Review for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 04/02/2021 The version for PC came out on 31/12/2019 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 31/12/2019 The version for Xbox One came out on 31/12/2019
Often having an important license in your hands is not synonymous with success and sometimes it is not even enough to attract a very large fanbase. Having great licenses in your hands, you need to be able to support the project with valid concepts and only in this way can you do justice to the reference model. Since its announcement back in 2017, the guys from Cyanide they never showed much of theirs Werewolf: The Apocalypse - action GDR - whose few gameplay videos showed a conceptually backward product.
It is evident how the boys of Cyanide they waited for the last semester of 2020 in order to be able to present an almost complete project; in these presentations they managed to show the public gameplay videos focused on exploration, combat and there the first limits of the game emerged, that is to present itself to the public with an old level design. Almost two months have passed from the last presentation to today and we wonder if the software house has managed to fix some "limits" that emerged in previous interactions with some patches. To know all this, we invite you to continue reading with our review.
We have to be honest in the last semester Werewolf The Apocalypse it has not presented itself in the best way to the public, but these last two months have allowed the software house to refine, as far as possible, their project. The expectations that were created around the title are largely unfulfilled, the World of Darkness as well as the universe in which it is located Vampires: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, in Werewolf The Apocalypse it is not rendered in the best way, due to a conceptual backwardness typical of two generations ago.
Werewolf The Apocalypse puts us in the shoes of Cahal, an ecoterrorist werewolf whose tribe sees their homeland expropriated by the oil company Endron. The environmental theme is composed of some stories related to the appropriation of the territory, the exploitation of natural resources and the marginalization of minorities, very interesting topics if treated with the right tact, unfortunately the children of Cyanide they used this theme as a pretext to make room for a superficial plot seen and reviewed in hundreds of productions.
Cahal's Revenge is all about claws, stealth fights and social interactions. Werewolf: The Apocalypse is all about fantasy fights and clashes, where the protagonist is intent on satisfying his thirst for revenge. As stated in the first bars of our review, the game structure is anchored to two generations ago: the protagonist moves from level to level in a fairly schematic way, making his way from point A to point B with the help of ugly force, despite on paper the title presents different approaches to missions.
Cahal can take three different forms: the human one used to hack doors and cameras and go unnoticed in some areas, this form is also useful for stealth kills with the crossbow; the second form is that of the wolf, also designed for a stealth approach by exploiting the roofs scattered in the levels and to explore the ventilation systems. Finally there is the werewolf form called "Crinos". This form expresses the destructive force of Cahal, the ideal solution for 90% of the game thanks to the possibility of being used in two postures: the agile one useful for slender and shieldless enemies and the aggressive posture that allows Cahal to eliminate the most resistant and armored enemies at the expense of agility.
From simple enemies, through armored ones to mechs, the Crinos form is the ideal solution for a large part of the game, since as a werewolf there is no obstacle for Cahal. Inserting a variety of approaches leads to think that the game offers a multifaceted gameplay however after the first two levels (including tutorial) the reality of the facts is that all the potential that the title reveals is completely wasted, pushing the player in a specific direction , without motivating him to experiment with alternative solutions.
Each level has roughly the same structure: explosive barrels in the center of the arena, doors with the sole purpose of letting out reinforcements at will, woody animations and a somewhat superficial artificial intelligence. The twelve hours spent in Werewolf The Apocalypse on the whole have amused us but it is undeniable that the title suffers from really evident technical and playful limitations.
Enemies come out en masse from doors without reacting to hits, stealth sections are limited in certain specific areas of the levels and the enemy, despite intercepting Cahal's position, does not move from the patrol area. The facial animations are lacking in thickness without conveying anything to the player. To overcome the problem of artificial intelligence, just increase the difficulty rate, in this way the player can live a slightly challenging game experience by finding aggressive enemies en masse. Unfortunately, however, the limits remain.
Within the game levels, there are some secondary quests that develop in parallel with the main one and the collection of collectibles that deepen the plot, even if superficially. In addition to the secondary quests, the player at a certain point in the adventure is called to collect some spirits, useful for some gameplay choices that we avoid spoiling. It should be noted that the RPG aspect within the title is only sketchy and closely linked to the skills that can be acquired during the adventure, leaving out all those facets to which we are used to witnessing in other titles of the genre.
Considering the characteristics of the title, the choices adopted by Cyanide fully fit with the nature of the project: a conceptually old title could not present alternative choices to those present in the complete product and for this reason we do not feel like penalizing it. Of course, a product distributed in the course of 2021 "should" respect today's standards, even if the developer has conceived its development in a dated perspective: the question therefore arises whether to analyze it as we had expected it or as the developer l 'he built.
The graphic aspect of Werewolf The Apocalypse on PlayStation 5 (reference platform for the realization of our review) defends itself very well. Compared to the previous interactions and fleeting gameplay videos, the title has been refined and clean from the technical aspect. Facial animations and little variety of enemies remain, but overall the title on next-gen consoles does not look bad. The uploads on PlayStation 5 consoles are totally absent: the title starts quickly, with each death of Cahal the respawn is immediate as well as the passage from one level to another, interspersed with a movie whose transaction is devoid of any upload . The sound component of the title is catchy and never repetitive. The title presents the localization only for the textual part and this too is well taken care of.
Werewolf The Apocalypse at normal difficulty level offers a longevity of about 12 hours, putting the player in difficulty only in some “scripted” situations present in the middle of the adventure. Once the game is over, the only way to continue collecting collectibles or carry out certain secondary quests left out in the various game levels is to start the title from the beginning, as it is not possible to select the desired game level.
Analyzing Werewolf The Apocalypse isn't easy at all. We are faced with a game born conceptually old but released in 2021 where today's standards have accustomed us to many other productions. The title offers good longevity at an overall budget price and does not aim to compete with the big triple A but at the same time does not want to be labeled an indie title. Werewolf The Apocalypse, coming out in a period without thick titles, overall turns out to be a fun and enjoyable title despite its obvious limitations. We are sorry, however, to see the World of Darkness universe so misused that in our opinion it deserves more attention.
► Werewolf: The Apocalypse is an RPG-type game developed by Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 04/02/2021 The version for PC came out on 31/12/2019 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 31/12/2019 The version for Xbox One came out on 31/12/2019
