Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Purgatory

I remembered playing the demo for this game and thinking it was absolutely amazing. When I got the game as a gift I immediately started playing it only to find it a bit lacklustre. It's not bad but it's not amazing either. It's just meh. This was the first game in the series I played and it hasn't stopped me from wanting to play the others, however. I'm not really one for politics, and I hadn't realised that would be a major part of the game. I have no problems with politics, I just don't care and I am well aware that that is a me thing. I couldn't help but feel that the game was trying to make me feel sorry for the refugees but I just couldn't care, again I am aware that that's a me thing and possibly an ASD thing for me, but I just couldn't have cared less. Did I help the refugees? Absolutely I did, I'm not entirely heartless, I just didn't feel anything which I think the game was trying to do but not quite nailing. As for the main big fight near the end, (I chose to help Aleksander, not sure if the fight is the same if you chose to help the chic instead), it felt so anticlimactic. Like that's it? Just choose a few options and it's done? It didn't feel very rewarding. TLDR; The game felt rushed and in doing so wasn't able to make things feel like they mattered. I'm not going to say don't play this game. But, I will say that I feel this game would be good for a specific audience and that audience wasn't me.

Its a good visual novel that explores the world of darkness setting. It does a far better job at utilising the supernatural setting than the previous game.

Did a full run through and enjoyed myself. As a fan of World of Darkness, and a player of both Vampire and Werewolf games, I thought this was slightly better quality than the "Coteries of New York" Vampire visual novel. I felt like my choices mattered and in the end I wasn't nearly as screwed over as I am in every single VtM game. :) I can't wait to give it a little time and do another play through to make different choices. Well worth the few bucks I paid!

It was Good but also the structuring of the story telling needs work. The theme and style were great but many of the options didn't really matter, gaes sometimes dont even come up and if they do they are of little import so why even add that mechanism, an example I could super jump but the event that I could use it at I had 2 better options so I thought I would save it as gaes are one use only, never came up again even though there would have been a ton of places where it could have been added in, it was clear they only programmed in once place to use them. Sometimes a dialog of seeming small significance fast forwards you into the next scene unexpectedly. Example near the end with the <SPOILER> bane lady at the boarder, I chose to help the refuges and then was immediately text boxed to the end of the game next day because I didn't realize that one dialog option immediately skipped the entire boss fight and ended with a "YOU STILL WIN YAY .. the end", I had full resources and didn't even use any at the end, because apparently the NPCs got this and I don't really need to be there, didn't even need to spend resources saving the refuges just happened with one button click. It was super unsatisfying and the final statistics said I fought her when I didn't, another was I FINALLY got to a point where one of my gaes would trigger but I hadn't searched this other area first and it seemed to indicate when I used it I had to leave and i thought oh well I will just got check this one thing then come back, nothing is preventing me as of right now leaving before coming back. Nope was forced to leave, never used either gaes because I explored in the "wrong" order. Game doesn't do a good job of letting you know when options are exclusive or if something innocuous fast tracks you threw the scene.

Compared to the prequel (HoTF), Purgatory feels more complex. Your choices feel more consequential and deciding felt more diffcult, at least for me. This is also thanks to the very good build up to the tension, kept me on edge more than once. You also start off as a werewolf already and have the chance to customize the protagonist to your own will a lot more which I liked a lot. There are a lot more artworks in this game which stick to the beautiful and chaotic asthetic from HoTF and even improve on it, imho. You also get to see a more spiritual side of this universe, even literally stepping into another aspect of the world at times. But I was also disappointed at how rushed the ending was. As I said, the build up was great but the final confrontation lasted barely ten minutes, a real shame. I had hoped for more, an actual outro instead of a very brief summary would've been nicer. I also liked the sound design in HoTF much more. Here, a lot of the tracks were recycled from the first part and didn't fit the scenes often times. But all in all, I had a great time with this title as well. Purgatory expanded my view and knowledge about WtA and I enjoyed another glimpse into the universe.

My previous review of the game found fault with certain achievements seemingly being unobtainable. That no longer seems to be the case anymore and as such I am changing this review to reflect that. I do recommend this game particularly if you enjoyed the first one.

Another great tale from the World of Darkness. While some may think the tale is woke, we are all immigrants, even the natives, all on a quest for somewhere else from the River Nile.

This one isn't necessarily a "sequel" to "Heart of the Forest" but it does follow it in succession and call back to the events of it. Both center around a very specific forest on the Poland/Belarus border and both dig into the typical WtA themes of Environmentalism and Human Rights. I think they're both pretty good and they serve to give you a tense atmosphere and allow you to fall into the role of a Garou as you learn for yourself what exactly that means to you in your characters' situation. Admittedly, the one thing I struggle the most with these is the shapeshifting mechanic. I can never for the life of me figure out what the proper call is for what form to take, I always either go too big or too small. The game sometimes makes it clear which you should take but not always, though this is the only part of the rpg mechanics I was at odds with. Honestly I do kinda hate the "Two text messages! But you only have time to help ONE person out today!" nature of the rpg. I know it's for replayability but it just comes across as so weird and dismissive to me. The rest of the mechanics such as relationships, rage, will and the like are all handled well enough that I felt they were perfectly balanced and aside from like 2 spelling errors, I don't have much else to complain about. A solid RPG that serves as a great introduction to the WtA setting and helps better spread awareness of righteous causes in the process. I'd say start with "Heart of the Forest" but if you like that one, definitely give this one a try next!

Good story from a different perspective. Felt the 'gifts' idea was a bit wasted as it seemed like the option to use gifts only arose once. Has a major 'one route only' choice which may lead to another play-through.

A great game that expands the law and there are more options to shift and examine the story from two different angles. Would of liked some of the decisions from Heart of the Forest to cross over but still worth the repeated gameplay.