Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood is an Action-RPG that asks you to unleash your rage and is available on PS NOW. In Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood you play Cahal as he takes on an evil mega-corporation that is threatening the land of his tribe. Endron as the corporation is a servant of the Wyrm, the force of destruction in the world, and is killing Mother Earth. If you’re a fan of the Werewolf The Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying setting you’ll hear a lot of familiar jargon in this game however it is rather light on the actual role-playing. For me Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood was at its best when it was all about the action.
The first time Cahal turned into a werewolf and started tearing up enemies with his claws it was quite a thrill. The metal soundtrack was pumping, the sound effects were good and I did feel very powerful. Combat is fine and there are a fair number of options, you have 2 different stances agile and heavy and can switch between them at will depending on what kinds of enemies you’re fighting. Each stance also has special abilities which use rage things like healing yourself, an area of effect roar, long-distance charges, or a flurry of claws. You can do lighter heavy attacks, dodge, and chain combos together.
One of my favorite moves was to grab an enemy and either throw them across the room or just plain execute them. Enemies range from rather helpless scientists to guards that were wearing armor and could stun you and even guards in mechs who were generally the most dangerous. There’s not a ton of variation in enemies but around the halfway mark they do change things up considerably. One of Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood’s big draws is that you can freely change forms while you’re exploring. As a human Cahal can have conversations and interact with the environment.
Crinos form is his werewolf form and is used for combat though you can also unleash the beast in the middle of some conversations if that’s the way you want to play it. He can also use his wolf form to move faster and more stealthily. Stealth for me at least was optional. While in the Endron base you can use your wolf form to go through vents and sneak around guards. You have a crossbow to perform stealth kills or take-out cameras, you can find computer terminals to open doors or turn off turrets, and can do take-downs to silently choke out those who have the misfortune of being alone.
The enemy AI is not particularly smart and it can take them a while to realize you’ve killed half the room or notice bodies. As someone who generally lacks patience in games, I don’t mind dumb AI but if you’re looking for a deep and intricate stealth experience you’re probably not going to find it here. I mainly use stealth as a way to take out a few enemies, build some rage, and sabotage entryways to damage units who would join the fight once it started. It does seem like you can avoid combat entirely in a number of rooms though if you find the best way through it.
As you progress and level up you’ll get access to talent points that you can use to enhance or gain new skills, these can be either combat-oriented or more tactical. Experience comes both from combat and finding spirits out in the world and smelling them. Though Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood builds itself as an action RPG there’s actually very little role-playing to do especially when you consider all the source material it has to draw from. Aside from a talent tree, there are many conversations in the game between missions complete with dialogue wheels but none of the options really seem to matter that much or make me perceive Cahal as having any real character development.
There’s only one decision at the very end of the game which has any real consequence. Though the initial concept of a group of eco-warriors fighting the forces of destruction from an evil corporation was intriguing it was not presented in the most engaging way. Cahal as a character is extremely bland and the dialogue-heavy parts of Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood really dragged. His personal story also suffers from the most overdone of game cliches. Much of what’s driving the action is what happens to his wife and daughter and I don’t want to spoil it but there are things that happen to many wives and daughters of grizzled brooding game protagonists.
My biggest problem with Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood though was that it got very repetitive after a while. You walk around your forest camp talking to other people then go into the Endron base which is really a series of hallways and stealth/fighting rooms. They all look kind of the same, then you go back to camp and talk some more then go to another very similar-looking base and fight. Around 75 percent of the way through the game you finally get to see some new sites travel to the desert and fight in more corporate-looking offices. More variation in level design and enemies would have gone a long way to keep things more interesting.
Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood’s intro cut scene is really impressive but the actual game doesn’t quite live up to it. It shows some incredible visuals and strange environments and wolfs that travel in a pack to fight a common enemy. And though the other people from your pack are around in their human forms when it comes time to fight, Cahal is a lone wolf only talking to them through a radio. There’s the occasional cool scene usually involving the werewolf guardian spirits or meeting another tribe but for the most part, you’re just doing the same fights over and over again.
Most games like this focus almost entirely on the story and making decisions for your character, Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood is the complete opposite of that and it is nice to have some variation however though I thought the combat was generally fun and the stealth was serviceable it all just got very repetitive. There was the occasional glimpse of the interesting lore from the tabletop game setting but in general, the story wasn’t very interesting and I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the characters. If you’re a fan of werewolves and action you’ll probably find something to enjoy here but if you’re looking for a good story and the ability to role-play you might be disappointed.
Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood has been permanently added to the PS NOW service.
Good
Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood's combat was generally fun and the stealth was serviceable it all just got very repetitive. There was the occasional glimpse of the interesting lore from the tabletop game setting but in general, the story wasn't very interesting and I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters. If you're a fan of werewolves and action you'll probably find something to enjoy here but if you're looking for a good story and the ability to role-play you might be disappointed.
