Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart Of The Forest
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- Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest is the latest visual novel set in the World of Darkness franchise, which was developed by Different Tales and published by Walkabout Games. The story is an engaging, multi-branching tale that acts as a great introduction to the setting, but it ends just as it starts getting interesting.
I can hear a faint, repetitive thud as the ambient sounds of the forest at night surround me. Specks of light that look like stars dance across the crimson red sky, framed by silhouetted trees spiking up from the earth. Words appear and the story begins, and within moments the first prompt is before me. I'm told that this is a game about rage, and how it can both help us do the things we need to do, as well as things we'll come to later regret. So, how do I feel about that? After giving my answer to this question, a big, bright, full moon comes into view, and from that moment on, every decision I make starts to shape the narrative of Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest, a darkly atmospheric interactive visual novel coming to PC from developer Different Tales.
Based on the classic systems of the '90s RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Heart of the Forest is set in the World of Darkness universe, which is enjoying a bit of a revival of late with the likes of other upcoming releases like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 and Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood. Heart of the Forest though puts you in the shoes of Maia, a 24-year-old American woman who sets out to Bialowieza in Poland to uncover the secrets of her mysterious Polish ancestry and learn the truth about her own origin. Plagued by strange dreams that always seem to take place in the same forest, Maia has some kind of innate connection to the setting that pulls her to investigate.
Werewolf The Apocalypse: Heart of the Forest is a new game coming from Different Tales and we can't wait to see more from the team next month. 2 days ago About This Content Step deeper into the ancient Puszcza with special digital treats for the fans of Werewolf. This collection of extras contains tons of artwork and behind-the-scenes materials for Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest, including. Premium wallpapers using the iconic collage style of the game.; Player's Guide, which dives into the lore and mechanics of Heart of the. Ex-Witcher devs announce Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart Of The Forest. Natalie Clayton. 2 months ago. Ht2000 motherboard diagram. 14 It's all getting a bit cramped in the World Of Darkness, but it seems there's space to squeeze in at least one more wolf.
'No right path'
© Provided by GamesRadar (Image credit: Walkabout)Werewolf Apocalypse Video Game
I get the chance to try out the prologue and first chapter of Heart of the Forest, and right from the get-go, it's clear that I'm about to set out on a journey that's molded by every choice I make. All of the decisions I make are reflected in Maia's personality, which also changes the direction of the story, and affects the reactions and approaches I can take to different events and situations.
Rage and Willpower are resources in the game that enable you to perform certain actions as the story unfolds. Having high Rage, for example, means you can be brazen, direct, and more willing to take action. But it also means you might be less open or empathetic. Some choices can be hard to make, and therefore drain your willpower if you select them, so you have to be mindful of how much willpower you have to ensure you use it when you truly need to. Helpfully, in the top right corner of the screen, I'm able to access my character sheet to keep track of Maia's stats, from her personality assessment to the condition of her mind and body.
With every choice, different facets of Maia's personality start to come together and also determine her overall goal. Sometimes my responses might increase my spiritual side, while others might make me more cunning. My reactions can also change the way a character I encounter feels about me. So someone might be friendly, while another becomes hostile. As the game informs me, 'There's no right path here, just your decisions and their consequences.' I play through the first chapter twice to see just how much my decisions alter the outcome and Maia's perception, and it really did turn out to be entirely different the second time around.
Family history
As it is an interactive visual novel, you'll be reading a lot of text, but the writing paints a very visceral picture of the events that unfold, so it never feels overly dense. The sound design really adds to the immersive experience and does well to really put you in the moment. While the story is in part left up to your imagination, each section is also accompanied by illustrations with a unique, stylised aesthetic, made up of bold colours and a mixture of drawing and photography that really pops.
Through the writing, ambient sounds, and illustrations, the story that begins to unfold before me is as atmospheric as it is intriguing. After arriving in Bialowieza, Maia meets Daniel, a man well acquainted with the forest who acts as my guide. I'm presented with a map, and have to set out to three different locations in a bid to uncover more about Maia's connection to this place, and hopefully get one step closer to finding out the reason she's been having these strange dreams.
© Provided by GamesRadar (Image credit: Walkabout)From a wolf den to the barrows, and later to a place of power, each location you visit in the game is based on real-world areas and legends. Bialowieza Forest itself sets the scene for Maia's adventure because it's said to be one of the few remaining primeval forests in Europe, with many myths and stories bred from the area. Maia feels some mysterious pull that draws her to find the hidden secrets of these locations, and I try to gear my responses to advance Maia's goal, which in this instance is to learn about her family history.
Like Maia, it seems that many feel deeply connected to this setting, which poses plenty of intrigue about where the story will go. Interestingly, as well as its ties to the supernatural, Heart of the Forest also manages to touch on environmental issues too, including deforestation.
Werewolf The Apocalypse — Heart Of The Forest Metacritic
© Provided by GamesRadar (Image credit: Walkabout)At the end of the chapter, I discover that my choices have led Maia to fall under one of the five auspices available in the game - New Moon, Crescent Moon, Half Moon, Gibbous Moon, and Full Moon - which shape the kind of person she is under the werewolf society known as Garou. Someone born under the New Moon is said to be destined to be masters of stealth, trickery, and guile, while those born under the Crescent Moon are more spiritualistic.
A werewolf born under the Half Moon are known as judges and balancers who can make wise decisions, while the Gibbous Moon auspice is for someone who's destined to be a storyteller and lore keeper. Finally, Garou born under a Full Moon are spirit warriors and the most vicious of their kind. The first time around, the Maia I play turns out to be a Seer born under the Crescent Moon based on my low rage and high spiritual personality. The second time, I end up taking a more rage-fueled, brash approach, leading me to be a warrior born under the Full Moon.
As someone who's a big fan of the visual novel genre, the systems and amount of weight your choices have left me eager to play more. With its immersive storytelling, eye-grabbing art style, and mysterious narrative, I can't help but wonder where Maia's story will go next.
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| Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Different Tales |
| Publisher(s) | Walkabout Games |
| Designer(s) |
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| Artist(s) |
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| Writer(s) |
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| Composer(s) |
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| Series | Werewolf: The Apocalypse |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | October 13, 2020 |
| Genre(s) | Visual novel, role-playing |
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is a visual novelrole-playing video game developed by Different Tales and published by Walkabout Games, released on October 13, 2020 for Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft Windows. It is based on White Wolf Publishing's tabletop role-playing gameWerewolf: The Apocalypse, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series.
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 the primevalBiałowieża 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.
The game is designed by Jacek Brzeziński and Artur Ganszyniec, and is themed around anger and activism in times of climate change and ecological disasters, portrayed through werewolf myths, and taking influence from Polish werewolf legends. The writing team, consisting of Ganszyniec, Marta Malinowska, and Joanna Wołyńska-Ganszyniec, began scriptwriting with creating Maia; they chose to create a female protagonist to go against the trend of women in horror stories being either helpless or femme fatales. Preview impressions of the game were positive, citing its atmosphere and immersion, its art style, and the weight of player choices.
Gameplay[edit]
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is a visual novelrole-playing game[1][2] with tabletop role-playing game-style mechanics. The gameplay is text based,[2] and has the player read narration accompanied by audio and illustrations. The player can move to different locations by selecting them on a map.[1]
Throughout the game, the player makes decisions that affect the player character's personality and goal, how other characters feel about her, 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.[1][2] Willpower is regained by taking steps toward the player character's goal, which is chosen by the player in the beginning of the game.[3] The player character's personality, her health, and the condition of her mind and body are updated on an in-game character sheet.[1][2]
In addition to affecting character statistics like spirituality and cunning, the player's choices end up assigning their character one of five auspices based on lunar phases, shaping what kind of person she is within the Garou werewolf society and what abilities she will have: the new moon is related to stealth and trickery; the crescent moon is related to spirituality; the half moon is related to balance and wise decision-making; the gibbous moon is related to story-telling and lore-keeping; and the full moon is related to viciousness and being a spirit warrior.[1][4]
Synopsis[edit]
The story is set in Poland, in the World of Darkness, and has the player take the role of Maia Boroditch, a 24-year-old American woman of Polish descent.[1] She has recurring nightmares of a forest, wolves, and blood,[5] and feels a connection to the forest that drives her to travel to Białowieża in Poland to learn about her family history.[1] There, she meets the guide Daniel, fellow student Anya, and the local resident Bartek, and explores the Białowieża Forest, one of the last remaining primeval forests in Europe,[1][3] visiting sacred spots including an ancient burial site, an abandoned wolf den, and a ceremonial place of power.[3]
Development[edit]
Heart of the Forest was developed by Different Tales and published by Walkabout Games, and designed by Jacek Brzeziński and Artur Ganszyniec, who previously directed and wrote The Witcher.[6][7] The writing team included Ganszyniec, Marta Malinowska, and Joanna Wołyńska-Ganszyniec, and the game's audio was directed by Brzeziński, with ambient tracks composed by Przemek Moszczyński, and melodic tracks by Robert Purzycki;[3] the soundtrack also includes the song 'Vaukalak' by the Belarusian music group Irdorath.[8] The visuals, which include a mix of edited photographs, paintings, and illustrations, were created by Ireneusz Konior, Rafał Kucharczuk, Monika Lipińska, Magdalena Pankiewicz, and Waldemar Zdziebko.[3]
Adapting White Wolf Publishing's tabletop role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse,[1] the game was designed to adapt the experience of playing the tabletop role-playing game, with the game serving as the gamemaster guiding the player;[9] it is however designed both with fans of the series and those new to it in mind.[2] The game is themed around anger, activism and 'savage resistance' in times of climate change and ecological disasters, portrayed through werewolf myths,[10] and explores how rage can get things done.[11] The Polish setting, which is entirely based on real-world locations in Poland,[1] was decided on to emphasize the 'world' in World of Darkness, showing that all parts of the world are reflected in the series' setting, not just the United States; the setting was also chosen as the developers saw the deforestation in Białowieża as something thematically appropriate to discuss in a Werewolf: The Apocalypse adaptation.[12] Also matching the Polish setting, the game takes influence from Polish werewolf legends.[11]
Scriptwriting began with the creation of Maia as a character. The developers knew from the start that they wanted to write a game with a female protagonist, to go against the trend of women in horror stories being relegated to damsel in distress and femme fatale types of roles, and show that it is a universal type of story that does not rely on characters having a certain gender. This choice was also in part made because most of the writers on the development team are women.[3]
The game was announced in June 2020 with a teaser trailer during the Future Games Show,[2][10] and was released on October 13, 2020 for Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft Windows.[13] Auto mechanic labor rate guide ontario quebec.
Reception[edit]
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The game was well received by both players and critics.[14][15]
Preview impressions were positive, praising its atmosphere, immersive writing, art style, and the weight of the player's choices.[1][2][4][5]Comic Book Resources liked how the game is set outside of the United States, a common setting for World of Darkness stories.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ abcdefghijkWald, Heather (2020-07-24). 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest is a dark origin story with a supernatural twist that you shape'. GamesRadar+. Future US. Archived from the original on 2020-07-24. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
- ^ abcdefgHetfeld, Malindy (2020-07-24). 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is an RPG with tabletop mechanics, coming 'Q4 2020''. PC Gamer. Future US. Archived from the original on 2020-07-24. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
- ^ abcdefgCaicoya, Bea (2020-07-27). 'Everything We Know about Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest'. Comic Book Resources. Valnet, Inc. Archived from the original on 2020-07-28. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- ^ abGonzálvez, Marco (2020-07-26). 'Impresiones de Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest para PC'. IGN (in Spanish). Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
- ^ abCastagnola, Stefano (2020-07-24). 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest, una nuova visual basata sul Mondo di Tenebra'. IGN (in Italian). Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
- ^San Simón, Jaime (2020-07-24). 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest saldrá en el Q4 de 2020'. Eurogamer (in Spanish). Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
- ^'Check out some of the cool indie games in GDC Summer's Indie Showcase!'. Gamasutra. Informa. 2020-07-21. Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
- ^Nelipa, Svetlana (2020-10-13). 'В Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest включили белорусскую песню'. Igromania (in Russian). Igromedia. Archived from the original on 2020-10-13. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
- ^Sheehan, Gavin (2020-07-26). 'Walkabout Announces Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart Of The Forest'. Bleeding Cool. Avatar Press. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
- ^ abClayton, Natalie (2020-06-14). 'Ex-Witcher devs announce Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart Of The Forest'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
- ^ abCaicoya, Bea (2020-07-22). 'Every New World of Darkness Project, From Video Games to Comics'. Comic Book Resources. Valnet, Inc. Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
- ^Wilson, Mike (2020-08-20). 'New Dev Diary For 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of The Forest' Explores Polish Origins [Video]'. Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on 2020-08-22. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
- ^Nelipa, Svetlana (2020-10-01). 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest выходит 13 октября'. Igromania (in Russian). Igromedia. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
- ^ ab'Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- ^Bischoff, Jens (2020-10-14). 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest: Der Wald ruft' [Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest: The forest is calling]. 4Players (in German). Computec. Archived from the original on 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2020-10-14.