Werewolf: The Apocalypse — The Book of Hungry Names | Game Brain

Werewolf: The Apocalypse — The Book of Hungry Names Game Cover

About

In "Werewolf: The Apocalypse — The Book of Hungry Names," you are a werewolf fighting to save the earth from destruction. Together with your pack, you must defeat the Wyrm, a Wyrm Spirit that manifests as a lie you want to believe. This text-based interactive novel, set in the World of Darkness, offers hundreds of choices and over 1.6 million words of immersive storytelling. Your shapeshifting abilities, deep connection to nature, and raw courage will be tested as you work to protect the living earth.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Werewolf: The Apocalypse — The Book of Hungry Names screenshot

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 132 reviews

story40 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

The Book of Hungry Names features exceptional writing and storytelling, with a rich narrative that immerses players in the World of Darkness.
The game offers a vast amount of content, with over 1.6 million words, providing extensive replayability through different character choices and paths.
Characters are well-developed and engaging, with meaningful interactions that enhance the emotional depth of the story.

The game lacks a save function, which can lead to frustration if players lose progress due to updates or mistakes.
Some players found the lore and terminology overwhelming, making it difficult for newcomers to fully grasp the story.
There are occasional technical issues, such as bugs and continuity errors, that can detract from the overall experience.

story
119 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
63%
3%
The story of the game is widely praised for its depth, complexity, and engaging character development, with many players noting its compelling narrative and rich lore that immerses them in the world of werewolves. While the branching paths and choices enhance replayability, some players found the pacing uneven and the length overwhelming at times. Overall, the writing is considered top-notch, with a blend of humor and serious themes that resonate well with fans of the genre.
- “The story is intriguing and kept me hooked.”
- “The writing and story are top-notch.”
- “The author took a world with so much lore and really thought about how it could interplay with the story being told.”
- “The majority of choices just ask you what you think to track your character's motivations instead of impacting what's happening in the story, right?”
- “There were several points where it felt like the story was drawing to a close, only for it to keep going, and going, and going.”
- “I found this game to have been good overall, but it was hard to get invested at first since I wasn’t familiar with the lore, which made the story confusing.”
humor
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is frequently highlighted as a standout feature, seamlessly blending with its horror elements to create a unique experience. Players appreciate the witty dialogue and the strong, well-written characters, whose interactions often lead to laugh-out-loud moments. The balance of absurdity and genuine emotion, along with political undertones, enhances the overall comedic impact, making it both entertaining and thought-provoking.
- “In between genuine horror are plenty of hilarious moments sprinkled throughout, mostly coming from the strong characters in your pack.”
- “There's some hilarious dialogue too that made me literally laugh out loud.”
- “And if you’re on its wavelength of humor, there’s an astounding frequency of laugh-out-loud repartee between distinctive, engrossing characters.”
gameplay
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
38%
23%
The gameplay is praised for its intricate blend of storytelling and mechanics, offering a deeply immersive RPG experience that builds on feedback from previous titles. While the detailed mechanics may overwhelm newcomers to tabletop RPGs, the game excels in choice-driven narratives and character development, particularly through unique features like spiritual convictions. However, technical issues, such as save game rollbacks due to patches, have marred the experience for some players.
- “The writing is absolutely phenomenal and you can tell that the already interesting mechanics have been refined since Night Road.”
- “If this were just a book, this would be my favorite book ever, but the ingenious way mechanics and storytelling blend together makes this an utter masterpiece of a game.”
- “This game is ridiculously detailed, long, and has the deepest RPG mechanics yet.”
- “The moments that I didn't like come out of the very RPG system that is built into the game, which can make you as a player not very familiar with the tabletop game overwhelmed by all the terms and mechanics.”
- “...but...the couple of small patches released causes the game to roll back your save game to a safe state, so you can lose hours of gameplay (I just lost 12 hours) and no way to recover as there is no version rollback.”
- “You can parse from the descriptions of your options what skills are going to be used, i.e., if you're bad at mechanics, maybe trying to fix a thing to solve your problem is not your best choice.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
13%
25%
The game offers significant replayability through diverse character creation options and multiple decision paths, allowing players to experience different outcomes based on their choices. While the overarching story remains consistent, the ability to explore various character builds and approaches enhances the replay value, making it appealing for fans of the genre. Overall, players find that the game provides enough variety to warrant multiple playthroughs despite some limitations in narrative variation.
- “I'm really enjoying this - plenty of replay value in terms of taking different courses of action during the game but also in terms of your character and how you change with the choices you make within the RPG systems, e.g., which clan you pick, which spirits you choose to ally with, and how your character's stats and abilities change with experience.”
- “While the game plays best the first time before all the twists and turns are spoiled, it offers enough choice in character creation and different paths that it's very replayable, despite its sparse nature as a text game.”
- “While replayability is somewhat limited since the story itself follows the same broad strokes every time, you can play through several times with completely different character builds and explore all kinds of different ways to approach the scenarios presented throughout the story.”
- “Replayability?”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
29%
29%
The graphics in the game have received mixed reviews, with some users expressing a desire for improved visuals and aesthetics, particularly in comparison to other titles like "Heart of the Forest." While the story is engaging, the interface is described as unattractive and lacking in ambient music or detailed graphics, leading to a sentiment that the visual aspect could benefit from more attention. Overall, the graphics are not a deal breaker, but they leave room for enhancement.
- “On one hand, I love the concept and aesthetics of the Umbra and the spirits.”
- “I have been eagerly anticipating it ever since I finished Vampire: The Masquerade - Night Road, as the writing, story, and aesthetics of that game were absolutely top tier.”
- “It's not a deal breaker since this is basically a novel, but it would be nice to see a bit more attention to the aesthetic side of things.”
- “Yes, but you have to use your imagination. This is not even at the level of 'Heart of the Forest.' There is no ambient music, no visuals, and the interface is very, very ugly. However, the story is pretty good so far (5 hours in).”
- “No graphics card needed!”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game excels in its emotional depth, blending humor, social horror, and political themes through well-crafted characters and interactions. Players experience a seamless narrative that evokes a range of emotions, from light-heartedness to tension, fostering a strong emotional connection to the game's world and its distinct personalities.
- “This game shares a lot of similarities with games such as Disco Elysium, where it manages to jump between humorous, laid-back, and emotionally compelling interactions between really well-written characters steeped in visceral and grounded social horror, all while remaining unabashedly political.”
- “There is an effortless flow to the text that convincingly paints a holistic fictional world from light-hearted jokes, visceral body horror, heartwarming social interactions, political analysis, and tense conflict.”
- “All characters are very well-written with distinct personalities and ethics, providing a great emotional connection to the game setting.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The atmosphere of the game is praised for effectively capturing the themes and setting reminiscent of the "Werewolf: The Apocalypse" universe, similar to other visual novels in the genre. Reviewers appreciate the immersive storytelling and the overall ambiance, indicating a strong connection to the source material.
- “The atmosphere and themes are broadly similar to the Werewolf: The Apocalypse visual novels I've played recently.”
- “Pros: story, setting, atmosphere.”
- “I think the game conveys the atmosphere of the setting nicely.”
- “The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth that I expected from a game set in such a rich universe.”
- “While the story has potential, the atmosphere fails to engage, making it hard to immerse myself in the experience.”
- “The overall ambiance is disappointing; it doesn't capture the essence of the world as effectively as other titles in the genre.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspects of the game to be tedious, particularly noting that the lengthy end battle feels drawn out and lacks engaging buildup. Additionally, some users feel overwhelmed by the complex lore, which contributes to a sense of frustration during gameplay.
- “The only downside was the way the romances were abruptly thrown into the story; I would have preferred a better build-up, and the final battle was a bit too long and tedious.”
- “Perhaps I'm part of the uninitiated when it comes to lore, but I found this title to be tediously obtuse and nearly incomprehensible.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
50%
The game offers ample opportunities for character development, with well-crafted writing and immersive world-building that enhances the experience. Players are intrigued by the potential growth of a cast of complex characters, who navigate their dark natures while attempting to conceal their magical abilities.
- “There are plenty of opportunities for character development.”
- “The writing is smooth, and nothing feels off about the world-building. Even though I am only a little way in, it will be interesting to see how the character development unfolds with a cast of bad-tempered, angry, murderous monstrosities rampaging around the countryside while trying to keep their magic and themselves hidden.”
- “The writing is smooth and nothing feels off about the world building, even though I am only a little way in. It will be interesting to see how the character development comes along with a cast based on bad-tempered, angry, murderous monstrosities rampaging around the countryside and trying to keep their magic and themselves hidden.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The music aspect of the game is criticized for its lack of ambient sound and overall aesthetic appeal, with users noting that it does not enhance the experience significantly. While the story is engaging, the absence of a compelling musical backdrop detracts from the overall immersion.
- “The music is completely forgettable and doesn't enhance the gameplay experience at all.”
- “There is a severe lack of variety in the soundtrack, making it feel repetitive and dull.”
- “The absence of ambient music really detracts from the overall atmosphere of the game.”