Warning: This article contains mentions of death, misogyny, racism, and spoilers for Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is the recently released action RPG from developer Cyanide, set in and borrowing from the World of Darkness tabletop RPG universe. It follows a Garou (werewolf) called Cahal, his pack and allies, through a mechanically enjoyable but narratively somewhat disappointing face-off with an oil company, Endron. A backdrop of wider ramifications for the world, and werewolf-kind, looms at large.

It bears mentioning that many of Earthblood‘s mechanics are familiar to particular stealth-combat games. The inspiration coming from games in the vein of Deus Ex and Dishonored is clear, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Other mechanics are new and offer a fun marriage between narrative and gameplay, for instance gaining experience or “spirit” through interacting with plants.

Unfortunately, this ludic and narrative interaction doesn’t get fleshed out much, largely because the lore that inspires these choices is stretched rather thin. Generally, there seems to be an assumption that players will already be well-versed in Werewolf: The Apocalypse canon, which seems an oddly exclusionary choice. Not least when the various Vampire: The Masquerade games released to date take their time setting up the rules of the universe within which they exist.

I should also mention that I experienced some jarring, though not game-breaking, visual bugs. Mostly these were related to camera angles getting thrown off balance after performing certain actions in-game. While they’re quick to recover, sometimes “quick to recover” is still a little too slow in the more tense moments of trying to sneak past enemies.

That said, I think the game’s balance of difficulty is overall fair and well-managed. Sequences feel challenging but not overwhelmingly so. In fact, outside of some early tutorial sections that require you to learn the stealth mechanics, you’re typically able to resort to combat if an area becomes too difficult to navigate through sneaking.

On the other hand, it’s not clear what, if any, narrative consequences there are for resorting to violence. I didn’t pick up on any particular narrative divergences in the vein of Dishonored‘s “high” and “low chaos” pathways other than one pivotal choice towards the game’s end. This may be on me, admittedly, for expecting Earthblood to follow too much in its inspiration’s tread. Even so, it still threw me for a loop to find that it made little or no difference to the story if I passed through chapters like a ghost or slaughtered everyone carrying a firearm.

On the topic of combat: It feels a little rough around the edges, but for the most part, it works. It might be accidental, but something about the messiness of it feels appropriate for the wild predator as which you play as.

There’s certainly something oddly satisfying in the mass of blood and tissue left behind, which is enhanced by the soundtrack that accompanies these entertainingly gory sequences. The creature design that goes into Cahal’s Crinos form (stage of werewolf), particularly how it looks when Frenzied, is delightfully gross, too. Though I wish the transformation between forms leaned into the body horror possibilities more than it does.

This wouldn’t, though, be a complete review if I didn’t sink my teeth (so to speak) into Earthblood‘s narrative. I have to say, I rolled my eyes at the first establishing moments of Cahal’s character as the protagonist is who we’re meant to inhabit for the game’s duration. How many times, exactly (yes, the answer is too many) have we seen “white man spurred to revenge and social isolation by the violent death of his wife, who is usually barely established as a character before her death?”

To be entirely fair, the eco-warrior take on this trope is refreshing, and there does seem to be a current running through the story about the importance of family, connection, empathy, and relationships. Still, it’s frustrating, to put it very mildly, that the game seems unable to maintain that thread without still falling back on the deaths of women and people of color as markers in Cahal’s development.

Particularly concerning here, too, is the depiction of Onawa as leader of the Red Talons; A pack of werewolves known in the tabletop RPG for their hostility toward humans. Earthblood, quite disappointingly, positions her as unreachable and uncooperative. They also put her in clothing that I’m hard-pressed to describe as anything other than worryingly stereotypical. Ultimately she is set as someone for Cahal to argue with and correct.

Essentially, the game situates Cahal as the “reasonable white man” opposite Onawa’s “unreasonably hostile Indigenous woman,” while they debate a very thinly veiled colonialism allegory. Need I say, yikes? First of all, hire narrative designers from the groups you’re trying to depict. Second of all, sensitivity readers are a thing. Pay them for their time. Your audience will notice.

These noticeable stumbles are perhaps made more obvious still by clumsily handled character interactions. While the voice acting is largely convincing and varied. It’s then let down by awkward character movements or blank facial expressions that undermine the establishment of distinct characterization. Especially when they clearly don’t really convey natural interactions between individuals.

The dialogue options, when choices arise, feel a little clunky, too. Rather than containing any actual lines to choose from, they offer a selection of vaguely defined sentiments. This risks having someone pick a dialogue option they didn’t actually want.

At the same time, though, it’s not clear how much weight these dialogue choices even have. They don’t seem to change the outcome of conversations or relationships much, outside of a few pivotal choices at obvious climactic moments of the game. Of course, that further undercuts the RPG aspects. It is a weird choice in a game that’s based on and titled after, you know, a tabletop RPG.

Overall the game’s biggest strength comes where it’s able to marry its ludic and narrative elements, but neither are as deep as a first glance at the game might lead the player to hope. Earthblood may please fans of the action-stealth games that have clearly inspired its direction. Mechanically, (at least) it’s fun, bloody, and tense when it needs to be, despite some visual clunkiness.

Unfortunately, the handful of new elements it brings to the table, alongside the story elements that range from ham-fisted and cliched, all the way to insulting, don’t quite add up to the truly novel or engaging experience. The type for which a raw, messy, punk-adjacent werewolf game could be.

A PC review copy of Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood was provided by Nacon for this review.

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Werewolf: The Apocalypse -- Earthblood

$39.99 USD

6.7

Score

6.7/10

Pros

• Fun, messy combat
• Interesting creature design
• Difficulty curve is well-balanced
• Fun soundtrack

Cons

• Frustrating depictions of women and people of colour
• Level layouts don't offer much variety
• A few visual bugs