, this Werewolf Apocalypse game is designed as a real action role-playing game.
Because of this, the action and role-playing elements are perhaps the most important.
If Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood handled those things but had a somewhat grubby storyline, it would probably still be welcomed by most. Yet those are some of its most obvious flaws.
You’d think that turning into a giant werewolf and crushing enemies would be awesome. However, it’s not.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse game
In terms of story, players tend to have two experiences.
From the point of view of someone who has played the board game World of Darkness. And especially for those who like the in-depth knowledge contained in the werewolf-themed expansion material, most of it should make sense.
On the other hand, newcomers to the franchise quickly get caught up in an almost nonsensical vocabulary.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood takes no time to explain what the words mean or why they are important to the story.
This will confuse players from the start.
For example, during a game tutorial, the main character Cahal will meet a Black Spiral Dancer.
Aside from looking like werewolves and doing bad things, players never get any real context as to what the Black Spiral Dancers are or why they’re so bad.
This concept continues throughout the game and gets worse as the story digs deeper into Werewolf lore.
Ideally, this existing knowledge would be used to represent the wealth of World of Darkness to players.
But on the contrary, it only confused them even more.
Characters seem unable to show much emotion and often act strangely.
Choosing what Cahal said in response to the other NPCs was also confusing because the dialogue options were written in a strange perspective by a third party.
After playing for a while, this issue should go away. But it’s an odd fix, to say the least.
The character models move unnaturally during the scene and their facial expressions are distracting.
The possibility of smooth transitions between human form (Homid), wolf form (Lupus) and werewolf form (Crinos) feels overwhelming. And there’s nothing better than a stealth game like a terrible wolf.
It can be said that stealth is the best aspect of the game. And while it feels solid at times, it’s probably not what most people sign up for when choosing a werewolf game.
Furthermore, most of this Werewolf: The Apocalypse game suffers, quite well. But with a few caveats, the RPG elements included in Cahal’s skill tree allow for some customization. However, most of the upgrades don’t make much difference in how players approach certain challenges.
Combat feels good for the most part, but feels powerless with every hit.
The role-playing aspect of the scene almost forces players to think carefully about how they will react to certain situations. But any problem can be solved by force without changing the outcome.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood
This bit about the battle is probably the most important gripe against Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.
In any battle-oriented game, it’s important to make sure that the action makes an impact, both literally and figuratively.
Players really want their attacks to feel powerful, especially when playing like a big werewolf.
However, in this Werewolf: The Apocalypse game, normal human enemies barely react at once.
They stay there until their random HP strip runs out, at which point they break up and fly off, even though their durability is predetermined.
In the same way, players can perform a pretty cool final attack on an enemy and tear someone in half. Yet their comrades wouldn’t blink.
Is now a good time to launch Heavy Strikes and try to accumulate damage or retreat and heal?
This type of solution is completely absent in normal combat with normal enemies, as they tend to be so simple that the strategy fails.
There’s a bit of that in boss fights, but still not making full use of the concept.
One of the game’s main selling points is the idea of limiting Cahal’s anger. However, these rarely come into play and actually benefit players when they do.
As noted above, there are a few things he does well. And most of its flaws don’t make this game impossible to play at all.
It’s totally possible to have fun beating levels and destroying enemies even with these other limiting factors. Moreover, those with a deep understanding of Werewolf: The Apocalypse will likely have a better time.
Perhaps the biggest problem is that this is a game that is presented and sold at triple A-standard and doesn’t live up to that level of quality.
Players are torn between more enjoyable stealth gameplay and a more effective open combat approach, while awkward dialogue and distracting animations mess up scenes and interactions with other characters.
February 7th, 2022 is Werewolf: The Apocalypse release date on Steam.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
What do you think about the game? Or do you enjoy playing Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood? We love to hear your comments on this article.
WEREWOLF: THE APOCALYPSE – EARTHBLOOD IS MEANT TO BE A TRUE ACTION RPG
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood isn’t the first attempt to make a video game of the popular desktop role-playing system World of Darkness. But it won’t be obvious at first glance.
With a rich atmosphere, lore and one of the most iconic monsters in history, making it a great game doesn’t seem difficult. However, sadly that’s what happened.
While Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood has the makings of a very good game, it falls short on some fundamentals.
As one of the few modern games that allows the player to control a werewolf, this is very disappointing.
Unlike its predecessor Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest, this Werewolf Apocalypse game is designed as a real action role-playing game.
Because of this, the action and role-playing elements are perhaps the most important.
If Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood handled those things but had a somewhat grubby storyline, it would probably still be welcomed by most. Yet those are some of its most obvious flaws.
You’d think that turning into a giant werewolf and crushing enemies would be awesome. However, it’s not.
STORY AND CHARACTERS OF WEREWOLF THE APOCALYPSE: EARTHBLOOD
In terms of story, players tend to have two experiences.
From the point of view of someone who has played the board game World of Darkness. And especially for those who like the in-depth knowledge contained in the werewolf-themed expansion material, most of it should make sense.
On the other hand, newcomers to the franchise quickly get caught up in an almost nonsensical vocabulary.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood takes no time to explain what the words mean or why they are important to the story.
This will confuse players from the start.
For example, during a game tutorial, the main character Cahal will meet a Black Spiral Dancer.
Aside from looking like werewolves and doing bad things, players never get any real context as to what the Black Spiral Dancers are or why they’re so bad.
This concept continues throughout the game and gets worse as the story digs deeper into Werewolf lore.
Ideally, this existing knowledge would be used to represent the wealth of World of Darkness to players.
But on the contrary, it only confused them even more.
Combine this with some bad pictures and weak actors and the experience is mostly unforgettable.
Characters seem unable to show much emotion and often act strangely.
Choosing what Cahal said in response to the other NPCs was also confusing because the dialogue options were written in a strange perspective by a third party.
After playing for a while, this issue should go away. But it’s an odd fix, to say the least.
The character models move unnaturally during the scene and their facial expressions are distracting.
WEREWOLF THE APOCALYPSE: EARTHBLOOD GAMEPLAY
There are few things in the gameplay that Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood does well.The possibility of smooth transitions between human form (Homid), wolf form (Lupus) and werewolf form (Crinos) feels overwhelming. And there’s nothing better than a stealth game like a terrible wolf.
It can be said that stealth is the best aspect of the game. And while it feels solid at times, it’s probably not what most people sign up for when choosing a werewolf game.
Furthermore, most of this Werewolf: The Apocalypse game suffers, quite well. But with a few caveats, the RPG elements included in Cahal’s skill tree allow for some customization. However, most of the upgrades don’t make much difference in how players approach certain challenges.
Combat feels good for the most part, but feels powerless with every hit.
The role-playing aspect of the scene almost forces players to think carefully about how they will react to certain situations. But any problem can be solved by force without changing the outcome.
This bit about the battle is probably the most important gripe against Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.
In any battle-oriented game, it’s important to make sure that the action makes an impact, both literally and figuratively.
Players really want their attacks to feel powerful, especially when playing like a big werewolf.
However, in this Werewolf: The Apocalypse game, normal human enemies barely react at once.
They stay there until their random HP strip runs out, at which point they break up and fly off, even though their durability is predetermined.
In the same way, players can perform a pretty cool final attack on an enemy and tear someone in half. Yet their comrades wouldn’t blink.
THE MAJOR SELLING POINTS OF THIS WEREWOLF THE APOCALYPSE GAME
On the visual side, the choices players make in battle should have an impact.Is now a good time to launch Heavy Strikes and try to accumulate damage or retreat and heal?
This type of solution is completely absent in normal combat with normal enemies, as they tend to be so simple that the strategy fails.
There’s a bit of that in boss fights, but still not making full use of the concept.
One of the game’s main selling points is the idea of limiting Cahal’s anger. However, these rarely come into play and actually benefit players when they do.
Of course, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood isn’t for everyone, but by default it means some players will enjoy it.
As noted above, there are a few things he does well. And most of its flaws don’t make this game impossible to play at all.
It’s totally possible to have fun beating levels and destroying enemies even with these other limiting factors. Moreover, those with a deep understanding of Werewolf: The Apocalypse will likely have a better time.
Perhaps the biggest problem is that this is a game that is presented and sold at triple A-standard and doesn’t live up to that level of quality.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is a game with a good premise but it doesn’t hit the mark.Players are torn between more enjoyable stealth gameplay and a more effective open combat approach, while awkward dialogue and distracting animations mess up scenes and interactions with other characters.
February 7th, 2022 is Werewolf: The Apocalypse release date on Steam.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
What do you think about the game? Or do you enjoy playing Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood? We love to hear your comments on this article.
