Werewolves Within

The rise of VR as a gaming platform can only mean one thing. How many ridiculous concepts can we turn from trivial into playable offerings? Werewolves Within is taking the art of talking around a campfire into a fully immersive campfire setting. Because, you know - we all like to sit down and discuss who is a werewolf in a social gathering.

Anything that can be conceptualized into a VR game tends to come to fruition nowadays. It leaves the problem of oversaturating the potentially lucrative VR market with total garbage games. However, something looks special about Werewolves Within - perhaps because of its fantasy applications? Maybe the trivial gameplay will actually be more intriguing than its concept.

Gather Round Children

Werewolf Within takes the popular social deception genre into the realm of VR. Based on the 'Mafia' party game, two parties are pitted against each other - the Mafiosi and villagers. It's up to the group to deduce who in the sitting is the 'Mafiosi, voting at the end to outcast the chosen enemy.

Werewolf Within adopts these mechanics into a medieval fantasy arena. A vibrant group of characters will join up around a campfire. They will proceed to identify who is the werewolf amongst your peers. Each player will use their VR headsets to look around, animate their characters and discuss who the culprit, using the potential clues. After an allotted period - players will vote on their choice, and a crystal ball will reveal whether the majority vote is a werewolf or not.

The concept is simple in stature - but much to the player's surprise, the game is actually fun. The visuals contribute a lot to the game's enjoyment, providing cartoony and colorful avatars to adopt. The town setting creates an immersive environment to facilitate the pitchforks coming out against potential werewolves.

The victory conditions are elementary, and control schematics are minimal - but it's the perfect premise for a party game. Hours of fun with friends can be had to scream and shouting your case against the campfire group. And when it's all over - it's easy to start again. It's one of those games that would work fine without the VR platform - again wondering why it's necessary. It doesn't hurt, though, to play in place of your avatar.

The Person Who Cried, Wolf

Werewolf Within is one of the most immersive party games around. Though the VR platform presents a couple of problems in my perspective. First and foremost - accessibility. Everyone can get involved if it weren't for the requirement of a VR headset for the complete experience. Second - it's a party game. Such a significant investment in hardware deters from the casual concept of the genre.

Pros:

• Turns the 'Mafia' party game concept into an immersive video game
• Visuals bring out the best of the VR-based mechanics
• One of the best games to play among friends

Cons:

• Quite an investment in hardware to get the best experience
• Not easily set up with a bigger group of people
• VR seems unnecessary at times