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.

In the video game industry, they became known for their work on The Witcher, Dying Light and Hitman. Their latest titles are the critically acclaimed Wanderlust: Travel Stories and its standalone expansion Wanderlust: Transsiberian.

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.

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.

“Heart of the Forest is one of the few video games that actually represent the traditional pen-and-paper role-playing mechanics. The game assumes the role of the game master and guides us through the adventure. It’s one of the best renditions of traditional RPG I’ve ever seen in gaming,” said Piotr Gnyp, Head of BizDev at Walkabout Games and a long-standing fan of tabletop RPGs.

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.

Sean Greaney, Brand Manager for World of Darkness at Paradox Interactive, adds “We're excited to be partnering with Different Tales: their unique brand of narrative adventure storytelling fits the World of Darkness perfectly. The story of Maia helps us experience the richness and complexities of the Garou, and gives us a new perspective on their long, savage struggle to protect the world from natural and supernatural disaster."

Over the last dozen years, Different Tales members have worked on fantasy franchises with a cult following, mobile games for the mass market, artistic experiments, critically acclaimed products about killing people and prototypes that were meant to exceed the boundaries of the medium. 

They are always ready to tell a new story.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest is coming to PC/macOS/Linux (Steam and GOG.com) in Q4 2020.