Heart of the Forest is a narrative adventure game based on the legendary role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse. You play as Maia, a young woman looking to uncover her family’s history. In the pursuit of past mysteries, she arrives at the Białowieża Forest, an ancient wilderness full of ancient and dangerous secrets.

The game’s mechanics are based around three main resources: Rage, Willpower, and Personality. They determine the choices available to Maia and influence the overall presentation of every scene.

World of Darkness is one of the most important role-playing brands, which revolutionized the genre in the 1990s. It was the first to shift the focus from mechanics to narrative and storytelling, and to present the world from the perspective of monsters, portrayed as tragic figures. Games set in the World of Darkness universe soon became incredibly popular and made a lasting impact on pop-culture, changing the perception of legendary creatures.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest is coming to PC/macOS/Linux on October 13, 2020 at $14.99/€12.49/£11.39, with a special 10% discount will be available for 7 days from the day of release.

“We’ve been Werewolf and World of Darkness nerds for 20+ years, and working on this game has felt like coming home after a long trip,” said Piotr Gnyp, Head of Biz Dev at Walkabout Games. “We want players to experience what made us fall in love with this brand when we were young: the ability to create your own stories in a world that is familiar, yet strange. When you finish the game, tell us your version of Maia’s story, using the hashtag #WerewolfHOTF”

“As a dark fantasy layer over our real world, the World of Darkness is perfect for telling compelling supernatural stories in familiar environments,” said Sean Greaney, Brand Manager for World of Darkness. “We love Different Tales’ and Walkabout Games’ passion for Werewolf: The Apocalypse and the care they’ve taken in crafting a story around a place and event they know so well.”

The game is set in one of the last primeval forests of Europe - the Bialowieza Forest. It is a vast area located in Poland, Europe, full of myths and legends which players will also find in the game. The first people settled here 1,500 years ago, but their presence remained relatively limited until they eventually vanished. The mix of nature and mystery makes the Bialowieza Forest a perfect setting for a World of Darkness story. 

Just like the original Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Heart of the Forest has many themes. These vary from mythological to inspired by its real-world setting, e.g. where should our interference in nature end? Aren’t we morally bound to interfere? How far would you go for a good cause?

The game stands out thanks to its unique art style. Dynamic collages, which mix photography with hand drawings, are used to represent not only the forest environment but also Maia’s state of mind. The main inspiration for this look was the art of Dave McKean, especially his legendary covers of The Sandman graphic novels. The design team also studied works of artists such as Elke Trittel and Wangechi Mutu.

Heart of the Forest was designed by Jacek Brzeziński and Artur Ganszyniec, the leads behind the first game in The Witcher PC series. Both creators are also known as authors of numerous traditional role-playing games, editors of the most influential Polish RPG magazines, and writers of pen-and-paper RPG supplements.

Key Features

• The first video game ever based on the legendary RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
• Visual novel elevated to a new genre with mechanics inspired by tabletop RPG.
• A rich story with extensive branching.
• Set in real places, inspired by true events.
• A distinctive art style that suggests rather than simply depicting.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest is coming to PC/macOS/Linux (Steam and GOG.com) on October 13, 2020.