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

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.

Besides the main game what other activities will be available?

Side missions and collectibles. A lot of things like that. That’s why we have some spirits challenge. In order to have a specific gift of the ancient spirits, sometimes you will be going in the spiritual world, you will see some bridge, you go deeper in the spirit world, and you will be challenged by an ancient spirit. You can then face it as a werewolf. Maybe have dialog with it to persuade it to give you its power. By achieving those spiritual challenges you will get those powers.

"What we want is a strong story. So the story will be linear. Some small branches will be there, but I like to represent it like a spiral."

Will there be decision-making and branching story-lines? Can we look forward to different endings?

What we want is a strong story. So the story will be linear. Some small branches will be there, but I like to represent it like a spiral. It’s the apocalypse, the end is near. What do you tend to do is slow down the circle of fatality. We are focusing on making the character strong and very dramatic.

What combat mechanics can players look forward to?

It’s just claws. There is a magic part linked to the spiritual world. There a specific abilities of the werewolf. Players can perform a leap charge, you can access spirits that will give you specific abilities. Right now the combat abilities are so dense we are picking what we want in our game. There is varieties in enemies as well, such as the shape shifters…we will decide the archetypes during production. We have a lot of different ideas.

You spoke of the supernatural such as vampires and fairies. Can any of them come in to help or be a sort of companion?

I know because werewolves are really alien, they are very alone. There are a lot of different tribes, and some tribes can’t help the other.

"There a specific abilities of the werewolf. Players can perform a leap charge, you can access spirits that will give you specific abilities."

Is there any type of customization?

No. The customization will be the power that you find and use.

How long do you think the game will last and how are you encouraging replay value?

If you go straight forward, just doing the missions, it will clock in around 15 hours. Replay value will depend on whether if you’re a great achiever. Because once you’re in the area you can finish it and go to the other task and then come back again for more.

Will there be any Xbox One X or PS4 Pro enhancements?

It’s too early. We are still in pre production. For now it’s going to be on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

From a development perspective, how do you find the Xbox One X to be? With so much GPU power, we are sure you must be doing some amazing things.

The more GPU you have the better graphics you can have. It’s all about why PC is always better. Because they have more CPU and GPU. The more you have the best it is. The same with the RAM.

This interview was edited for better understanding.