Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood developer diary highlights rage mechanic

For whatever reason, it seems like vampires get more attention than werewolves. Despite humanity’s love for dogs more so than bats, the disproportionate adoration for one type of animal over another doesn’t translate to the mythological creatures we associate with the real-world counterparts. That’s not the case for Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood though, as it’s all about the lycanthropes, and we mean that all the way down to the rage mechanic that fuels gameplay.

The latest developer diary showed off a little more of the game today in addition to explaining just what it’s like to be a werewolf in the World of Darkness. According to the team, werewolves are complex creatures with a desire to protect, but are also imbued with a whole lot of rage. That was pretty obvious based upon how effortlessly the massive Crinos form dispatched enemies of various sizes. Of course, rage-induced killing sprees aren’t always the solution in Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood. But they usually are, and the team didn’t shy away from that fact. We saw plenty of instances where the Crinos shredded foes to the tune of heavy metal. It’s hard not to give in to that, right?

I am the wolf man

Before you unleash the beast, you will have to approach certain situations with a little more finesse though. You can opt for a wolf form to conduct stealthy tasks and takedowns, or human form for… you know, human stuff. There are also stances you can take to define how your attacks and movements carry out. No matter what form you take, you’re always collecting rage. It’s a central component to the gameplay. From what we can tell, you have a meter that you need to fill up that unlocks a berserk mode. This is visualized by some odd glowing tendrils that partially envelop the Crinos. It sounds like a power trip, and it might just leave you wondering “Did I do that?” when the dust blood settles.

Consider our interest piqued by the werewolf theme and other strange things afoot in the universe. It seems we need to save nature from an existential crisis as well as deal with some personal issues with our protagonist along the way. Werewolf drama sounds like a story worth unpacking.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood will release on February 4 as an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC.