Set in the backdrop of the Afghan refugee crisis on Polish-Belarussian border, Werewolf the Apocalypse: purgatory tells story of one such refugee - Samira, who secretly is also a Werewolf. Or, as they like to call themselves, Garou - warriors of Gaia in endless, losing war against the Wyrm - mad deity of enthropy, that spreads corruption and pollution. Samira is dragged into investigation that will make apparent to her that agents of the Wyrm ale meddling in the events at the border, ensuring very real crisis escalates even further.
One of best advices how to handle World of Darkness, with its supernatural horrors coexisting alongside man-made ones from our present day and history alike, is to not explain the latter with the former, but instead have the former take advantage of the latter. You don't want to, say, claim a genocide of gay people in Chechnya isn't real and was faked to cover up murder of vampires opposing the one who controls Chechnyan president - not unless you want to cause international controversy, that is. Which, by the way, is a thing that happenned last time some genius tried to ignore that common bit of WoD wisdom. By contrast, Purgatory does it right - it doesn't claim Banes of Wyrm or Cult of Fenris are causing the very real tragedy, but they show up to try and make it even worse.
This story is interconnected even more with real-life events than Different Tales' previous Werewolf: the Apocalypse game, Heart of the Forest, which is especially empathised because Samira herself is a person suffering from the crisis. She cannot afford the dose of distance that made real events just a plot point and backdrop of of previous game. The same direct conenction between the refugee experience and the protagonist makes these parts of the story feel far more authentic and striking at emotional core much stronger than We, the Refugees: Ticket to Europe - another polish visual novel tackling the subject, one that choose to make its protagonist effectively a tourist living the experience.
The game uses the same mechanics as Heart of the Forest, where you manage Rage, Willpower, health and new statistic, Harano, which represent werewolf depression. Certain actions earn or cost those statistics, and having them on certain level in a situation will lock you into specific choices. It's a very good system, tho I do not see what is the point of Harano, which you can get pretty low very easy and effectively remove it from the game, since high levels of it impair your character. It feels like its supposed to be negative counterpart of Rage and Willpower but it doesn't represent anything that low rage or low willpower could not, except maybe that other Garou like you less now.
Beyond that, the game builds your statistics based on your choices, and it also lets you choose your tribe, role and even Gifts (which are one-time use superpowers) early on. The game has also much more action that its predecessor, you get far more chances to flex your werewolf muscles, and far more often it is a good idea.
There are some issues, however. Multiple times I felt like the images accompanying the text were not scaled well with my computer, getting cut in half. While this may be a me problem, same grace cannot be extended to one of choices in a part of act five straight up not working, but selecting different ones in its place. Thankfully that happenned to me only once. Music, while excellent, often gets too dramatic too erly, spoiling that a threat is approaching and a fight will happen before the text gets there. I was disappointed to see this game lacks awesome ending them Heart of the Forest had. I will also note that two paths to take follow similiar story beats and biggest difference is filling them with different supporting characters and antagonists, but the selection of WtA villains makes it impossible to have a third path that combines both investigations.
Overall, compared to its predecessor, Purgatory is more refined Werewolf Visual Novel experience, that makes great entry point for new fans and fun side-quests for veteran garou enjoyers. Highly recommended.
