There are not too many titles that are arriving at the beginning of the year, so those that are seen have a better chance of capturing the attention of users for obvious reasons. However and for some reason the game at hand, Werewolf The Apocalyse: Earthblood , has not managed to find a place among the most anticipated works by users of those that will appear in these first months … and the truth is that, after After checking the results after having delved into the final version of this production (in its delivery for PS5), we are not too surprised. And it is that we are facing a game that unfortunately has not managed to reach the potential it should and that, despite having several quite good ideas and a very varied development, as a whole it has not finished curdling.
As many of you know, this is a video game conversion of the famous role-playing game of the same name from White Wolf Publishing. An interesting license that has gone to the French studio Cyanide, the same ones that have recently brought us more or less remarkable works such as Call of Cthulhu or Blood Bowl 3(another adaptation of a board game). A production that monopolizes a relatively elaborate narrative and in which a good handful of characters come together but, to be honest, it is not that we have thought anything of the other world either. Everything revolves around a sinister company, Endron, which becomes the armed wing of Wyrm, a cosmic force that leaves only destruction and chaos behind. The claws of such dark power are wreaking havoc on Mother Earth, Gaia, who is clearly losing the battle to her opponent. In other words, and in short, the world is dying and we have to save it. And here comes our protagonist, Cahal, along with his pack of werewolves, who have set out to end this organization and its sinister purpose. Anyway, as usual…
The narrative has a lot of weight and it is even possible to choose the answer in certain conversations that take place in Spanish, as you can see.
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A poorly integrated potpourri of genres
Once all this is explained, it is convenient to get into flour. In essence, we are facing a fairly ambitious production in terms of playability. That is, given that the developers have wanted to give their creation a fairly diversified gameplay that brings together a large number of different game elements . Surely many of you will be happy to hear this, of course … what happens is that there is a but quite important. And it is that this third-person adventure does not stand out for anything in particular, since all its components have seemed too basic and not especially worked, ruining part of its ability to be entertaining in the medium term. And what playable elements are we talking about? Well, quite a few.
It is possible to change the aspect (human and wolf) at any time and by pressing a button, completely modifying the characteristics of the protagonist.
One of these aspects is stealth, one of the mechanics that Cyanide members like to integrate into their productions. Depending on each level and its context, we must wander through the scenarios trying to go unnoticed. And if an enemy crosses our path, it is possible to take stealth kills or use other “tactics”, such as putting the crossbow to good use. The best way to advance in these sections is to do it in the form of a wolf, since it has a higher speed of movement and can also slip through small gaps in the bottoms. The arrangement of these phases has seemed too mundane to us, with enemies that look like automatons and lack too advanced artificial intelligence. Apart from this, it is also necessary to interact with computers, cameras and other elements that meet on the stage, being able to use a kind of detective vision at any time(Penumbra Vision) that highlights the important elements of the backgrounds. A quality as functional as a thousand times enjoyed in previous titles.
Stealth is one of the many ingredients that this production presents, although it is not its best aspect.
Then we have the fights, moments in which the lycanthropic nature of our protagonist is revealed, who transforms into a werewolf to gain offensive power and maneuverability. The clashes are quite frequent and it is possible to adopt two different stands or postures, which enhance the agility or strength to adapt to the rivals in front of us. Some adversaries not too varied but that, in some cases, can cause serious damage to our Crinos if they use silver. These wounds caused by this precious material do not regenerate during the course of the fight., so avoid them at all costs. In exchange, it is possible to fill in a Rage meter that, once completed, allows the protagonist to obtain the combined qualities of the two postures that we talked about before. Despite these elements, the problem is that these fights have seemed very conventional and pale a lot in relation to those established in many previous games, which makes the title as a whole less interesting.
When we are in the middle of a fight, it is possible to change the basic position of the character to gain strength or agility.
For all this, we are facing a work that, on paper, has enough ingredients to get the players hooked with its proposal. The problem is that the execution has not been as successful as we would have liked, offering inconspicuous missions, unspectacular fights and a general design that seemed somewhat outdated, as if it belonged to a previous generation. And something similar happens with its visual section. The main character’s appearance is not bad without being shocking, although it seems to us that his charisma is practically nil. The rest is very average, from the animations of the characters to the designs of the adversaries, not very detailed and quite conventional. Sound follows the same path, with effects that do their job well,
With the Penumbra Vision it is possible to detect important elements of the scenes, such as surveillance cameras, elevators, etc.
A ferocious little wolf
It is a shame that a work as appealing (as far as possible) as this was, has ended up being a title of those that will pass without pain or glory. The idea of being able to become a kind of werewolf saviors of the planet and change our appearance at any moment seems an interesting idea to us. And it painted even better when it was going to be introduced in a third-person adventure equipped with a good number of playable elements and facets: stealth, interaction with various characters and objects, confrontations against different types of adversaries … The main drawback is that each of these elements are very marked and, worse still, none of them manages to shinein no sense. A game that does not have any personality or charisma and that does not exactly show off a heart attack audiovisual section.
