White Wolf's Werewolf: The Apocalypse franchise is getting a new game in 2020 called Earthblood. I got the chance to check out a presentation at E3 2019, and although it was in an early alpha state, the game already has a few intriguing traits going for it. You play as a werewolf in this action-RPG, and you're defending the Earth against corporations that are bringing about the pending apocalypse.

In the presentation, the player was tasked with infiltrating a remote oil outpost. Changing into a regular wolf form allowed them to quickly traverse the environment and enter the facility through an air duct. Once inside, the player transformed into their full werewolf form, and all hell began to break loose.

In werewolf form, you are truly a monster, so you're able to shatter objects in the environment and rip apart your enemies. Grabbing some poor sucker allows you to either throw them away or finish them off. You can leap around to use your agility and brute strength to your advantage, but caution must be exercised. Taking damage increases your rage, and gaining too much rage results in you fully losing control over yourself, and it's game over. However, at higher rage levels, you also gain more powerful abilities, so there's a risk-versus-reward element to it.

This rage mechanic also carries over into your normal form. You can sneak around and use stealth kills to take out enemies, but doing so adds a little to your rage. Gain too much rage in normal form, and you're forced to become a werewolf, which obviously throws any stealth options right out the window. Even certain conversation options can add rage; it is apparently possible to become a werewolf right in the middle of a conversation and "bite their face off," which wasn't presented but sounds kind of hilarious. To mitigate rage, you can pop some pills, similar to how Max Payne did to shrug off his own bullet wounds.

Other things that were mentioned but not shown included the game's skill tree. These skills will let you gain new abilities such as the ability to smell patrol paths. The game will also feature side-quests and two endings, but details about either weren't gleaned from the demo. As stated earlier, though, the game already has a fair amount going for it. The use of rage offers a healthy risk-versus-reward system, and the bloody combat seemed to be fun in both normal and werewolf forms.

We'll learn more about how the rest of Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is coming together as the game continues its development into 2020.