Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the forest is a visual novel based on the pen and paper tabletop series by White Wolf Publishing. What separates Heart of the forest from other visual novels is its inclusion of gameplay mechanics. Taken directly from its source material, players will need to manage their character's Rage, Willpower, and Health stats. Different dialogue choices or actions will see the player gain or expend some of these stats; depending on the stats of a player at a given moment, certain options will open up or become blocked off, leading to a myriad of branching outcomes. In the case of the health, should a player deplete said stat, they will fail whatever event they are trying to complete. But rather than restart from a previous state, the game will continue on, with the consequences of their failure. Addtional stats such as Cunning, Spirital, and Analytical, are also improved depending on the choices made by the player and will allow the narrative to further branch. Overall, these mechanics go a long way to giving the game a bit of heart and make it a breath of fresh when compared to other visual novels on the market. Heart of the Forest follows the story of Maia: an American with Polish ancestry; she's traveled from America to a small town in Poland to better understand her family's legacy. Once there, Maia becomes caught up in a multi-factioned conflict with the forest at the heart of it all. The environmental themes make sense for a werewolf narrative and come at a good time, but they also dwarf the narrative and almost make the supernatural element seem like an afterthought. Depsite having a decent cast of characters, the game is too short, roughly three hours long, to make much use of them. Instead they feel more like archetypal characters simply meant to espouse ideas important to the world of Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Further the game comes to an abrupt ending which invokes comparisons to the infamous 'The Order 1886.'
