Werewolf: The Apocalype Preview – A Familiar Enemy (PS4)

Cyanide Studio has been busy on multiple titles lately. One such game just announced at Focus Home Interactive’s Le What’s Next De Focus event was Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Development is extremely early on for this game, but we were able to talk with a few team members from Cyanide Studio about what their plans are for Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

Human Damage

Werewolf: The Apocalypse tells the story of Cahal, a Werewolf of the Garou clan. His son has mysteriously disappeared, and his clan has been wiped out. He has taken it upon himself to figure out what is going on, and may uncover something worse being done by the humans. When Cahal and others discover environmental horrors lying just around the corner, the narrative will shift to focus on the threat our species, paired up with vampires, represents to the planet.

Given the recent controversy involving the United States and the Paris Agreement, and the general consensus amongst scientists that humanity is doing untold damage to the environment in the name of progress, a story where humans and vampires are antagonists certainly feels timely. Let’s just hope the narrative isn’t too preachy, because that can drive fans away from a game fairly quickly. The high fantasy setting involving werewolves, vampires, and other mythological beasts should hopefully prevent this from happening.

Since Cahal can take on three separate forms at any time, levels have been designed with that in mind. There will usually be an option to go in stealthily as Lupus, the wolf form, and sneak in undetected behind enemy lines, or as Homid, the human form, to enter via social means by talking to people who assume you are one of them. Finally, the combat form Crinos is a valid way to break in, using brute force.

With Great Power…

It’s this third form that has the most potential to cause lasting damage. Crinos represents the pure rage that spiritual beings feel when they see the irresponsible waste of Mother Earth as done by mankind. If enough rage is built up by damage received and enemies killed, Cahal will lose all control and see both friends and foes as enemies that must be killed. If the area is not wiped out of every other living thing, Cahal will be overwhelmed and lose their mind to the Wyrm, which is a lengthy way of saying it’s game over.

Everything shown for Werewolf: The Apocalypse was only in presentation slide form. There was no actual game footage to speak of, only a lot of ideas and concepts such as side missions which can be found in the overworld consisting of disabling a polluting power plant owned by the humans. There’s still a long development process to go before we’ll even see a playable version of the game. But Cyanide Studio’s vision is clear, and things have been set in motion to see that vision through to the product’s release.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse appears to be a game with a message that it wants to get across. Three completely different styles of gameplay will certainly help to vary the action, and will hopefully be incorporated in some puzzle solving as well. While environmentally-aware storylines are nothing new, one from the perspective of mythological beasts is different. With any luck, Cyanide Studio will release a fun action game with some heart, whenever it releases (a date is not yet decided upon).

PlayStation LifeStyle would like to thank Cyanide Studio and Focus Home Interactive for taking the time out to show us their plans for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Come back soon for more information on this and other games from Focus Home Interactive’s Le What’s Next De Focus event!