Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest

It's WoD, so it's the first plus. There are not many games about werewolves, so it's the second plus ("The Wolf Among Us" is another one here on GOG). The artwork style is beautiful and dark. First experience is not so obvious, but believe me that artworks suit very much to the gameplay. And the artworks aren't static. They tremble, some elements on the screen move. Together with haunting ambient music and perfect sounds it makes game atmospheric and immersive. You feel smell of the air, murmur of the leaves. Character sheet is great addition, and it changes all the time. So what's the minus? Some last artworks are average. Although the story is fine, for me there is too much politics. PS At the end there is one of two songs that game chooses for your path. For me it was stunning "Vaukalak" by belarusian Irdorath. The band was imprisoned by depraved belarusian government for fighting for freedom. Freedom for Irdorath. Freedom for Belarus. Freedom for Ukraine.

Heart of the Forest has some really good buildup. The game spends about half of it's length introducing characters, setting up Maia's backstory, and giving you context and an idea of what the main plot is about. Then just as the game starts getting really interesting and you start your journey as a werewolf it is over soon after. It just seemed like a lot of setup for so little payoff. I would say that there was maybe thirty minutes of story left after choosing a tribe. Choosing a tribe should be the start of something not signal pretty much the end of the game. I was hoping for more time with my new pack and tribe. I would have loved to know more about the inner workings of it. Aside from my nitpicks on the second half the game had a lot of good things going for it. The dialogue was well done. Different Tales has always seemed to have a knack for describing and detailing environments and people. The music was well done although maybe a bit repetitive. The visuals were well done although they were just still images with little to no animation. The game made up for it with atmosphere though. I liked the character sheets detailing my own attributes and how I was viewed by others. I played Heart of the Forest on Linux. It never crashed and I didn't notice any spelling errors or any bugs. The save system could have been better. It has one save slot that gets saved over each time. I don't really know when it saves to be honest. I thought it saved on exit but sometimes when I exited and loaded I would be a little back from where I exited on. I would have preferred a manual save system with multiple slots. The game seemed to max out my GPU but at the same time it ran fine. I just don't see how a visual novel can max out the GPU usage on a 7800 XT. There is a setting for resolution and one other graphics option. My Score: 7.5/10 My System: i5-12600K | 32GB DDR4-3200 | AMD RX 7800XT 16GB | Artix | Mate 1.28.2 | Kernel 6.10.2 | Mesa 24.1.5 | MSI G2730QPF 2560*1440

I've read different visual novels recently; Many of which claimed "shaping your own story", which unfortunately was a promise they could not keep. This game however lives up to this phrase. Interactions with characters decide what you will learn and how much it will cost. Your decisions actually shape the story and the way your character develops. I personally like the writing of the story, as it slowly unfolds and unravels the mystery of your own being and the hidden world it fits into. Everyone who likes the world of darkness franchise, role playing games and/or story intense games should find a liking to Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest

It's fine for what it is, but it's just too shallow. I felt I had to go online to learn all the interesting stuff... It's a fun little story of about three hours; worth it at a discount if you want a decent werrewolf story.

I don't regret playing it but it was largely forgettable.