Werewolf: The Apocalypse Earthblood – “Tactical espionage action” für Hunde • Eurogamer.de
In the late 1990s I had two schoolmates with well-structured programming skills. Together we decided to develop an Amiga or C64 game and I was there with the idea and thanks to Deluxe Paint IV and the A1200 that was promoted as an artist. Sprites including the early animation stages, which I hand-sliced for a traditional platformer, should be lying here on some floppy disks, unless you’ve settled your Penthouse Hot Numbers backup at some point.
I vaguely remember a main antagonist, a bald man in a surgical gown with a bloody imprint, and in the photo one of them smiled friendly and with one hand behind his back in the two and three pictures, as he uncovered his teeth and pulled out a long knife. What you think is pretty cool on 17 and 18. I was particularly impressed by our basic design idea. It was about the fact that the main character started out as an exhausted ball, which must only vibrate pathetic from one foot to the other while running, in order to gather its first strength a few meters later, turning him into a radiant and brilliant player. Super fluid superhero with many transforming skills.
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All placeholders, right?
The constant change of shapes was a good hook to jump into my silly idea of how to make a toy. As it is, with the usual teenage delta between the idea and the “start with yourself” mindset, a week and a half after the first drafts, our “project,” which was not really one, ended again. But Cyanides Werewolf: The Apocalypse Earthblood washed her memory back up. Thanks for that!
Admittedly, Werewolf seemed to be a little more “done”, but the switch between three different characters with different skills reminded me of my incredibly unique idea indeed. In this case, the combined three cases of the cruel Cahal are: the human before the invention of the straight gait, the wolf, who crouches the width of his hand down and fits with the shafts of ventilation, and the wolf or “Crinos” as the hairy version of The Incredible Hulk. Translated into hilarity, it should result in a title that flows seamlessly from stealth to pounding mode, and it doesn’t really have to be a bad thing against the backdrop of this particular template (even if it’s not the first thing you think of) happening).
“It doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” but it could, and it is also the case here. I don’t know what went wrong. Cyanide isn’t an incredibly large studio or anchor now, but Call of Cthulhu can’t be denied for a certain core competence, especially atmospheric, and there are people who think Orcs and Men and especially Styx are really good. Earthblood now screams with fury of lycanthrope as soon as they see a full moon for a license sausage, this person is a little sad. Regardless if it’s due to lack of money, time issues, the home office associated with Covid, or everything at once – it feels like a game that was put in the back shortly before it was completed in 2004 and then forgotten at some point. Only to be dug again today. A work of fossil value, so to speak.
It really falls apart when it comes to the basics, because the game is first and foremost incredibly unattractive: the first three levels sing about the romance of warehouses and industrial installations right after the other. Wherever you look: cabinets, metal shelves, valve boxes, and ventilation shafts over and over again. And it generally continues. Even at the first “good guys” meeting, it looks like two-thirds of the characters – speaking roles, pay attention to you – look like someone is working on a character editor in an early-access role-playing game about the life of a tax clerk (hey, don’t mean that bad Some of my close friends are tax folks!) Each parameter selected Option 1 and then clicked Save very quickly. And of course the characters in the dialogues, flee from their lifeless faces, and tear up exposure in the most striking way – for example when Kahal’s son-in-law reminds him that he is his brother-in-law. Thank you very much for not forgetting it!
Master of curved gait
He continues to stealth, which clearly comes from Fisher Price. You already know, this is the type with a linear, transparent stealth structure, where you can tell the way out from the tepid guards posture. And if you are not immediately sure what to do, which never happens, the obligatory sight of the informer or a sign leading to the ventilation shaft following the wolf, switch to open the only closed door or terminal. The security software opens here with one to three options, all of which you must click at once to continue. Every now and then, you stumble into deserted rooms with shelves, common metal items and lockers, from which you turn back, or avoid the slow, endless search areas for surveillance cameras, as if the game challenges you not to sleep on the road.
On his way from A to B, Cahal slits throats safely from behind, which is very easy because opponents seem to only have one back and are sabotaging the door here and there that reinforcements can come through if caught. Occasionally you’ll find bow arrows, which you only need in exceptional cases, or a potion that increases rage. But there is not much to do. Whenever I press the interact button, the door will open more than half the time. So that’s what cyanide calls the gameplay.
Every now and then, this threatens to get a little thrilled, because the Kahal “Get out of prison” card is Crinos, a skeleton-like wolf character, whom someone slaughters and slaughters through the opponent in an almost attractive manner that unlocks various special attacks that seem devastating to the skill tree. Of course, the game sells it as a fun freedom so you can completely bypass the studded stealth system with the rage bar packed enough in favor of grueling punching, but I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s always a good idea.
However, I was often glad when I was discovered. What happens here is infinitely boring and lacking in variety, but also not entirely without C-movie entertainment value. Ripping blood bags from the cloning sanatorium with their rifles from the bottom drawer of the Unity Asset Shop is basically simple, straightforward and easy to hold. The opponents fall and fly through the area as if you were in reality a brutal force of nature and dodging shots to the second. Three minutes later, I’m back in a leather Kahal robe. its enough. Just like this.
Well from the day before yesterday on today’s platforms!
It seems so much from the day before yesterday and after the zeitgeist, latest technology and game culture that one wonders that this game exists. Does anyone wonder that this is even reflected in music? If someone asked me in advance what the soundtrack looked like, I would point my finger somewhere between Mudvayne and Sepultura in front of a wall full of band posters from my youth – and I see, Alien Weaponry from New Zealand like this with “neo-thrash” not looking “neo” at all (or It should be understood like “new” in New Metal?), And not far from it. Only in a smooth way “heard a thousand times”.
“Any” is probably the one-word revision in which I can name this sheep as a wolf’s clothing after three hours of play. The only remarkable thing about this game is that, against all odds and gaming conventions, it is still around in 2021. After all, it is fully functional. Can you play away that way, it might make you tired and annoyed, but at least I’m not angry. But be warned: if you want to write in the comments right now that they seem stupid enough to sell deep, you deserve to be killed because of your pile of shame.
- Entwickler / Publisher: Cyanide / Nacon
- Platforms: PC (Epic Game Store), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One (plays on PC)
- Release date: Available
- Language: German, English, etc.
- Price: approx 40 €, without exact transactions