Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood Released, Reviews

Cyanide Studio and Nacon’s World of Darkness action-RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is now available on the Epic Games Store, as well as both current and next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. If you’re interested in a werewolf game with some stealth elements and a strong focus on shapeshifting, you might want to pick it up. But first, here’s the official launch trailer:

The game’s description:

A unique experience full of savage combat and mystical adventures, inspired by the famous role-playing game.

You are Cahal, a powerful Garou who chose to go into exile after losing control of his destructive rage. You can transform into a wolf and a Crinos, a huge ferocious beast. You must master the three forms and powers of human, wolf and Crinos to punish those who defile Gaia, Mother Earth. But your worst enemy is yourself: if you don’t contain your rage, it can destroy you once again…

Each form has its advantages: the wolf can sneak around undetected, Cahal as a human can interact with other people, and the Werewolf can unleash its rage to tear enemies apart. This rage is your greatest asset but also your weakness…

On his quest for redemption and blood, Cahal plays a crucial role in the great war between the Garou and Endron, a powerful oil company that serves the Wyrm, a destructive spirit ravaging the planet.

And a number of rather middling reviews:

PC Gamer 79/100:

Combat is arguably oversimple, and rarely a challenge on any difficulty. The inability to backtrack or create multiple saves means the rare instances of choice are one-shot deals. Yet I’ve played this game start to finish twice, and enjoyed it both times, which counts for a lot. It’s a B-movie experience in the best possible way; not so bad it’s good, but so determined it’s good.

IGN 4/10:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood has decent stealth going for it, but its weak story forces you into painfully mediocre combat too often to be worthwhile, wasting the potential of the World of Darkness universe.

Eurogamer Scoreless:

Though full of ideas, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood leans too heavily on games that have come before it and doesn’t quite have the courage to expand its own innovations. Yes, I played to completion without complaint, and yes it’s a bloody, good romp at times, but that doesn’t mean it’s a particularly novel or memorable one.

WCCFTech 6.3/10:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is as straightforward as an action-adventure game can be. None of its features are broken, but the shallowness of the entire experience makes it a very hard game to recommend for those who are not into the setting to begin with. It does provide moments of fun here and there, but its linear, derivative experience does not stand out in any way.

Game Informer 5/10:

Cahal is written and voiced well, but I never once cared about his bid for redemption or to save his tribe’s forest from being fracked to death. The entire experience falls flat, and never truly embraces the complexity of shapeshifting. The idea ends up being a mess that pushes players to just bare their fangs and get through it all as quickly as possible.

VentureBeat 3/5:

When I think of games from Spiders, Cyanide, Piranha Bytes, or Reality Pump, I appreciate how often ambition overcomes limited resources. Their games (such as Gothic, Two Worlds, Greedfall, Of Orcs & Men) may have glitches and fall short of triple-A standards, but they tend to be fun, have good stories, and mechanics and systems that I enjoy interacting with.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse has most of these. I enjoyed taking on an evil corporation, learning more about how the Garou fit into The World of Darkness, and tearing my foes about. I won’t hide from that.

But just don’t ask me to hide from Endron’s guards again.