Werewolves Within Is a multiplayer party game about deception! The game allows for 5 to 8 players. Each player gets a different role such as villager, tracker, and werewolf. Each role has a special ability that helps progress the game. The goal of the game for all the roles besides the werewolf, turncloak, and deviant is to find out who the werewolf is by talking and voting them out. The goal of the werewolf and turncloak is to prevent the werewolf from being voted out by using deception. The goal of the deviant is to get themselves voted out. During gameplay, players will have a limited time to discuss their roles. Some can lie about what role they have and what they saw to keep other players from suspecting them.
These are the different roles and their description within the game.
Werewolves Within is a good use of VR because it allows players to immerse within the virtual world with different players from across your region. You are able to move your arms and legs and your character in the game reflects that. You’re even able to whisper to the person next to you by turning your head and talking, and no one else but the person you’re whispering to can hear it. With the world slowly opening up, it is still hard to meet up with friends to play party games, so this game helps in connecting friends virtually. What better way to bond with your friends than accusing them of being a lying werewolf? It also helps players make friends by having public lobbies anyone can join.
If you're into party games, social deduction, and deception then this game is for you! This game is intended for family and friends over the age of 6. This game allows players to make private local games for friends and family. Players can also join in public games if they're in need of more players or want to make new friends.
If you enjoyed games like Among Us, One Night Werewolf, Mafia, Spy Fall, and Secret Hitler then you would enjoy this game.
Werewolves Within has the betrayal Among Us entails, the different roles and player participation from One Night Werewolf, the story telling in Mafia, the and the arguments that breakout in Secret Hitler
The price for this game is very affordable. The current price for this game is $14.99 at Target and Walmart. The lowest it’s been was $3.99 and the highest price it’s been was $19.99.
The game makes sure you are well immersed in the game by paying great detail to the surroundings of the players. It makes you feel like you’re in a village where werewolves would be hiding! There are small animated objects in the background that aren’t distracting like a flag flapping in the wind, snow falling, and fire burning. There are also sound effects like crows cawing, wind, fire cackling, and non-annoying ambient music.
The game does a good job of tracking hand gestures, head movements, and mouth movements, to make it feel like you’re all playing in the same room. The body movement also expresses the players' emotions very well like when they throw their hands up in the air in frustration
Each game is about 10 minutes long, which is pretty short comparing it to board games like Mysterium and Betrayal at House on the Hill which take 40 minutes to 1 hour
In party games that are played in person like mafia or one night werewolf, people can deduct who the “bad guy” is based on hearing people’s clothes rustling, or feeling the gust of wind from a person pointing at the one they want to kill. It seems pretty unfair to lose the game like this as the bad guy, so a pro of VR is that people won’t hear the rustling of clothes. There is also a whispering mechanic within the game that prevents others from listening in to your conversation.
This game includes a book of all the roles that you can pull up at any time, so you can see what your role can do and what the other players' roles can do
If you don’t have a group to play with already, waiting for a public lobby can take a long time since the game isn’t that popular. Some players have reported waiting more than 30 minutes for a lobby to fill up.
There is a diverse cast of characters in the game, but you’re unable to pick the character you want to be. You are randomly assigned one. I think it’s counterproductive to make diverse characters, but not allow the users to choose what they want to look like.
Sometimes it is hard to get into the game when other players are having connectivity issues. It messes up the voting system since the player having network issues can’t vote or hear what’s going on. There are also some players who have very bad audio where there’s too much going on in the background or their mic is of bad quality. There are also mean and troll people who want to ruin people's days by screaming nonsense or purposely voting for the wrong person. They can still be voted to be kicked from the lobby, but this is one less player, so you might have to wait for the lobby to fill up again. This can take away from the immersion, irritate players, and make them not want to open up the game again.
Because the game is rated E for everyone, it can be a safety issue when children are playing in public lobbies with strangers. There’s no warnings in the game like don’t share personal information to people you don’t know, which can be a little dangerous if the child is not informed of internet safety.
References:
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/werewolves-within
https://store.steampowered.com/app/488950/Werewolves_Within/
Werewolves Within PSVR Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGo3X90zaSA
Werewolves Within - Launch Trailer PS VR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxKy2lrGBBQ