With thanks to the folks at Nacon and Cyanide Studios, today I’m taking a look through the lupine action or Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood. I’ve been getting involved with the title here on Xbox Series X, but it’s also available on PlayStation, last-generation consoles and PC. As usual, we’ve got a full video and extended written review to find just below, alongside our ever-present common-sense parent’s guide.
The Basics
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is one which I’ve had my eyes on for some time, and I was really excited to get hands on with the title from launch. This one is a video game adaptation of the Werewolf: The Apocalypse tabletop RPG, which goes some way to explaining the over-long title. The World of Darkness universe has been running for some time, and the Werewolf IP itself is around 30 years old, meaning there’s a lot of lore and history to draw on.
The adaptation we have here sees you playing as Cahal, an eco-terrorist fighting against the evil Endron corporation and a cosmic entity known as The Wyrm,to save the Earth (or Gaia, if we’re getting spiritual) and your cairn. With some basic third-person stealth mechanics and a lot of hack and slash combat, you move from point to point in a fairly linear fashion in step-by-step gameplay. Combat while in your Crinos form switches easily between swift and heavy modes, as well as an ultimate rage mixture of the two.
There’s not much in the way of the open world with this one, and gameplay will take you through basic step-by-step tasks. SAdly it can get quite repetitive and while the hack and slash combat does start out as fun it gets stale a little quickly, not helped by linear progression. There is a decent if a little basic progression menu where you can choose different abilities and upgrades, mostly to aid combat.
Parent’s Eye View
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is rated by PEGI at 16 and above, and by the ESRB at a Mature 17+. While using stealth there’s not a huge amount of blood here, with hush-hush combat making use of quieter neck breaking. When you get into Crinos form, however, the floor will become quite soaked with arterial fluid. As well as regular hack and slash bloody combat, you’ll also find execution moves which can provide a more close up view of blood shed.
In addition, the title has a fair amount of language, at all levels and fairly frequently, as well as drug references here and there. Overall, with the level of blood, violence and language involved, this is one which I won’t be passing on to the Micro-Bandits
Accessibility
For accessibility, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is picking up a rating of Casual. There are three difficulty modes available here, including a story focused mode for those after it. Controls are fairly easy to pick up and put down, and the step-by-step tasks mean that you can jump in and out whenever you like without worrying about losing your way. Overall, in terms of accessibility I’ve found this one to not have too many barriers, and even on harder difficulties it’s not one which I’ve found to be particularly challenging.
The Run Down
Visuals – Poor (1/5): I’ve felt really let down by the visuals here, which have paled in comparison to the trailers shown. If you are only looking at the introductory cinematic, this one would score very high indeed, but sadly as soon as you get in game it is hugely dated. Even here playing on the new Xbox Series X this is especially noticeable in dialogue scenes which look like they’d be more at home on Xbox360
They don’t get in the way of gameplay, but I’ve been very disappointed with the visuals overall, especially when put in contrast with the stunningly beautiful cinematic intros.
Audio – Good (4/5): It’s not out of this world, but there is some good voice acting here. While scripts are a little cliched, the voice work in itself is nice, and I’ve found it fairly pleasant throughout. The rock / metal soundtrack is very fitting for the combat, and there have been some good tunes along the journey as well, supported by decent sound effects.
Narrative – Good (4/5): Coming from the tabletop RPG there’s a decent story here, with a lot of background lore. I’ve pulled this one down from great to good simply as a lot of the time I can’t get over that cliche werewolf tropes, and some elements seem a little forced.
Replay – Lacking (2/5): There are a few bits to collect here and there, and a good number of skills to upgrade as you go to suit your play style. Unfortunately, with the dated visuals and quite repetitive gameplay and goals, it’s just not one which is pulling me back in.
Can you spare enough to buy us a coffee? In order to keep videos ad-free and independent, we instead ask for those who can to support Pixel Bandits through Ko-fi
[kofi]
The Verdict
Overall the Pixel Bandits Awoooo Level for Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is Approach With Caution . If there was a particularly good sale I’d say that you should give this one a little consideration, but at full price I’m afraid it’s one which you might want to think twice about. There are some saving graces, and I’ve really enjoyed the seamless transition between wolf, man and crinos, but overall it’s one which has disappointed me.
Visuals don’t get in the way of a title, but the disparity between the beautifully crafted introduction and in-game visuals had me on the back foot from the beginning. The option for stealthy approaches seems tacked on with very basic mechanics and NPC patrols which are simplified or often nonexistent with enemies simply standing still.
I’ve also come across a couple of bugs here and there with enemies within walls meaning I couldn’t progress to the next area. It’s not been gamebreaking, but overall the lack of polish, and linear and often repetitive gameplay mean that it’s one to wait for a sale on, if you pick it up at all.