Werewolf: The Apocalypse — The Book of Hungry Names

I really wanted to give this a thumb-up; but after the crappy ending I got (see below), that pushed me to a thumb-down. [b]The good:[/b] - Respectful of Werewolf the Apocalypse lore. It's actually pretty well written, and it shows the author knows the World of Darkness very well. - The story tries to give the player freedom. You can pick the order in which you want to accomplish missions, and it slightly changes the outcomes. There are many side-missions, fairly short and easy to do. And many spirits to talk to. - The characters, friends and foes, all are interesting, with their own personality. - Very long story, with many chapters, and many choices. [b]The bad:[/b] - The choices, most of the time, won't change the pathing of the story. It will set variables to alter the text offered to you, and that's about it. Despite its many choices, and apparent freedom, the story is very linear and replayability is low. - Some choices are only there to punish the player, but the outcome is not obvious when you read the choice. There are plenty of arbitrary decisions made by the author which the game won't feedback at all. The purpose of these games is to have fun reading a cool interactive story, not get spanked because your way of thinking doesn't match the author's view. And it happens way too often in this story. - The game pushes the sale of its DLCs constantly. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense: suddenly a NPC talks about "insert DLC here"; it comes from nowhere; BUY ME! - When it was released 2 years ago, every patch deleted my save, I had to restart the game 4 times from scratch and this is why I didn't play it for 2 years, waiting for the patches to stop. I hope this won't happen to you. [b]The very bad, and what made me give a thumb-down:[/b] - At some point near the end of the game, you get dragged into the Umbra, and it can kill you if you fail two rolls (which I did, super cool after so many hours playing). Worse: If you own the DLCs, you get bonus points to pass this zone more easily! Way to punish people who didn't purchase the extra missions. This is not acceptable. So should you buy this story if you are a Werewolf the Apocalypse fan? Yes... definitely. If you are not a WtA fan? No... because the lore is never explained, and you won't understand a thing that's going on. WtA is thick in lore, and the story explains very few. You'll probably get confused.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 648: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (9/10) [i]Werewolf: The Apocalypse — The Book of Hungry Names[/i] ("BoHN") is one of those rare games that's easier to admire than to summarize. It’s an unapologetically massive interactive novel about werewolves, spirituality, identity, and the end of the world that somehow finds room for found-family comedy, gruesome body horror, philosophical debates, and excellent roleplaying mechanics. Kyle Marquis delivers exceptional prose, one of the strongest roleplaying systems I've seen in interactive fiction, and a genuinely lovable cast of weirdos that slowly grows into a believable found family. Marquis swings for the fences on nearly every front. He wants to explore morality, identity, spirituality, politics, horror, and the messy contradictions of being human (or, er, wolf) all at once. Not every swing connects—the dense lore, philosophical tangents, and occasionally heavy-handed writing can make BoHN feel overwhelming—but when the game narrows its focus to its characters and the choices they make, it is nothing short of spectacular. Even when it stumbles, the sheer ambition is remarkable, and when it connects, BoHN stands among the very best games Choice of Games has ever published. [b]As always, I owe a huge thank you to the staff for the free copy! See full review [url=https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/kates-reviews-new-werewolf-the-apocalypse-the-book-of-hungry-names/174532/608?u=kate27]here.[/url][/b] [b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b] ✅[b] Non-judgmental “morality” system.[/b] Bit of a weird starter, I know, but when I saw the Convictions menu, I knew I would love it. Not because more dots = more fun (though yes, there’s truth to that too), but because Marqis has put his own twist on the binary good/bad meter. Think of any objective meter: there’s always a subjective judgement to it. 0% is lacking; 100% is the goal. Left is wrong; right is, well, right. Paragon points are blue; Renegade points are red. And, of course, the classic Light Side vs. Dark Side. ➡️[b] Convictions don’t work like that.[/b]Instead, you’ll manage five separate gauges. Five gauges that ask what the measure of a Garou is: your relationship with the Litany, your willingness to coexist with humans, if you use Rage or Spirit more, your hopefulness for the future, and how you carry yourself. There is no wrong answer to any of these questions, and you can choose whatever dialogue options you like. There isn’t a single correct worldview to max out. You're not rewarded for chasing one extreme or punished for sitting somewhere in the middle because when prompted, there will always be multiple Convictions to reply on. ✅[b] Your pack.[/b] I was worried for the first hour that I wouldn’t find any NPC that I would actually like (♥♥♥♥ you, Clay, and ♥♥♥♥ YOU, Scarper), but the pack grew on me by the end of the game! I was a bit cautious getting to know Elton, Melodie, Nin, and Podge, actually, because they were strange. Quite strange, and—I mean this as a compliment—they’re not very “palatable.” I mean, the main cast isn't immediately lovable, endlessly charming, or obviously written to win the player over. Elton has this nasty habit of thinking the ends justify the means; Melodie isn’t, ah, quite all there; Nin is simultaneously shy and strange; and Podge is hotheaded and keeps trying to blow people up while I attempt to be sneaky and sly. There are also moments when they critique each other, bristling: I noticed Elton and Podge butt heads, while Elton and Melodie try to pull rank over each other. Like, seriously? This bunch of ragtag misfits is my pack, and I have to save the world with these bums? Is there anyone else who wants to join me? Anyone at all? However, Marquis still manages to build a “found family.” You get to see the intelligence, loyalty, creativity, and bravery of each character, as well. There are humanizing touches: the little goofy jokes or the fact that [i]everyone[/i] is always hungry. Despite—or because of the friction—they slowly start to feel less like a collection of misfits forced together by circumstance and more like a genuine pack. ✅[b]Marquis’ writing.[/b] Man, ♥♥♥♥ me, but dude has some of the best prose I’ve read in a minute. In terms of bigger themes, he keeps probing at the duality and juxtaposition in man (er, wolf?). There’s always the question of who you [i]are[/i] versus who you [i]want[/i] to be or even who you [i]should[/i] be. The game is constantly interested in contradictions: instinct versus morality, humanity versus monstrosity, past versus present, etc. I was also surprised by how much ground he could cover without losing his voice. First, we have incredible fight scenes with reactive, fast-paced descriptions that go beyond a mere “I bite him” or “I punched him.” Action is [i]so[/i] visceral. Then, settings are lovingly portrayed; Marquis has an incredible ability to make places feel tangible. But BoHN is also [i]weird[/i] and esoteric, even involving some nasty, bloody body horror. I felt like I was in a fever dream with all the quiet digressions and surreal mysteries. Still, I already knew all this about Marquis. However, I didn’t know how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ [i]funny[/i] he could be, with these little off-hand quips that only emerge if you’re paying attention. [b][h2]Cons:[/h2][/b] 🟥[b] A more philosophical/political take on the World of Darkness that dumps lore.[/b] Unfortunately, you’ll have to read my own philosophical musings first, but I was pretty damn surprised at the stark difference between the [i]Vampire: the Masquerade[/i] and [i]Werewolf: the Apocalypse[/i] games. I wasn’t aware of the V:tM lore before playing the games, but I grew to understand the terms using context clues. You can sort of get away with not knowing some aspects because everyone understands vampires ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ each other over, right? Not with W:tA. It’s a whole different beast (literally!). By necessity, you are more connected to broader society. Not only will you read the copious amounts of werewolf lore and terminology, but you’ll also grapple with the Big Ideas™️. There are countless thorough conversations about spiritualism, religion, history, Greek mythology, Confucianism, metaphysics, Christianity, Judaism, environmentalism, politics, fate, and a whole lotta ♥♥♥♥ I’m forgetting. I found myself spending more energy trying to understand the terminology than actually engaging with the ideas themselves. BoHN has a lot to say, and sometimes it says all of it at once. ➡️[b] In general, BoHN sheds any sense of subtlety and barrels on.[/b] The leftist messaging is quite on the nose—every enemy is some variety of Nazi, fascist, sexist, racist, cop, capitalist, corporation, or all of the above, and so on. While individual examples of corruption or abuse are entirely believable, the cumulative effect is that nearly every encounter points in the same ideological direction. If every corrupt executive is irredeemable, every fascist is a caricature, every police officer is abusive, and every institution is fundamentally rotten, then the next enemy will always be cartoonishly awful and interchangeable. I found that the “seriousness” of such labels was watered down. After a while, I started thinking, "Can I just have a normal bad guy?" I mean, by the third time you call someone a fascist in the same scene, even I've managed to connect the dots. (And seriously, who’s fought more Nazis: the protagonist or BJ Blazkowicz?) [hr] If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45814768-Verdict-Play-or-Pass/]Verdict: Play or Pass.[/url] Also, please leave a like and visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems]IndieGems[/url] and our [url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2]YouTube channel[/url] for more reviews like this one. [/hr]

又臭又长，写了一大堆然而故事剧情甚至都没什么进展。

Play the world's most unfortunate late-teen-to-twenty-year-old as they unravel the mystery of a lost pack of werewolves whilst struggling against modern horrors like homelessness and being poor. Several quirky and funny werewolf freaks to romance (or not, if you don't want to) including Gaia's gift to earth, Nin. I haven't finished this game yet (Though I think I'm close!), but I've played enough of it to fall in love with the writing style. It's concise and witty, and made me like Garou despite initially disliking them. If you're into World of Darkness, or WANT to get into it and like reading, this is a really good game for you.

Don't like politics in my games

long game, very interesting read and insight into the werewolves in the world of darkness. would recommend looking up your save location in program files > steam > userdata > > 2402280 this will save you alot of headache if you don't have time for multiple playthroughs and want to explore options without the fear of redoing your 10 hour game save

После прочтения словил себя на мысли, что теперь буду покупать все игрокниги по WoD, которые выходят от Кайла Маркиза, так как он настоящий маэстро интерактивных историй. По хорошему, его бы заставить писать ВСЕ игры по WoD, потому что у него явно есть любовь к сеттингу и это видно по его проделанной работе. Если кратко говорить о самой игре, то Кайл смог создать действительно крутое и атмосферное путешествие, позволившее мне прочувствовать два года пиздеца и безнадеги из обычной жизни Гару... Dark Кто бы мог подумать, что игрокнига с упрощeнными механиками настолки сможет выдать такой крутой экспириенс и так сильно затянуть. Мне только обидно, что такой материал оформлен просто в виде интерактивной книги(( За полноценную VN с артом, саундтреком и хорошим интерфейсом я бы с радостью заплатил больше, но, УВЫ... В итоге - добрые 9 из 10.

First up let me say this is far and away the longest one of these games i've ever played. If you're a quick reader maybe 12-14 hours. Secondly is pretty dense, as in difficult to understand. This isn't my first WTA game but i struggled to wrap my head around the sheer amount of concepts and jargon. Thirdly because the central premise of the games involves something that can warp reality the narrative does occasionally suffer from lurching around jarringly. Lastly while i like the author's style and ideas i do find their own voice tends to override the characters at times. A 70 year old half-crazy warewolf probably doesn't have a favourite anime, a 40 year old media mogul probably can't quote up to date memes. The problem is that with a story this large it becomes impossible to ignore that characters with extremely different ages, lives and experiences probably shouldn't all have the same level of references and humour as their 30-something author does. All that being said this does everything i want these games to do. It's engaging, complex, reactive and interesting. Just maybe don't set out to finish it in one sitting.

This is one of the few text adventures that made me slow down and think to the point where I need to put it down and come back to it later. It also introduced me to the concepts of Werewolf: The Apocalypse in a concise, piecemeal fashion, which has let me understand everything much better than reading a wall of text in a book. Highly recommend.