Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood

I have always loved werewolves. The big monstrous hairy silhouette that casts a long haunting shadow beneath the moonlight. Super strength with razor sharp claws and howling growl to send chills up your spine in fear of what bloody shredded death you face as the pack runs nearer to you. Such a creature to become possessed by with such great power would surely be an epic experience. But what would even come close to such an experience? How would we know what it would be like? Well, just pick up your controller and play Werewolf: Apocalypse.

During the winter months my video game hours played triple that of the summertime. I also tend to play 2-3 shorter games (under 25 hours) after beating games that take 30-80 hours. Werewolf: Apocalypse was on my list after I was shown a music video that contained images from the game trailer. Very good graphics showed images of a pack of wolves attacking a modern military fortress and at the end of it a mans eyes turn yellow as he drops to the floor then arises by standing tall with his transformed arms stretching out from his new wolf formed body with the full moon behind him as his stage. I fell in love with it and found where the video I was watching game from and downloaded the game.

As the loading and opening screen appeared I noticed something… this game, that was released in 2021 felt like it belonged in 2008. It just felt so basic and not super high-end development. It caused me to feel a little disappointed, but I kept going. The opening plot of the game, and entire plot itself, was a little cheesy and kind of a turn off. You play as a soldier for an underground group of environmentalists that are trying to sabotage a new oil rig being built in the deep woods of Washington state mountains. Not such a badass werewolf plot at first.

But again, I kept going until I got to the closing of the intro which is also the first boss fight. The man/werewolf you play watches as another enemy werewolf slashes his wife’s throat open and she bleeds out in his arms. This is where the voice acting was absolute garbage. His lines, as he holds her, are not voiced emotionally at all as he says “No. Please no. No. Why? Please God no.” Just terrible, b-movie first day on the job acting. Then the fight with the other werewolf starts. After that I turned the game off and didn’t touch it again for several months until I was forced back, not only out of boredom, but after doing more research about the developers.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood was made by a small indie low budget game production. This is when I understood why elements of the game felt more basic and the voice acting/plot not that mind blowing. However, everyone who actually played the entire game had nothing but raving reviews for it, and those who were like me and quit after the first hour only had bad reviews for it. “It gets better and good, we promise” was essentially what those who had played it to the finish line had to say. So I picked up the game again having nothing to do the rest of the weekend being below freezing outside. Turns out those who gave it 8, even 9 out of 10 were right. The game got good.

The intro to the game was boring, as it forced you to play a stealth mission where you switch between human form, and wolf form. You do not go full werewolf until the first boss fight, even there, you don’t have many abilities. After beating the first boss your “abilities tree” opens and you can power up your werewolf with “Tripple Slash!” “Blood Howl” “Bloody Rage Lunge!” and other bad ass werewolf attack names. This is when the game picks ups speed and you slash your way through hordes of enemies; countless soldiers being slaughtered left and right with blood pooling on the ground as body parts like arms and legs fly through the air. Then the enemies get stronger, soldiers operating armored mech robots that you break apart. Your “rage” builds to a point that you can do a combo attack that results in your werewolf picking up the last soldier and literally ripping him in half, spine and guts visible. This is the “Hell yeah!” moment I had been expecting out of a werewolf game but didn’t get till about halfway through. It was worth the wait and the enemies got better. There aren’t many, but there are several other werewolves you fight and even other “spirit” kaiju. One of which is a giant native American vulture. The fights were fun!

As for the plot, turns out just that first level was taking down an oil company that was getting too close to your clans lands. However, that oil company had ties to another company that had invented a new bioweapon to corrupt the earth and infect their solders to become super soldiers. The side effects?

They essentially become zombies, or more closely to Halo’s “The Flood”. Though the environmental message remained, the plot became more smart as the dumb threat of “big oil” became “Hey these guys are planning to nuke the earth and big cities with this bioweapon that will turn everyone into these nasty alien monsters”. The threat felt more of an actual threat and make your characters feel more like actual good guys and not just petty environmentalist protesters.

Lastly, I mentioned that the game feels basic as it is a lot of button mashing and basic growth trees for your character. But I actually preferred it over complex trees from other games such as Skyrim or Assassins Creed: Valhalla. The power ups were cool.

After I finished the final battle I had a big smile on my face. The journey of running through the woods and fortresses that were plagued with bad guys that I could shred to pieces turned out to be a lot of blood shredding fun. Werewolf: The Apacolypse – Earthblood is a good pass time for what it is. The only downside was it did feel slightly aged, but the graphics were amazing, its advancement structures for improving your avatars skills were basic, but at least they weren’t overly complicated, and the acting? It takes a back seat and goes unnoticed after you rip a dozen attacking soldiers to pieces.

I did enjoy the game and even think about replaying it as I write this (It’s been about 2 years since I played) and I give it 8/10.