Every mission always seems to end in the same way.
I creep in, stealth-style, and take cover behind the outrageously convenient waist-high panelled fence. A quick burst of Penumbra Vision – just another name for that oh-so-common video game mechanic that lets you see through walls and solid objects – shows me there’s five – no, wait, eight! – enemies between the exit and I.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood reviewDeveloper: Cyanide StudiosPublisher: Nacon, Bigben InteractivePlatform: Played on PS5Availability: Out today on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
For a couple of minutes, I sweep around the perimeter, executing a couple of stealthy takedowns, until someone, somehow, spots me from the other side of the room, tickling not only his spider-sense but that of every other soldier in here with me, too. Some big dude with an unfeasibly enormous gun stomps over to where I’m hiding, smashes down the fence I was crouched behind, and what do you know, it’s fight time.
Eventually, you – that’s Cahal, who looks like he plays drums for a Motorhead tribute act in his spare time – will look around and realise the room that was once filled with fencing and boxes and several living, breathing people is now entirely empty save for a handful of twisted corpses and oceans of spilt blood. You jog to the door, press the button and step through, automatically move into a crouched position, ear-wig on the nearby soldiers, and the same thing happens all over again.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood | The Essence of Rage (Dev Diary 2) Watch on YouTube
To be fair, fighting in Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood – quite a title, eh? – rarely feels unsatisfying. It’s bombastic and bloody and brutal, but while the stealth sequences see you creep about the place as an interminably forgettable old white dude, the fight sequences, as perhaps intimated by the name of the game, are a little different. The moment things get hairy – no pun intended – he’ll transform into a gigantic, bloodthirsty werewolf and the ensuing battle – which is always accompanied by a scream of rock music and a throbbing drumbeat – is frantic, and usually fun. Kick the final corpse to the ground and Cahal will transform back into his humanoid form, helpfully denoting the fight, for now at least, is over.