Category: Gaming & Collectibles

On December 6th, Red Storm Entertainment is releasing Werewolves Within for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. It’s a virtual reality version of the social engineering / social ostracization game Werewolf.

Werewolves Within is a fast-paced game of hidden roles and social deduction for five to eight players. In one game, a player might be a villager trying their hardest to cleanse the town of werewolves, while minutes later they could be the werewolf, lying and betraying friends in order to survive the vote.

I got excited at the potential, then watched the reveal trailer and remembered that Werewolf is mostly a game about sitting in a chair and pointing at people. If I’m going to play a virtual reality werewolf, the only furniture I want involved in the experience is the stack of overturned tables and bookshelves my victims use to try and barricade me out.

Thanks to Somnilux for the link!

Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about Pokémon. I like Rowlet because the character design is basically “AQ in bird form”, and I’m watching Griffin McElroy’s Nuzlocke Challenge because I’ll watch or listen to anything Griffin does, but that’s the extent of my exposure. Anything that’s accurate here came from knowledgable friends, Bulbapedia or Serebii.net, and anything that’s incorrect is my fault.

According to enthusiastic reports from online (thank you Sahoni, dog with glasses & nodnash, among others), we now have a Werewolf Pokémon Situation. Here’s what I’ve been able to put together, step-by-step, for Poké-nitwits like me.

1. The upcoming 3DS games Pokémon Sun and Moon – out on November 18th – are debuting a ton of new Pokémon, including a canine-like Rock-type called Rockruff. According to ComicBook.com, a preview of Sun and Moon characters from a few months ago “hinted that Rockruff’s evolved form had a ‘secret’ separating it from other types of Pokémon”.
2. Serebii.net got ahold of the October issue of CoroCoro, a Japanese children’s magazine which has exclusive rights to release little Pokémon sneak peeks. The magazine reveals that Rockruff evolves into a wolf-like Pokémon called Lugarugan – a name sure to set off alarm bells in any werewolf fan’s head.
3. Lugarugan’s aforementioned “secret” seems to be that its appearance depends on whether it evolved during the game’s Day or Night periods. As depicted in Serebii’s scans of CoroCoro, Day-evolved Lugarugan looks like a quadrupedal wolf, but those that evolved at night look like a bipedal humanoid wolf – e.g. a werewolf. No further details about the difference between forms were given.

So there you have it – everything I’ve been given to know about Lugarugan, the werewolf Pokémon that’s blowing up Twitter, Tumblr and seemingly every other corner of the Internet. For a closer look at the CoroCoro scans and an English translation, visit these two Serebii.net posts. It would be disingenuous of me to say that I’m going to get into Pokémon because of Lugarugan, but I can’t deny feeling a twinge of FOMO at this news.

Hircine’s Ring is an artifact from Bethesda’s game Skyrim that gives the wearer a 10% chance to turn into a werewolf. If that sounds like something you wish you had, good news! Now you can walk around in real life with an expectant gleam in your eye (and on your finger). Bethesda’s online store is selling a replica of the Ring for $95, which is pretty cheap for something that randomly induces a lycanthropic transformation.

The real-life Hircine’s Ring is handmade in (ironic) solid sterling silver by RockLove Jewelry, presumably in limited quantities, since it’s already sold out in some sizes and close to selling out in others. It’s a little too ornate for my taste, but I’d wear one on each finger if it got results.

Thanks to SerivaTiger and Somnilux for the link!

Thank you, PDX Werewolf. Without your post, I wouldn’t have learned about Werewolf Airline Simulator 2016 until I checked my “transportation hospitality simulation game” feed, which I only do on alternate Septembers.

This OS X / Windows game came out of April’s “Ludum Dare”, a thrice-yearly game jam in which “developers from around the world spend a weekend creating games based on a theme suggested by the community”. WAS 2016 features a bow-chicka-wow-ow musical score, infuriatingly callous passengers, and very nice, very 70s artwork. Its authors, the mysterious and unknowable Pestel Crew, describe the game thusly:

Werewolf Airline have chosen you to become a flight attendant of a first shapeshifter only flight crew. This is a great achievement for any shapeshifter and this is a great example for younger generation of shapeshifters that whatever they dream of, they can achieve it.
Try to keep all passengers happy and not get fired in the process. Use the powers of chainsaw werewolf, skating beaver and cute raccoon! Serve, cook and kill for the glory of Ludum Dare. Just one thing to remember, this is a non smoking flight.

I played this game for 10 minutes and I’m not very good at it, but I’m already looking forward to the new transformation modes in the 2017 update and the Merman Cruise Ship DLC.