Howl is a game that blends a deep story and lore with strategy. Although it’s not the kind of game I personally like (since there is a correct way to do everything, and any difference is incorrect), it’s still really easy to get into. I’ve not seen a game of this quality for some time, and while I wouldn’t play a sequel, I can see why people would like it.
The Combat Is Easy To Learn, Hard To Master
You are put in the role of a young girl on a journey, and there are some wolves in your way. These wolves are more mythical beasts than those against Little Red Riding Hood. They possess the Howl, which is the namesake of the game. You have to think of a way to get past these wolves and to the exit point without wasting too many turns. Of course, defeating the wolves is also necessary, and doing both sometimes requires returning to a level and redoing things.
The game is simple to understand at first. It’s you doing things you’d like the girl to do. You can tell her to go in a direction, push something, or wait. You can essentially wait and see what the wolves do when you wait. The wolves will act, as you do yours, and you can’t take it step by step. So, in this way, you’re stuck trying to see what each move gets you. That’s where the difficulty comes in.
I dislike games like this because I don’t like the pressure of trying to get through a level as perfectly as possible. I like to go my route and do things neatly without damage. This game forces you to take risks, make mistakes, and redo levels if necessary. However, it allows you to redo things quickly and isn’t trying to make you sit through long cutscenes before retrying. So, this made the game a lot easier for me.
Even as someone who doesn’t like the limitations given to combat, I’d still say it was initially a lot of fun to go through levels. This is mostly because of the Assist option, which lets you know what each beast will do. That made the game a lot more fun because it felt like I was reacting to each situation simultaneously as they were happening, not guessing what may come and still planning out moves.
In my opinion, a game isn’t fun if it has you guess what might happen and assign moves ahead without being able to see how the enemy reacts to each move. The assist mode doesn’t help this because it’s optional and can be seen as adjusting the difficulty.
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An Overly Simple Map
I mention redoing levels to get them perfect, but that’s not because I’d just like to do them well. It’s because the game makes you redo levels. There are points where you will be asked for a certain number of wolf skulls or confidence, which are received by completing levels within the correct number of moves.
The map splits a lot, letting you go over different paths. However, you can go back and look at different levels. While the path looks like it’s leading you down splits in the road, the character goes through all those places, giving you more of the story. The forks in the road felt arbitrarily placed since they were part of the story as well, not different paths you could take.
The map is easy to understand and navigate but also really simple. The aesthetic matches everything else, but it feels very basic at times. It’s not very interesting to look at unless something is obviously going on there. It’s nothing that really takes away from the game, but it’s a weak point.
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The Leveling System, While Basic, Is Useful
One smart thing to do in the game is to level up your character as much as you can, as soon as you can. You’ll understand how important it is once you have five steps to take instead of three. It’s a real game changer because you can go back and redo the first missions if you didn’t complete the levels within the set time. Also, the push ability getting leveled up makes it incredibly deadly.
There are other powers and things you unlock along the way, but the most important for me was the amount of steps to take. Don’t get me wrong, having more steps doesn’t keep the enemy from moving – each step still allows them a move – but it keeps you from wasting too much time. I found that the first levels can be breezed through with increased movement you did not initially have.
This isn’t optional either because the game purposefully makes some levels too complicated to pass in just a few moves and with the few abilities you start with. It wants you to go back when you have more upgrades, so while I wasn’t very upset that I couldn’t beat each level at first, it was frustrating.
I was confused about how it worked at first, even though the game somewhat explains it. Once I understood, it became the place I kept looking over to so I could see if I could get another upgrade. While few, the upgrades can make the game a lot easier.
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The Story Is Undermined By The Gameplay
The story assumes that you like this kind of storytelling and does not try to appeal to players who may not be into a “prophecy of the chosen one told by a narrator.” That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just not my cup of tea. Unfortunately, there’s so much backtracking to redo levels that the story ends up being forgotten easily.
You have to reread how the character is doing some big thing or that they’re going through this place repeatedly because you’re trying to get perfect scores in each level. While you don’t have to wait for the narrator to finish what they’re saying, the speech bubbles and voice start to become annoying. If anything, by the time I finished each play session, I was not at all interested in the story.
This story would have been great if it didn’t require the player to return so often. This felt like a bit of an oversight because your immersion is lost immediately when you backtrack. I forgot what was going on pretty often and did not care by the end of my time with the game. It’s a good story; it’s just getting buried underneath the gameplay.
That said, this is a very innovative game in its own right. There aren’t many developers that go this route in terms of gameplay or story, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything this unique since I was a kid playing Newgrounds games. However, that doesn’t mean it’s great. It’s okay, and a sequel might be better than that, but I can’t say I enjoyed my time the whole way through.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to learn combat | Gameplay requires backtracking and redoing levels |
| Narration is well performed | Story gets old thanks to having to redo levels |
| Upgrades are helpful | Not very many upgrades, feels like an afterthought |
Rating: 7/10
GamesHorizon received a Review Copy for Steam.
