Guise of the Wolf is a Gothic action adventure game, where you are an alchemist named Dominik, assigned by the Kingdom of Uhorsko to solve the case of a ravenous mysterious beast. Soon after he engages in this quest, Dominik discovers that he becomes part of the problem, taken by the lupin curse and now has to avoid being discovered.
You would expect Guise of the Wolf to reveal the werewolf inside you, but we soon discover that you just turn into a fat German Shepard puppy.
Puppy with Fangs
Guise of the Wolf is a steady PC game with rudimentary controls and standard game options. The detailed level design is a very nice touch and builds a powerful Gothic atmosphere shrouded in mystery. The voice acting give a deep impression of strong bonds with the supernatural, as well as the background theme songs that mingles with the story.
The goal of the game is to stealth and solve puzzles, when you are in human form, or to destroy obstacles and opponents, when you turn into a werewolf. The story starts with a tingling fear in your spine as you explore the castle gloomed by a creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately all the thrills fade away pretty fast from blunt character animations and clunky graphics, together with a weak trembling story that makes you go in the search for a cure and solve the enigma of the not-so-scary creature.
Puzzles and Combat
Guise of the Wolf has a nice amount of puzzles and you often have to swap between forms to solve them. Most of the puzzles are fairly easy, thus turning the action more into a boring sensation of “go there and do that.”
The stealth mechanism is buggy and people might find it frustrating as the gold you collect is only good for bribing guards. Even when you don’t have any gold, it’s very easy to steal it from the guards that just show you the way to the loot.
Fighting and breaking obstacles isn’t any better, as hovering animations break the gaming experience, and thus the game does not live up to the expectations required by the horror genre.
Solving the Curse
Guise of the Wolf is a nice attempt of a Gothic horror story, but fails to live the glory of a succesful Adventure-Action game. Clunky animation, a weak story, and a simple combat system make the game lose its mystery. Truth be told, this game would look okay on a media device, but for PC gamers, Guise of the Wolf must improve a lot more to meet their expectations.
