Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries preview
Following its successful Kickstarter campaign last summer, the first volume of GRIN Studios’ Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries launched on Steam Early Access on January 27, 2015, for £6.99/€9.99. Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries follows the story of Red Riding Hood, but she’s not the silly young girl you remember from your bedtime stories. All grown up, armed with an axe, and the epitome of “kick-ass”, Red Riding Hood is seeking to avenge the death of her parents and take down B.B. Woolfe in the process.
The game is a glorious mixture of platformer, hack ‘n slash combat, and environmental puzzles. All of these elements are brought to life in a wonderful world of fables you thought you knew, but you have yet to experience them as they are in Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries. I absolutely love that the game ties in other fables, other than just Red Riding Hood, there are countless references to other tales and folklore, giving the world of Woolfe more depth and room to get creative.
This is not a fairytale. There’s nothing fair about it.
When playing any game on Steam Early Access, you have to remember that you are not playing a finished polished title. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised with how well presented this version of Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries was. I encountered minimal bugs and the only real reminder that I wasn’t playing a retail release were unfinished portions of the game, such as the section that had novel signs stating that a boss battle was under construction.
Within seconds of loading up the game I was instantly reminded of Alice: Madness Returns, and the more I played, the more similarities I noticed. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, I loved Alice: Madness Returns. Both games share similar game play styles and a talent for twisting our favourite childhood stories into dark and exciting adventures. I would bet that any fan of Alice will love the similar style of Woolfe.
The mixture of game genres that Woolfe manages to incorporate means that it should appeal to a varied mix of gamers. It’s an impressive platformer game that doesn’t play nice with edges, you can easily kill yourself by not paying attention to where you are jumping to/from. I like that about the game though, it means it’s not easy because you really have to pay attention when jumping and grabbing ledges. When you start to get the platformer puzzle elements of the game, that’s where the real challenge begins. Although the first portion of Woolfe, set in the city, is easily manageable, there are no holds barred once you hit the woods. The rotating platforms and having to time jumps and ducks perfectly, whilst continually moving, meant that I died many, many times in the woods. All too often these days, platformer and puzzles games are far too easy, so it was really refreshing to be challenged by Woolfe. Then again, maybe my co-ordination skills just aren’t up to scratch compared to others.
I liked that the levels were varied, you can go from a standard platform level, to a level where you have to keep running from pursuers or chasing your target etc and it kept the game play fresh and interesting. I also liked the way the camera worked within the levels, there was a part where you run into a building yet the camera still follows you from the outside, so you see Red running through the windows and I think that really worked. Another factor that I applauded was the boss fight, thankfully it wasn’t just a standard “attack them until they die” fight. It took timing and a little bit of skill, it wasn’t a hard fight, but then again, I imagine the difficulties of the boss battles will increase as you progress through the game.
Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries is a beautiful game, more than once I had to appreciate the spectacular environment, which is pretty impressive when the city and woods are supposed to look a little worse for wear. There were times when the sun would be shining from behind Red, hitting her and her surroundings so perfectly that you just had to stop and admire it.
Red Riding Hood has an inner monologue throughout Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries, some of her lines tend to be a bit cheesy, but then if you can’t get away with corny when playing with fairy tales, when can you? Red Riding Hood also has the tendency to lapse into rhyming couplets, but it didn’t work as well as the rhyming within Child of Light, possibly because it was scatterings of poetry rather than a fixed staple. It wasn’t annoying though, it just felt a bit misplaced.However, when thinking of Red’s commentary overall, more than one of her statements or puns brought a smile to my face, so I have to admit that it works. I loved Red’s attitude in Woolfe, she has a swanky walk that a cat walk model would be envious of, not to mention that her steam punk look is pretty damn awesome. She’s the perfect protagonist and I look forward to seeing more of her in the next volume. I would really recommend trying out Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries on Steam Early Access.
The first volume of Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries is scheduled to launch on March 17, 2015 for PC, with the second volume planned for August. GRIN Studios also aims to launch the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later this year. Check out the trailer just below:
