VR Gaming

50 Days Of PS VR #22: 'Werewolves Within' Is One Of VR's Most Promising Social Titles

, & Jamie Feltham

21 September 2016

50 Days Of PS VR #22: 'Werewolves Within' Is One Of VR's Most Promising Social Titles

22 days to go until the launch of PlayStation VR! We’re counting down to the release of Sony’s VR headset on October 13th by highlighting one game a day for its anticipated release. Today we’re suspecting friends and telling lies with Ubisioft’s Werewolves Within.

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Eagle Flight looks amazing and Star Trek: Bridge Crew is some of the best wish fulfillment VR has going, but arguably Ubisoft’s most promising PlayStation VR title is something much smaller. The company’s Red Storm studio is cooking up another online title arriving this year, and the concept behind it sounds like one of the most intriguing yet for social VR. We are of course talking about Werewolves Within.

This isn’t a high octane shooter that pushes the boundaries of VR. It’s not some brain torturing puzzle game that leaves you with a headache. It’s a fun, mischievous multiplayer game that sounds unlike anything else on its way to the platform.

Taking place in the wonderfully-named medieval village of Gallowston, Werewolves Within gathers friends for a classic party game experience within VR. Players are given a special guidebook and must use it to decide to discover werewolves disguised as humans. Here’s the catch: those beasts are also controlled by players, and you’ve got to decide who’s safe, and who’s hiding a vicious secret.

What follows is frantic five to eight player matches of the friendliest kind of lies and deceit. Players randomly get assigned a role at the beginning of every game, cast as either the wolf, watcher, gossip, or another character. You’ll sit around in a circle and, brilliantly, when you stand up to make your case you’ll silence other players to avoid interruptions. There’s also a whisper mode in which you can have a private chat with the player next to you to try and get the advantage.

Interestingly, the game features voice inflection analysis that prompts character animations and emotes, while players can also use gestures to help try and convince others of their innocence. If that tech works as hoped, you might not be able to keep yourself from exposing that you are indeed the villain at times.

It’s a really promising set of features that could all lead to one of VR’s most compelling social experiences yet. If you’re lucky enough to have at least four other friends with headsets then Werewolves Within could be the perfect multiplayer experience for PlayStation VR. Most importantly, it’s something that categorically couldn’t be done without the technology, which is especially rare in the early days of the tech.

Werewolves Within is set to launch on December 6th. The game is also due for release on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive at the same time.