The exceptions are a handful of set piece battles and mercifully dynamic boss fights. These mechanics are relatively simple and the environments are fairly linear for the most part, but it is impressive that the majority of encounters can be done without resorting to combat if the player so chooses. Stealth is a far larger element of the game than was first apparent. Transformations are swift and quickly become intuitive – it’s satisfying to see Cahal morph from man to wolf mid-stride, and then to switch back again just as quickly for a stealth takedown. While there is a lot to take in about the way these distinct forms work, Earthblood does a fine job of introducing the key concepts in its first hour or so. This final form receives the wolf’s share of the skill upgrades, and features two distinct combat stances and a formidable frenzy transformation which combines the strengths of both. If Cahal is detected by Endron troops, he will transform into his werewolf or “Crinos” form.
The wolf form is for recon and stealth: small, fast and agile, it is adept at infiltration. In his default human form, Cahal can speak with NPCs, interact with objects in the environment, and perform melee or ranged takedowns. The wolf form is ideally suited to recon and infiltration. Together with occasional conversation trees, these upgrades are as close as Earthblood gets to being an RPG. Along the way, completing objectives and communing with the spirits of certain plants earns skill points. Sabotaging Endron’s schemes requires players to master Cahal’s three distinct forms, stealth and all-out combat. While Earthblood is far from truly open, these target areas are all linked with each other and with a forest base which is accessible between battles.
Werewolf the apocalpse were wolf forms series#
It is, if you like, The Howling meets The Monkey Wrench Gang.Ĭahal’s vendetta plays out primarily as a series of attacks on Endron facilities, from a training camp to a fracking site. Cahal’s effort to use his werewolf abilities to sabotage Endron while protecting his family and his allies is the driving force of the game. Once a benign instrument of decay and renewal, the Wyrm has been driven insane and desires the corruption and perversion of all things. Like other agents of rapacious capitalism, the company is under the influence of a cosmic force known as the “Wyrm”. Their common enemy is Endron, maybe not the smartest guys in the room but a sinister energy conglomerate bent on destroying the environment.
In their own ways, each of these groups see themselves as protectors of the Earth-spirit Gaia. The story opens in the lush forests of Washington state, where the player character Cahal forms part of an alliance between werewolves and human eco-warriors. The Nevada desert makes for a welcome change of scenery in the game’s second half. Further, they have made shapeshifting between three forms – human, wolf and werewolf – the basis for a surprisingly engrossing gameplay loop. While this approach may disappoint some fans of the tabletop game, Cyanide Studio have clearly steeped themselves in the Werewolf lore. Instead, this is a relatively linear third-person action game with an unexpectedly large stealth component and only very light role-playing elements. For this reason, marketing claims that Earthblood is an RPG are wide of the mark. While exchanging their yellow jerseys for the blood-soaked fur of a werewolf, the team has chosen to hew closely to the lore of the tabletop game, but not to its mechanics. The developers tasked with this project are Cyanide Studio, based in Paris and with previous experience of producing the Blood Bowlseries, the 2018 Call of Cthulhugame, and a whole peloton of cycling sims. Later this year as many as three Vampire: The Masquerade games will see release – notably a belated sequel to 2004’s Bloodlines – but these have all been beaten to the punch by Earthblood, the first major adaptation of the less familiar Werewolf: The Apocalypse setting. Back in 2015, tabletop RPG publisher White Wolf was acquired by Paradox Interactive, and while it has been a few years in coming the expected glut of video games based on their World of Darkness settings has arrived.
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