Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest

The game took me about 4 hours to beat. Everything about it was instantly forgettable. The writing wasn't very good, the characters were all flat and somewhat annoying, there were only a couple of locations, the plot was wafer thin and went nowhere, the choices and RPG elements were almost non-existent, and when they did appear it was hard to tell what they did. I gave it an extra star because some of the art was pretty decent and apparently the game wasn't bad enough to make be stop playing before the end, though it was a bit of a struggle to make it even those couple hours. There are many better game of this sort out there. I don't mean to be harsh, but if I'm being perfectly honest I'd have a hard time recommending this game even if it was free.

In the recent onslaught of interactive fiction and visual novels, amongst other World of Darkness titels, Heart of the Forest truly is a breath of fresh air. Where the kind of political message of the logging story got kind of too 'in your face' at times, it's kind of what Werewolf was all about really. Most of the writing was good (MOST of it. Things like the oversimplification of the Black Furies tribe was terrible. Although it's better than the Vampire VNs, it still suffers from the same kind of problems. It ends right as it gets really interesting. At 2 hours, this was ridiculously short. It even teases a sequel but it refrains from even getting really off the ground in the first place. Why couldn't the logging story be just Chapter one and the origin story for your character instead of the whole game? This has the potential to be fantastic. It just needs more storylines. It at least seems like it has somewhat of a replayable nature, but how deep that goes I've yet to figure out.

What I really love about the WoD system is how much the whole experience is built around storytelling, atmosphere and folklore. These three elements really get your imagination going. And that, in my opinion, is the key to a good game. I was curious to see how (if at all) The Different Tales managed to live up to that. I have to point out here that I am only in the middle of chapter two (I have just 2 hours a day to play games) -but so far I like it a lot and can't wait to see what happens next. The atmosphere in the game is a bit surreal and of uneasiness. It is enhanced by a very original collage artwork which acts more as a mood tableu than an actual, detailed illustration of locations and events. The sound effects and ambient music are incredibly immersive and all that works perfectly well together to help you feel the mood and imagine the situations you find yourself in. The story so far is intriguing. You play as Maia -a girl who tries to find out more about her roots and the place her family came from. Your character's motives are purely personal at the beginning but relatively quickly she realises that there is much more to be revealed. It seems she is going to be involved in events of much bigger scale and significance. And that brings me to my last observation. Although the game is based in a remote part of Poland most of the world has no knowledge of or any association with whatsoever, it touches on issues and problems relevant to us all... I really wonder how this is going to end.

I was on the fence about this one, but it actually turned out better than I had expected. The writing is exquisite, and almost all choices have a visible impact. They add up, and their consequences are tangible. My main criticism is that the story bogs down a bit toward the middle, going into detail about too many characters at once and diluting some of the mystery, and that it is a bit short. I don't think you can get more than 3 hours on a playthrough, but then again, since there are so many choices, the game really inspires you to have another go at it and see what could work differently. I would describe the narrative as a mix between neo-romantic themes (the very vivid personification of the forest), the expected mystery/thriller/horror sequences, and a backdrop of realistic drama about corruption, ecologism, tradition, and finding oneself. Overall, I heartily recommend it if you can come to terms with playing it several times. Otherwise, it might seem a bit short for the full price, but I would still recommend it on sale.

I have just finished the game and I am really impressed. The game much differs from common cRPG games. The visual form consists of eerie images and simple animations only. This allows to focus on a story, which is very addictive. The game is the best adoption of tabletop RPG I have ever played.