To Grandmother's house we go.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest is a 2020 Visual Novel from Different Tales, which is a Poland-based company that includes two creators of the original The Witcher. It is an adaptation of the World of Darkness Werewolf: The Apocalypse tabletop game, and incorporates role-playing mechanics like Rage, Willpower, and Health meters and a character sheet.
Maia is a Polish American college student who arrives at the ancient Puszcza Białowieża to explore her family history. The forest is currently under threat due to the fact that (supposedly) limited logging has been allowed due to an outbreak of dangerous insects. She is driven by strange dreams of wolves, spirits, and more to become involved in this conflict.
Maia will eventually discover her heritage is that of a supernatural defender, charged by Gaia to protect her against the evils of civilization. She will also have to choose what sort of werewolf she wishes to be and how she will approach the problem of saving the forest. If she is able to save it at all.
No relation to Craig of the Creek Season 5 episode.
This video game contains the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Olga, a Black Fury Ahroun whose first solution to problems is aggression and violence. Maia can also turn out to be a born fighter.
- Adaptational Heroism: Daniel is a Red Talon, a tribe of Garou who see the mass culling of humans as desirable. Despite this, he works as a forest guide showing tourists around the Puszcza and has a moderate view of humans. Of course, Red Talons aren't a monolith and Daniel does have a personal fascination with humanity and is moderated by the other members of his pack.
- Adaptational Villainy: Everyone shits on the Get of Fenris in this game. They're called fascists, white supremacists, and monsters. This is notable, given there's a somewhat affable Red Talon in the game and they were even worse than the Get historically. Then again, it also takes place in Poland, along the border with Belarus no less, and the scars of World War Two run deep there, so one can’t expect them to be particularly charitable to one of the ideological forbearers (in universe anyway) of National Socialism. Maia's ancestors were Get sworn to the Puszcza who delighted in burning villages in her name. Maia can also end up joining Vanir's Wrath, a camp of Get that embraces their pagan roots instead of Nazism. note
- All Germans Are Nazis: Zig-zagged. The pack from Berlinnote range from liberal to leftist, but the Germanic Get of Fenris are reviled as fascists with some having worked for the Nazis. And then it turns out that Maia's Polish-Belarusian ancestors were also Get.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Maia's character sheet can be pulled up at any time in case you need a quick look at her stats, goals, and relationships.
- The font and font size can also be changed for readability.
- The Berserker: The Crinos war-form, as per franchise lore. It's quite literally fueled by Maia's Rage, and restraining yourself from simply tearing your enemies to shreds costs Willpower.
- Beta Couple: Anya and Bartek are attracted to each other, and are implied to have gotten together even if they did not meet in the first chapter.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Kornel is a Child of Gaia who wants a peaceful solution. He's also the only trained soldier in the Sept and competent in a fight. It isn't enough to save him should Olga and Kornel come to blows.
- Blue Oni, Red Oni: Olga and Kornel are at the opposite extremes of how much violence to do to the protests. Olga is short tempered and wants to take direct action, while Kornel is calmer and prefers nonviolence.
- Body Horror:
- The First Change, and every shift afterward, describes incredible pain as bones shatter and muscles tear into a new form.
- The harvested trees in the dreams are envisioned as skinned and mutilated people, some still alive.
- Blank Slate: Maia can be a coldly logical, warm and friendly, or psychotically angry person depending on the player's choices.
- But Not Too Foreign: For both the intended audience and the developers. Maia is Polish in descent but American by birth and upbringing.
- But Thou Must!: In Chapter Three, attempting to run away from the fight with the hunters or security guards leads to Maia being chased down by the Garou, where either Kornel or Olga bites her to force her to change.
- Distracted by the Sexy: A Ragabash Maia can attract the attention of the Minister of Environment by flashing her breasts at him. Caught on camera oogling her, he agrees to negotiations to stop the logging.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: The Prologue is a dream where Maia wakes up in the forest, covered in blood, and inches away from a severed head. In Chapter Three, the sequence repeats after Maia's First Change, and the realization is one of many things crashing on her.
- Dream Sequence: Maia is plagued by dreams about the forest, the Enemy, and being something more, with the player experiencing these alongside her in the early game.
- Ending Theme: Two selectable ones.
- Vaukalak by the Belarus "fantasy-folk" band Irdorath. Appropriately, it's a song about a person who transforms themself into a wolf in order to take revenge on those who wronged them, but winds up regretting becoming a monster.
- Safe World by Rogi Clush. Also fittingly, it's about finding a place to belong and changing to be perfect.
- Face–Heel Turn: Maia can go from being a sweet and innocent girl to being a monster or the reverse, depending on how you roleplay.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: With their goals achieved, the sept separates with Kornel taking his pack back to Berlin and Olga's staying in the forest. Maia can go with either despite her pack affiliation, or convince them to stay together.
- Genius Loci: The Puszcza is alive and sentient, crying out for help against the loggers clearcutting her. Maia develops her relationship with the forest through the game.
- Gray-and-Gray Morality: The enemies of this game are not Pentex or Black Spiral Dancers but the logging movement that's going to destroy the forest. They're also doing it not just because of greed but an infestation of dangerous insects. The problem is the forest is sentient and one of the last primeval ecologies in the world, and has perpetuated violence against humans that harmed her for centuries. It is also entirely possible to stop the logging without violence.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Maia's granddad may be this or a full blown Villain Protagonist. He was a member of the Polish Resistance, planned in a massacre of a village with his pack, but slaughtered the pack in the Rage of his First Change.
- The Garou in general are this, fighting for the forest but are smeared as outsiders at best and ecoterrorists at worst.
- Intrepid Reporter: Erika, a reporter from Germany and potentially Maia's contact in the press. She is also Kinfolk and followed her sibling Kim to Bialowieza.
- Killed Off for Real: Poor Anya or Bartek can end up slaughtered by Maia during her First Change for no other reason than wanting to tag along with their friend to a nighttime protest or bit of light vandalism. If there is too much tension between Olga and Kornel, Kornel is killed instead. In some cases, all three can survive, with a nameless guard Maia was arguing with being killed instead.
- Last of Her Kind: Maia is the last of the pack that used to serve the Puszcza before her grandfather killed them all and left. It is up to the player if she honors her ancestors' memory or follows in their footsteps.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: A Bartek with a positive relationship with Maia sides with the protesters and dates Anya, an activist. Bartek's dad owns various forestry businesses and is the man funding the destruction of the forest.
- Martial Pacifist: Kornel is this when dealing with human beings. Maia can be an Actual Pacifist despite her Garou nature.
- Meaningful Name: Maia means "Dream." You can also later select a werewolf name based on your personality type.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Auspice is determined by the phase of the moon at birth, so the timing of Maia's birth changes depending on how she has been played and what personality she shows.
- Multiple Endings: Three main paths that can dovetail into each other in the final chapter.
- Eco-Terrorist - The final confrontation between the protesters and the police leads to violence. Maia succeeds in driving off or killing the loggers, police, and potentially even the Minister of Environment.
- Negotiator - Maia leverages her skills such that both sides of the issue come to a deal without violence and put a stop to the logging. Even if it's just a temporary truce, the protesters and Garou won.
- Martyr - Maia resorts to violence but is not up to the task. She runs out of health and dies, joining the Mourning Wolfmother as she takes Maia's spirit to the moon. Whether the protests succeed with or without her is unknown.
- Naked People Are Funny: The morning after her First Change, Maia is forced to return to her hotel naked, much to the amusement of Anya and possibly Bartek if they survived.
- Noodle Incident:
- Whatever happened in Afghanistan with Kornel's First Change is summarized as "werewolf stuff". Pat is also not very forthcoming with whatever got her and Kornel's last pack killed.
- The majority of Garou apparently were killed off during the Nineties. How is not explained.
- Pacifist Run: You can get away with at most, killing one person, but it is very difficult.
- Painful Transformation: Changing forms as a Garou. The text describes bones shattering and re-forming and muscles stretching and tearing; Maia frequently screams in pain while changing or spits blood afterwards.
- "Rediscovering Roots" Trip: Maia came to Poland as part of her college studies, but instead of doing the usual circuit of touring old churches and concentration camps, traveled to her ancestral village to investigate her family roots, face the forest of her dreams, and find her destiny. She discovers more than she can imagine.
- Rite of Passage: As part of Maia's induction to the Garou Nation, she is tasked with solving a problem that will help the Sept win the war for the forest, each tailored to a different auspice.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Maia shreds her clothes when she transforms to anything other than Glabro. The person that brings her clothes in the morning lampshades that Maia doesn't yet have the rite that confers Magic Pants.
- Sheathe Your Sword: Unsurprisingly, being a rage-filled murderblender isn't likely to produce a positive solution. Using violence in the climax is highly likely to get Maia (and a whole lot of other people) killed.
- Stat Grinding: Some choices add dots to a particular stat on Maia's Personality Assessment, which could unlock special dialogue and choices. The highest stat later determines her Auspice and personality is then replaced by Renown.
- Time Skip: The first three chapters are on back-to-back days, but after Maia's First Change and induction, the game skips a few days of prep for Maia's rite of passage and then a few days more for the climax.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: In 2016, the Polish government sanctioned logging in Bialowieza to control an outbreak of bark beetles, triggering intense protests that eventually got the EU parliament to step in and stop it. Needless to say, werewolves were not part of it.
- Vision Quest: As part of Maia's induction into the Garou Nation (more or less), the Wolf Mother and Electric Weasel spirits guide her through one of this, culminating in a vision of either the past, the present, or the future that the Puszcza can grant her.
- We ARE Struggling Together: As per usual for the Garou. Despite their common goal of protecting the forest, Olga and Kornel's approaches clash significantly and as a result their packs have difficulty cooperating without dissolving into arguments. Maia can stand back and let it happen, or step in and attempt to mediate.
- Weirdness Censor: The Delirium, which makes regular humans forget that they've seen a werewolf in action. Should Anya and/or Bartek survive Maia's First Change, they've forgotten everything that happened that night.
