Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood has been released at Epic Games Store:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood

A unique experience full of savage combat and mystical adventures, inspired by the famous role-playing game.
You are Cahal, a powerful Garou who chose to go into exile after losing control of his destructive rage. You can transform into a wolf and a Crinos, a huge ferocious beast. You must master the three forms and powers of human, wolf and Crinos to punish those who defile Gaia, Mother Earth. But your worst enemy is yourself: if you don't contain your rage, it can destroy you once again...
Each form has its advantages: the wolf can sneak around undetected, Cahal as a human can interact with other people, and the Werewolf can unleash its rage to tear enemies apart. This rage is your greatest asset but also your weakness...
On his quest for redemption and blood, Cahal plays a crucial role in the great war between the Garou and Endron, a powerful oil company that serves the Wyrm, a destructive spirit ravaging the planet.

The devs of Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood were interviewed by Gamingbolt.

In the World of Darkness universe, while vampires tend to integrate themselves into human societies, werewolves tend to live more on the fringes. How will this play into the narrative, and how will it manifest in terms of gameplay mechanics?

In our game, Cahal left his former pack after a tragic event and serves the cause as a Ronin (a lone mercenary) with only but a few human allies.

But as his Caern (a sacred place in a Werewolf territory) is in great danger, he will join them back while seeking redemption, and will face Endron to protect their territory.

He will have to interact with werewolves and other NPCs, friends or foes, with whom he’ll have to talk or fight his way through in order to gain access to specific locations.

Of course, in case of failure during the dialog the combat is always a valid solution to pass any situation.

How much of an emphasis will the game put on player choice? Are there multiple endings that players can get depending on their actions?

The story is straightforward, but the player has to choose how Cahal will approach a situation, either by sneaking around doing some stealth assassination or charging on enemies in his Crinos form.

Also, during dialogs, he can choose the way he will answer to his interlocutors or the topics he wants to discuss.

And we have two different endings based on choices made by the player in specific situations.

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Gameskinny reviewed Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest Review: Choose Your Own Rageventure

A well-done and intelligent choose your own text adventure set in the venerable World of Darkness Werewolf RPG universe makes for a satisfying bit of interactive fiction.

Werewolves, as it turns out, are an angry lot. You might have noticed as much from their many appearances in film, television, and other pieces of pop culture. Such an indignant demeanor might be because of how much decent hair products cost for lupine fur or the fact that flighty teenagers keep choosing annoying emo vampires over them. Hard to say, really.

Pros

• Beautiful presentation is nostalgic for fans of the source material
• Well written, with an eye on history, diversity, and real-world issues
• More advanced than standard choose your own adventures thanks to the inclusion of meaningful stats

Cons

• Feels way too pricey for a short text adventure
• Little action or in-depth roleplaying

Heart of the Forest is an intriguing diversion. It’s an interesting story with fleshed-out characters, and it makes fascinating use of actual history and modern issues. More importantly, the game uses the source material to excellent effect.

The story is only a few hours long per playthrough, though there are multiple paths to explore. That said, the $15 list price seems a bit steep for a game that would go for a fraction of that upon its inevitable mobile release. Still, for gamers who love text adventures, this is certainly recommendable.

Score: 8/10

DSOGaming reports on an extended gameplay video for Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood

NACON and Cyanide have released a 6-minute gameplay video for Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood. According to the press release, thsi gameplay video features the game’s exploration, stealth and brutal action. In addition, Julien “Patch” Desourteaux, Game Director at Cyanide, provided insight into the game’s development, and its roots in the World of Darkness.

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RPG Site reviewed Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest Review

Starting in a dreamlike state, you move through a forest that calls to you while also pushing you away. It’s dark and unknown, but at the same time feels eerily familiar. You’re immediately thrust into the mystery that’ll follow you throughout Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest, and it’s that introduction that set it apart from the previously released visual novel-style games in the World of Darkness Series.

Adapting TTRPG’s into digitized computer games is becoming increasingly popular and for a good reason. Regardless of quarantines and social distancing, putting together a group that’s able to run a full TTRPG campaign is difficult, it takes time and not everyone is interested in the roleplay aspects of the games. That being said, table-tops are known for their wordiness and complexity. When set across multiple play sessions, this isn’t a problem, but put into a bite-size game you can run into some issues. Heart of the Forest manages to balance its tabletop origins and visual novel style relatively well.

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Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel and I wouldn’t say it’s genre-defining, but it still manages to be unique in some aspects. End game pacing issues aside, the game tells a great story and offers enough choices that I never felt slighted. Even the small option of choosing which werewolf form to shift into was nice. Heart of the Forest is a simple and easy to follow addition to the World of Darkness games but still manages to avoid becoming boring or repetitive. It’s a fun, uncomplicated game and honestly, that’s all I want sometimes. 

Score: 8/10

A new trailer for Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse Earthblood - Official Cinematic Trailer | Gamescom 2020

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Jay Krishnan checked out Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest Preview :: Nature's Call

If you had told me 10 years ago that World of Darkness IPs would be making a return to their heyday in the near future by getting back-to-back video game adaptations, I’d simply laugh in your face. For a long time, I kept telling myself that White Wolf wouldn’t dare to even look at the video game market ever again after what happened with Bloodlines - but I’m glad that I was wrong.

It’s the second decade of the 21st century and Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines 2, Coteries of New York, and Swansong have brought WoD’s iconic Vampire IP back to the video game scene. At the same time, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Vampire‘s lesser-known sibling is getting some love as well. While most people have heard about Cyanide’s upcoming attempt to bring the children of Gaia to the scene with Earthblood, I’ve not heard many people talk about Heart of the Forest, a Visual Novel-esque RPG set in the Werewolf mythos that’s due out this year – even within the most underground RPG forums.

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@Gematsu Werewolf: The Apocalypse will release February 4th 2021. In addition a new gameplay trailer has been released.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store on February 4, 2021, publisher Nacon and developer Cyanide Studio.

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IGN's Summer of Gaming event introduces a new cinematic trailer for Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood and some new screenshots.

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Coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC, Earthblood is the first video game adaptation of Werewolf: The Apocalypse (after several cancelled attempts), and sees Cahal taking part in a war against Pentex, a corporation destroying nature and endangering the Garou werewolf clan.

The game aims to faithfully adapt the tabletop game, billing itself as mature and complex. You can check out the first in-engine screenshots of the game in the gallery below:

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The reveal trailer for Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood.

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With his former pack in danger, Cahal returns to find Endron, the energy arm of Pentex, installing an extraction site and destroying the forest around his Caern.

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Gameplay of Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood will be shown at PDXCON, Berlin.

Lesquin, France, October 10, 2019 – Announced for the first time at E3 2019, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, developed by Cyanide and published by Bigben, will be unveiled at PDXCON on October 18, 19 and 20 in Berlin. On Saturday fans will be able to watch an exclusive game trailer and then Julien Desourteaux, Game Director at Cyanide, will take the stage to reveal more information about the game during a keynote speech.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is the first action-RPG game adaptation of the iconic role-playing game. Become Cahal, a banished werewolf, forced to return to aid of his endangered Tribe and master the devastating Rage within him to punish all those that would pollute, destroy, and corrupt our Mother Earth, Gaïa. On his bloody quest for redemption, Cahal will play a pivotal role in the Great War of the Garou against Pentex, a powerful corporation whose activities are upsetting the balance of nature.

The livestream of that event can be watched at the paradox Twitch channel.

The following teaser video has also been released:

WayTooManyGames previewed Werewolf: The Apocalypse at E3.

The bases offered plenty of opportunity for varied assaults with stealth or force. A few options include stealth killing a guard and then stealing his outfit and key card. You can also use the wolf form to climb and sneak through air vents. Or go full rage werewolf and take everyone out. One thing to note, and it plays a very important role, is your rage meter. Most everything that has to do with aggravated dialogue, stealth kills (or any type of kills), and getting attacked will increase your rage meter. Once it is filled, you have no other option than turning into your werewolf form.

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TechRaptor previewed Werewolf: The Apocalypse and describe it as a rage-fueled brawler.

First things first, Earthblood isn’t really a full RPG. Rather, it’s closer to an action game with RPG elements. At the start we were introduced to Cahal, a werewolf who doubles as an “eco warrior.” In other words, you kill people who are hurting the planet. The first half of the demo took place in what appeared to be an oil field, albeit one with way more heavily armed guards and mech suits than you would expect.

We quickly get introduced to Cahal’s powers. At any point he can switch between his human and wolf form. While human or wolf, the game is more stealth based. You’ll be crouching and crawling as either form, and the human is also equipped with a crossbow for some stealth kills. While the human form may be able to pick a few enemies off, he’s not really made for combat and the dev did confirm that once you enter combat you become the third and most important form: the werewolf.

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TechRaptor reports that Big Ben will be publishing Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.

Big Ben Interactive has just announced the procurement of the publishing rights for a new game in development. Following the acquisition of French game developing studio Cyanide earlier this year, Big Ben has said that they are also going to be publishing Cyanide’s upcoming game Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood.

Originally announced and slated for release in 2017 by publisher Focus Home Interactive and in the works for at least two years, the game has had a turbulent development for a while now. As of yet, Big Ben has not announced a specific release date for the game, only that it is scheduled to be released in 2020. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, which is based on Paradox Interactive’s World of Darkness universe, was originally licensed to Focus by White Wolf, who themselves were subsequently acquired by Paradox Interactive in 2015.

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Farflame spotted two previews for Werewolf: Earth Blood:

Gamingbolt: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Has Players Control Their Rage

Fragmentos De Rol: Noticias sobre Werewolf: Earth Blood (in Spanish)

Gamebanshee found some previews of Werewolf: Earth Blood which was previously called Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

Not only have Focus Home and Cyanide Studio been busy showcasing more of their upcoming Werewolf-based role-playing game at their What's Next event, but they've also revealed that the game is now sporting a new "Earth Blood" subtitle. We begin with the subtitle news in this article on Gamereactor:

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To learn more about the partnership between Paradox and White Wolf OnlySP has interviewed CEO Tobias Sjögren and Lead Storyteller Martin Ericsson:

‘Vampires, Werewolves, and Mummies, Oh My’: White Wolf Publishing on Bringing the World of Darkness Back to Video Games

The World of Darkness (WoD) IP has a curious history in video games. After quickly garnering a cult following in the early 2000s with the Vampire: The Masquerade and Hunter: The Reckoning series, the property was purchased by EVE Online developer CCP Games, and the company began work on an ambitious MMO. However, that project was cancelled after seven years of development, with CCP seemingly abandoning further development of the IP.

Thankfully, such a rich universe could not languish forever, and, in 2015, Cities: Skylines and Tyranny publisher Paradox Interactive announced that it had purchased the WoD brand and re-established the setting’s original owner, White Wolf Publishing. Since then, White Wolf has been working to make the property into a household name, with the first major attempt being Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio’s upcoming action RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
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The setting is grounded in the fantastic, yet its individual properties have always reflected social themes of perpetual importance. From the explorations of morality in Vampire: The Masquerade to the idea of balance in Mummy: The Resurrection, the World of Darkness is ripe with opportunities to engage with real-world issues. For the revitalisation of the IP, White Wolf decided to lean on this fact, rather than the brand recognition of Vampire: The Masquerade. As such, when Cyanide pitched a vision for Werewolf: The Apocalypse that homed in on the environmental themes and questioning of violence, White Wolf leapt at the idea.

“Not saying that Vampire can’t address burning contemporary issues, but holy s**t does Werewolf feel like the right story for our strange times,” Ericsson said. “The tagline for Werewolf is ‘When Will You Rage?’ It’s essentially a radical revenge fantasy where you become a savage warrior of nature, ripping oil-pipelines, corporate boardrooms and narrow-minded bigots to shreds. I think a large percentage of the world can relate to the anger and frustration the Garou feel as they watch us humans f**k up the planet. And on the flip side it asks the question ‘what’s the price of using violence to change the world’.”
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@OnlySP speculate on what the World of Darkness IP could mean for CRPG enthusiasts.

Paradox Brings Light to a World of Darkness

One of the main ways the game industry continues to be fresh is through the creation of new IPs. Rather than making sequels to old games or taking a world already established in other media, these nascent creations allow for a unique experience to be crafted from the ground up. In some cases, taking a world that exists in written form and turning that text into a visual, interactive experience can be a blend of both approaches. Such is the case for the World of Darkness IP, chiefly a tabletop series of supernatural, Gothic-atmosphere campaigns developed by White Wolf Entertainment, which was acquired from CCP in October 2015 and became sister company with video game publisher Paradox Interactive while retaining the rights to license its titles to other companies. With Vampire: The Masquerade and Hunter: The Reckoning having already seen video game iterations, the new titles will start with Werewolf: The Apocalypse (published by Focus Home Interactive) before branching into other monsters. Focusing on the most well-known stories within White Wolf's repertoire, the ability of Paradox to also aid in bringing these beloved creatures to gamers with the studio's unique interpretation is an exciting possibility. This partnership offers an enticing prospect for a world beloved by tabletop and live-action role-players alike to resonate with gamers on console or PC.

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Gaming Bolt interviewed Julien Desourteaux about the Action RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse Interview –
‘What We Want Is A Strong Story’

By the full moon you prey upon the night as a werewolf.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse is not likely a game you heard of during E3 2017. Being developed by Cyanide Studios, the game is still in its early pre production stages, but what has been revealed thus far has been very tantalizing. You play as a werewolf, a man who turns into a wolf and gains supernatural abilities. With these abilities you must save the world from the many vile creatures that are killing this planet. From human pollution to many other unknown entities, it is your job to clean up this small part of the forest and protect what’s left.

With so very little to go off of, including no screenshots and no actual gameplay revealed just yet, we had to sit down with Game Director of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Julien Desourteaux to figure out what type of game this is shaping up to be.

Cyanide is known for its work on the Styx franchise, which is more about stealth and fantasy adventure. How do you feel that experience will carry over into Werewolf: The Apocalypse?

The engine. We are well aware with the Unreal Engine 4. Right now we are in a preparation phase. The level designers from Styx: Shards of Darkness, are all on this project. There are a lot of things that we can keep from Shards of Darkness. For example, the interaction, and experience, we can keep that. What we want to add as well is the combat system. Because in Styx when you were detected you had to flee or die. But here there is no compulsion in stealth. If you want you can go in frenzy  whenever you want. It is important to have a seamless experience.

The game has a lot to do with preserving nature and being friendly to the planet. So are the enemies going to just be human since they are the biggest polluters of the planet?

No. What’s good with World of Darkness license is that you can use vampires, werewolves, fairies and the supernaturals. As for humans, they are used to fighting the corporation and werewolves. They have machines that can destroy werewolves.

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Game Watcher interviewed Julien Desourteaux about the Action RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - An Interview With Cyanide Studio's Julien Desourteaux [E3 2017]

The World of Darkness series of games and entertainment has always been a rich tapestry of lore and imagination that has allowed gamers to undertake the roles of many mythical creatures of the night in various unique settings. Most people are probably familiar with the popular role-playing games, Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, but these are just a couple entries in a grand library of great games that have come from White Wolf Publishing. Fortunately, White Wolf has teamed up with Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studios to bring another of their grand franchises to PCs and consoles. This time, it’s Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

In a world where various factions are ushering the destruction of nature, werewolves stand as the primal bastions against the end of the world. What began as a pen and paper role-playing experience is now becoming an interactive journey that will have players delving deep into the powers of the werewolf to protect the natural and spiritual world. At E3 2017, we caught up to Cyanide Studio game designer Julien Desourteaux to speak about how he and his team are bringing Werewolf new life as a video game. Desourteaux shared the interesting world of Werewolf with us, as well as how players will take on the role of the Garou to defend the forces of nature, or give into their bestial blood and wreak havoc.

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GameWatcher: The original context of Werewolf is that there is cataclysmic event known as The Apocalypse that the werewolves, known previously in the series as the Garou, are fighting against, right?

Desourteaux: Correct. In the original pen and paper game, their mission was to kill those who would move the world towards the Apocalypse either wittingly or unwittingly. It’s always been sort of a fiction that plays at the edge of reality where these mythical creatures are fighting a problem very much inspired by real-world issues. For the purpose of our game, we’re going with an action-RPG to convey that world. It’s based upon a lot of the rules of the pen and paper game, but we’re reworking the gameplay mechanics to make it a far more moving and visceral thing.

GameWatcher: Could you expand upon that? What kind of mechanics will players be using as they step into the fur and claws of the Garou?

Desourteaux: So the main three mechanics behind Werewolf: The Apocalypse are combat, exploration, and interaction, and at the center of all of that is rage management. Rage is a factor that has to be maintained by the player because if the Garou’s rage gets out of control, they will frenzy. There are pros and cons to that. Certainly it’s great for combat, but there could be consequences as well. For example, you won’t be able to tell friend from foe. You will fight all present and that could lead to attacking an ally. You can’t go back until there are no more threats present. Likewise, if you’re in dialogue with a character and you’re overcome by rage, your character might eviscerate an important character.

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GameWatcher interviewed the lead storyteller of Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Monsters are hidden among us, watching, waiting, in the shadows

GameWatcher: Could we just get you to introduce yourself for us, please?

Martin Elricsson: I am Martin Elricsson, I am the Lead Storyteller of White Wolf, the reformed White Wolf. For years, we were owned by CCP, to do with the MMO World of Darkness, I worked as Senior Content in that and it completely broke my heart when that project went downhill, as some computer game projects do, of course. We left with a treasure of concept art and ideas, but now we are our own thing. We are financed by the Paradox group, we are not owned by Paradox but the money comes from the same place. We are very clear that we need to be our own thing in order to do our mature and complex stories about monsters hidden among us.

Martin Elricsson: Are you familiar with Vampire: The Masquerade?

GameWatcher: Somewhat, yes…

Martin Elricsson: This started in 1991 as a pen and paper table top roleplaying game which became the second bestselling roleplaying game during the 90s, after Dungeons and Dragons. Of course, it’s a game that pulls in a lot of women, a lot of goths and people with alternative lifestyles. It’s one integrated universe of monsters hidden among us, manipulating politics and being affected by us. It’s our world but under the surface, the nightmares are boiling. Twenty-five years later, we are updating the whole universe for contemporary times. Continuing the same stories that began in the 90s, we are now in the age of the apocalypse, we are in the end age.

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