Lone Wolf Remastered

[hepcat]

I was curious about Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Remastered after seeing it show up in my steam recommendations the other day. So when I saw it on sale on indiegala for 10 bucks, I figured why not. I don't know the history behind this game, so I'm just assuming that since it bears the word "remastered" in its title, that it has seen a release in the past.

Anyway, I'm about a half hour in and I have to say, it's a very unique take on the rpg/adventure genre. Most of the game plays out as a written book that you play "choose your adventure" with. But the combat scenes are played out in a JRPG type of setting.

What makes it interesting to me so far is that the book portion of the game allows you to level up, manage inventory, craft things, etc.. It's a fairly deep rpg experience from what I'm seeing so far.

The downside for a lot of folks is that the combat (and some of the book events) are quick time event heavy. I haven't been bothered by it so far, but I know it's a sore point for many.

The story is pretty bland so far. I guess it's based on a series by a pen and paper RPG designer, so it's not exactly going to be Game of Thrones in execution, I'm guessing.

Still, there's enough unique and interesting things so far that I'm curious as to how it plays out.

[MonkeyFinger]

Just picked this up from there as well. Kind of surprised I'd not heard of Joe Dever and his (26?) books before, being old and firmly into things of that nature in my yoot. Interesting 'write your own story' gameplay as mentioned where your choices allegedly impact the story that unfolds. It was late last night when I played it so wasn't totally paying attention when I hit the first combat segment and missed the mouse movements it involves and only survived by the skin of my teeth which apparently is achievement worthy. Forgot to heal back up before getting jumped by another bunch of baddies and was promptly killed. D'oh.

I do like very much the look and feel of this, a Choose Your Own Adventure brought to life. Have to give it a more serious try later today, maybe 'roll up' a different character type.

[Isgrimnur]

If you're interested in the source material, Project Aon has the books in HTML and other formats to play through the CYOA goodness.

[hepcat]

Thanks, that's great that there's so much history behind the series. I'd never heard of Joe Dever before this game, so it's all new to me.

[Elbino]

I actually have the first two sets of books on my bookshelf. Bought them as a kid back in the 80's. They were far and away the best gamebooks around back then.

[Smoove_B]

I read the first 10 or so as a teenager and they were absolutely fantastic and way ahead of their time. The idea that you could create a character that would carry through to different books, gaining skills and keeping gear felt epic. I'd seen the game a few times but that QTE combat thing seemed weird. Regardless, they absolutely have a detailed game world to pull from so just for that alone it should be awesome.

[baelthazar]

I actually have the first two sets of books on my bookshelf. Bought them as a kid back in the 80's. They were far and away the best gamebooks around back then.

Yeah, I read them as a kid in the 80s as well (and still own a good number of them). I actually also liked the short-lived one about the wizard (not the Sorcery! books, but one from the Joe Denver series).

The Lone Wolf books were the epitome of RPG and Choose-your-own-adventure mixed. These were a popular genre for a long time, but the writing was always a little hackneyed. The Lone Wolf books get much better as they get deeper into the series (the books before the Sommerswerd - a magical sword - were pretty boring). Eventually you get to learn more about the Darklords and the game takes on a Warhammer quality. The art was also amazing.

[Blackhawk]

As others have said, it was a blend of RPG and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. Think CYOA with an inventory, skills, and a combat system.

In my mid-teens I got my hand on a copy of Dever's Chasm of Doom, one of the Lone Wolf novels. It was entirely on a whim, but I loved it so much that I quickly became obsessed with finding more. Failing to do so at the local library, I started searching for similar books there, which led to me discovering fantasy as a genre, which later led me to science fiction. In this manner, Lone Wolf was directly responsible for me becoming enamored of fantasy, of me getting involved in pen-and-paper RPGs (and thus miniatures as well), of me getting re-interested in pleasure reading after years away from it, and, as an extension, of me getting into PC gaming.

They're clearly written for young adults, but if anyone's interested, you can also get the entire series for free on Android.

[baelthazar]

After a search, I finally found what the Lone Wolf related book was called - Grey Star the Wizard. That one had some interesting mechanics, as you played a spellcaster with a variety of powers.

I might check out the novels related to this. I think my love of WH40K novels is partially fueled by my experience with the Lone Wolf series.

[Chaz]

If you're wondering why there's so many quick times in there, it's because it was originally developed for phones.

I first saw it on the ios store, and was interested, but they'd already announced it was coming out on PC. I'd kinda forgotten about it since then, but I'm adding it to the "pick up at some point" wishlist.

[tru1cy]

wow didn't know this was a thing. I actually own ten of the novels and broke out the first one a few months ago just for nostalgia purposes. I might actually pick this up for the backlog

[Anonymous Bosch]

I was hooked on the Lone Wolf (as well as Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery!) gamebooks as a young lad. I think I may even still have all of the dog-eared original books tucked away in storage. Those gamebooks were wildly popular in the UK back in the eighties.

I also remember enjoying the Mad Max-themed post-apocalyptic series by the same author, called Freeway Warrior. I recall that was how I first learned Tucson should not be pronounced "Tuck-son".

[hepcat]

If you're wondering why there's so many quick times in there, it's because it was originally developed for phones.

Ah, that would definitely explain a lot.

[Hipolito]

This game is currently 90% discounted on Steam. I'm currently playing it. At first I found it really slow, confusing, and annoying and thought I'd abandoned it early, but I'm a couple of chapters in now and kind of like it.

[Jaymann]

LOL, $1.49 is less than a cup of black coffee. And turn based combat? I'm in.

[Hipolito]

I'm about halfway through the game (just reached Act 3 on Normal difficulty) and I think I'll abandon it after all. It hasn't been great.

In my yoot, I enjoyed a couple of the Lone Wolf gamebooks. (Castle Death and War of the Wizards. I also read one of the Sagard the Barbarian books in case anyone remembers those. Very cool.)

So I was hoping this would basically be a digital way to experience a Lone Wolf story. It seems like it should been a simple matter to make a game like that. Just write a fun story, stuff it with cool monster drawings, and have a basic turn-based combat system. Instead, the combat interrupts the book-reading experience by cutting away to a scene with aughts-era 3D graphics. Fighting takes place in real time (or rather in "phased time") when you're not going through the menus, and there are frequent quick-time events. It's clumsy and confusing. It can be fun when things go your way and you overcome tough foes. But combat takes place way too often and features the same monsters again and again, not like the varied menagerie of the books.

The writing and plot are boring. There is a cool character named Leanne, but even she is rather one-note and not in the story very much. There are choices to make, but I don't feel that they have much impact on the story. The books had to be better than this, and I'd rather read them online than continue playing this game.

[Daehawk]

McQuade!!!!!

[Anonymous Bosch]

I'm about halfway through the game (just reached Act 3 on Normal difficulty) and I think I'll abandon it after all. It hasn't been great.

In my yoot, I enjoyed a couple of the Lone Wolf gamebooks. (Castle Death and War of the Wizards. I also read one of the Sagard the Barbarian books in case anyone remembers those. Very cool.)

So I was hoping this would basically be a digital way to experience a Lone Wolf story. It seems like it should been a simple matter to make a game like that. Just write a fun story, stuff it with cool monster drawings, and have a basic turn-based combat system. Instead, the combat interrupts the book-reading experience by cutting away to a scene with aughts-era 3D graphics. Fighting takes place in real time (or rather in "phased time") when you're not going through the menus, and there are frequent quick-time events. It's clumsy and confusing. It can be fun when things go your way and you overcome tough foes. But combat takes place way too often and features the same monsters again and again, not like the varied menagerie of the books.

The writing and plot are boring. There is a cool character named Leanne, but even she is rather one-note and not in the story very much. There are choices to make, but I don't feel that they have much impact on the story. The books had to be better than this, and I'd rather read them online than continue playing this game.

Indeed, if you wish to relive the original game books, steer clear of Lone Wolf Remastered and stick with the content available courtesy of Project Aon instead.

If memory serves, Seventh Sense S eases the process of playing the original game books on a Windows PC, since it handles all of the book-keeping and mechanics for you automatically. If you have an Android-device, I believe you can use the Lone Wolf Saga app instead, which basically does the same thing.