A new RPG has just been announced, and it looks rather fun, and also really bloody. Developer Cyanide has dropped a trailer for a return to the World of Darkness in Summer 2020 with the Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, a single-player action role-playing game (ARPG). The game is blending the dark and gloomy influences of the WoD source material with modern story-driven RPG trappings to create something akin to what would happen if Grim Dawn had a helluva lot more vampires and ghouls.
A big part of the gameplay can be figured out from the title. You take on the role of a werewolf-in-exile Cahal, who has been banished to the wilds, living off the land to survive. But when your forested home is beset by heavy industry and pollution of encroaching humans, you step in to defend nature from pollution and destruction. The logic of the setup might put a pretty heavy focus on stealth and sabotage, which makes sense as you wouldn’t want a heavily armed bunch of hunters trying to snag a werewolf on your tail.
It’s just as likely though that players will encounter plenty of combat as well, we see some seriously nasty looking beasts in the teaser trailer, and it gives off the idea that the whole game will be steeped in confrontation and strife, a pretty fitting tone for the core theme. Of the three source universes within WoD, this particular video game is set in Vampire: The Masquerade. This means you will likely have some pretty mature subject matter to deal with.
There’s some very heavy inferences to climate change here, and I’m curious if the story will dive into the idea of mixing eco-terrorism and bloody horror, as it’s something games tend not to touch. You can attack and otherwise undermine the human industrial operations using one of three natural forms: human, wolf, and werewolf.
In human form, you can blend in better with your surroundings in inhabited areas, allowing you to slip into human areas more easily. For moving through nature though, you need something a little more fitting, perhaps a glorious and speedy wolf form will do. The werewolf form is your most powerful, but it should be used sparingly as it draws way too much attention.
Of course this wasn’t the only new game or expansion being revealed during PDXCON 2019. Fans of giant battle bots got a new Heavy Metal expansion for BattleTech. And then the WWII enthusiasts got the La Resistance expansion for Hearts of Iron IV. There’s even a new sequel, Crusader Kings 3, on the way. Stellaris is also getting an expansion focusing on its diplomatic gameplay, Federations.
Check it out in the trailer below.
