Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart Of The Forest: Video Game Overview

While with Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 It is clearly going on something not very good (here and transfer of the timing of the release, and the care of key developers), it is necessary to fade in the developers of visual novel on the “World of Darkness”. In September, an elegant addition to last year’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York, Received subtitle Shadows of New York (That’s certain, in vain missed). And a month later, other significant inhabitants of the “Darkness World” – Werewolves.

Reserved entry, reserved distance ..

The authors Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest approached their task nontrivially even by the standards of this advanced and quite a modern universe. This is not a story about how somewhere in New York, the banking clerk is running around at night and tears in the shreds of narcodilers, and the story based on real events around the environmental protests against the development of Belovezhskaya forest (more precisely, some of its regions).

With the main heroine, a 24-year-old Polish student named Maya, everything happened right as in the famous song Alexandra Pakhmutova And Nikolai Dobronravov: “Here forgot forgot our parental parents. And hearing sometimes the voice of the ancestors calling, a gray bird of forest from the distant centuries I arrive to you, Belovezhskaya Forest “.With such types of forests fit to write completely different songs ..
Maja is just happening from this region, but she does not know anything about him, but she will have strange dreams about this forest, and the girl feels a mystical connection with him. So together with friends she goes here to learn as much as possible about his family and find answers to the questions that she does not give her.

She comes exactly in the midst of protests and meets those to the buildings especially not by moral, – a group of strange men and women, such ecological terrorists (although not all of them are so radically set up). Naturally, all of them turn out to be shortened (this is not even a spoiler) that protect the forest as a home native at least because it is a native home for most of them.And what is the guy in the background eyes suspiciously glow?

What kind of wolf you?

As befits in visual novels, the whole game consists of reading texts and choosing actions in dialogs. Weight options, and all of them are reflected on the relationship with the characters (from hostility to sympathy and friendship), as well as on the role-playing parameters of Maya – is bravery, inspiration, trick, analytics and spirit. Later, depending on which of them are more developed, new replicas and actions are opening.

The main thing is that the key actions have enough energy, health or rage. Some of these parameters are restored after successful progress on the plot and perform key purposes, but the level of rage we must regulate the entire game yourself, solving, surrender to the will of instincts or contain.I tried to restrain – even in such situations.
After the heroine passes the rite of dedication to the Vervolphs (and you doubted that Maya too? It becomes clear from the very first minutes of the game!), the main parameters are the main parameters – glory, honor and wisdom. They grow depending on again from our actions, from how precisely (aggressively, cunning or peaceful) we solve the tasks. Maya must also choose a clan, teacher, and in some scenes and the form of a waswolf (there are more animals, and there are more human) – this is also reflected in the options of action and on the final.Conditional human forms are designed for a more cunning and peace-loving style of passage.

It is impossible for flags? Or you can?

In fact, it is absolutely impossible to die and die here (I, in any case, did not happen even after the girl seems to give God to God). But what you come to the final, how to solve the main problems who will die of surrounding, and who will stay to live (or no one will perish), as the characters will reveal in relationships with Maya, depends on our actions.

The main watershed runs along the line of how – peacefully or violence – we will solve the situation with the protests. But in the game there are not two endings, but five and there are many variations of the development of events.But here the options are no longer left.
Important and then to whom at a certain point we will pay for help. I, for example, turned to the mystical strength of the forest (it can also relate to the heroine in different ways). And then the Spirit of the Forest helped me – it rained, everyone was silent around, and Maya was able to talk to the mayor one on 1. And in this conversation could behave differently.

The game very naturally simulates nightmares. So sometimes it becomes scary.
***
Perhaps the only problem in all this (well, besides, perhaps a specific picture – although it still seemed to me stylish and in my own expressive) can be a duration Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest. The maximum of the adventures of Maya occupy three hours. At the same time, actually the action scenes and those episodes, where it stays in the form of a werewolf, once, two and got.

However, it is very rich in events, nightmares and solutions for three hours, besides, the game is clearly designed for repeated passage. And there is a persistent feeling that on this the history of the Polish student, adoring wolves and wander naked in the forest, does not end.

Pros: fascinating and tense story;Many endings and options for the development of events, and therefore, a high degree of playability;interesting characters;close connection between the role-playing system and action options;The picture is specific, but expressive and stylish;very authentic music;Atmospheric sounds.

Minuses: The game is short, while we spend very little time in the appearance of the island;No Russian translation.