Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries: What went wrong?

(Note: Quite a few things.)

About seven or eight months ago, or whenever this game was about to release, I heard about Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries and was rather torn about it. I was mixed between my love of the tale 'Little Red Riding Hood' and yet set back by the familiar tone. Dark fairytales aren't exactly new anymore, from American Mcgee's Alice to American Mcgee's Grimm... Okay, never mind, maybe it's just American Mcgee making all of these games? O.o Yet a part of myself was still immensely curious. I checked out the 'Early Access' and what was already released of the game, with the full game released shortly after that time.

I'll start with what I saw in Early Access, then in the full game.

The game starts out with the protagonist, Red Riding Hood, sitting on the roof of a building in a city she despises, watching toy soldier guards storm by. She explains that she fears nothing and is out for revenge, showing us the inside of a house she's renting while she's in the city. She's come to believe that her father's death was at the hands of B.B. Woolfe, a tyrant running the city. She doesn't want bloodshed, though a few seconds later says she'll go home with Woolfe's blood on her hood, so cloudy with a chance of bloodshed. Her mother was also killed, but I'll go further into that one later as it's not talked about here.

She leaves the safety of her rented home by nightfall and heads to the archives. You have to sneak around a few placed guards, but it's nothing too difficult. The city looks nice enough and she arrives at her destination. Nitpick; Red claims the papers lie, yet then when one accuses the Pied Piper she immediately clings to it as though she believes that this was true. Though this might be part of her character, along with wanting revenge and loving inner monologue-ing.

The Pied Piper was believed to have kidnapped the missing women, and girls, and caused her father's death. Grabbing an axe she finds nearby she heads after the man. The combat is okay, but the axe doesn't feel like it has any weight. It sort of bothers me but does more to the aesthetic than it does to the gameplay.

She makes it to the sewers where she speaks of the missing girls who have been kidnapped for many years. After this point her father and grandmother took her fully from the city and into the woods... Which begs the question why she was back in the city after her past, mentioned later, but regardless. This marks one of the only times I notice a dialogue difference between the short levels released first, to the Early Access or full game. In the original I don't remember her mentioning being taken into the woods, so maybe she was supposed to have grown in the city?

She fights a large rat and finds the Pied Piper's home in the sewers, fit with many small beds and one larger one. She believes that this where the girls have been kept. Though personally I detect a lack of beds considering how many girls apparently have been kidnapped.

She then heads to her father's workshop, who is now revealed to have once been a toymaker, though was coerced by Woolfe to make weapons, such as the toy soldier guards. In fact, the day he filed to quit was the day that he was killed. She also finds a few other things like her old music box, which filled the void of her mother and references the tin soldier story, and a small puppet referred to as 'Pinocchio'. Fun fact: On the board by the door is a sketch of a much larger Pinocchio. From what was suggested, this was going to be a large boss perhaps in the next installment. More on that later.

As she leaves the workshop she is ruthlessly chased by some toy soldier guards and manages to escape. Back on the trail of the Pied Piper, she continues through town before running into him in a boss battle. It's simple enough; he summons rats and clones of himself, eventually lowering enough that Red can jump on and attack him. He kicks her off and the cycle continues. Eventually she wins and the Pied Piper is killed and eaten by his rats. Red finds a note that states that the Pied Piper is to keep Red busy until sunset so that Woolfe can go take out her grandmother... But she's been in the city for a while, so why didn't he do it beforehand? Eh, doesn't matter.

She starts a fire, escapes the city, and heads through the woods. These woods have been tainted with experiments, poison, and a 'large, underground explosion' which now leaves it partially floating. She manages to make it through the forest with few detours, and arrives at the lake where she reveals her Grandmother and Father had found her, not knowing she existed, years after her mother had vanished. Oddly enough she sits down at the lake to recount the tale, knowing that Grandmother is still in danger. She reveals a locket she carries around of her parents.

She mentions what may be a mine that her mother and she were kept in, that her mother dug her a tunnel out of to allow her to escape, but that's all that is clarified. Again, why was she allowed back to the city after all of this? Maybe she didn't tell her father and grandmother about 'that place', but they would've realized something was dangerous after her mother vanished and she just randomly appeared later.

Suddenly Woolfe's carriage appears, mechanical based and led by wolves, and it's a race to grandmother's house.

This is where Early Access ends and the full version continues.

Even though Red was right beside the carriage, Woolfe gets there first and gets hold of Grandmother. She begs for Grandmother's life, but Woolfe just stands there saying nothing. Thankfully Grandmother gets away to help in the battle against the many wolves. Eventually a large hand of magic grabs Granny and Woolfe appears to fight with Red. Granny gives Red a magical claw attack to help her... Though, I notice something off here. I'll come back to it. Anyway, Woolfe is killed, Granny is injured, and Red takes her inside the house.

Granny tells Red that she needs to know something... And I realize that my suspicions have been confirmed. There is no lip syncing at all. Not even bad lip syncing, the mouths don't move while they talk. This wouldn't be as distressing if Red narrated it like; "Grandmother told me 'there's something you need to know before I go.' But I told her she'd be fine. She needed rest and TLC, and to stop speaking in rhyme." Anything, even bad lip syncing, would be less distracting than this. Though it was worse during the battle when Red just stared at Granny as words existed.

Granny insists that it isn't over and something bigger is happening. The city is in danger from a bigger threat, though never stated really, and that Red is the only one to save the people because she can use the claw hands attack, which I was under the impression that Granny gave her. Red specifies that she's the chosen one, because there's always a chosen one, and Granny says basically that fate outweighs choice. Granny also explains that her father worked for Woolfe to protect her, even though earlier it clearly stated it was to put bread on the table.

Red's mission objectives are as followed: Free the City. Save the girls. Stop the Machines. Locate the energy totem and- 
Wait, wrong game. Close enough.

Then, out of nowhere, we're shown a fight between Granny and Woolfe. It is never specified when this fight happened, but she laments casting a spell on him of some kind. Suddenly Red turns around with a dramatic "Noooo!" as she sees a large, dark wolf that I suppose is Woolfe who Granny cursed to turn into a wolf. The End.

...I'm not kidding. The full release of the game only added about ten minutes. That, for me, was a big disappointment. This claw power that's supposed to be so important at the end of the game was only used in one fight. Also, the game's story has a tone of threads that just vanish. I've never seen a game so careful to hide its actual story since Five Nights At Freddy's.

Was Woolfe actually the villain?  Was Woolfe only evil because Granny cursed him? When did Granny curse him? Why was Red still taken back to the city for school after all of this? Any clarification or confirmation on the Pied Piper. Was Red in the 'mines' or in a dungeon? Why are they kidnapping adult woman and little girls, but apparently more little girls? Was the 'explosion' in the mines?

Any answer the game gives is through speculation alone. I can assume the girls are taken into the mines where they are forced to work, mining for explosive and dangerous chemicals. Perhaps these chemicals are used to create these war machines. Though it is only assumption, because nothing is answered, not even the tiny threads they create along the way. Red figures out nothing and, in an ironic twist, doesn't even give us the full story of her backstory. The story is a mess by the end.

Though the game also has its length. The levels are basically city, sewer, more city, woods, chase scene and final battle. If you'll base it on simply different scenery it would be only city, sewer, and forest. The game feels very short and you can get through it pretty quickly. (Though it wouldn't be that big of an issue if the story felt more complete.) The boss battles are also pretty easy as well and don't seem to change very much. She only gets one weapon, one bonus attack at the very end, and a lot of admittedly okay platforming. The game seems to preform and play fine from what I've played.

There's also an unnatural resemblance to Alice: Madness Returns. Though part of me doesn't actually care. After playing the game as I have the resemblance seems more in the main character's looks than really to the gameplay or the plot. So I'll just let it lie without a problem. I mention it as a remark, not a critique.

Also, there was an update that fixed the lip syncing thing as well, though when I first played it the lack of lip movement really annoyed me. That was a good thing to fix.

Unfortunately this fairy tale doesn't have a happily ever after either. The team who created Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries went bankrupt and had to auction off the rights. Reading their post they seem to acknowledge what is wrong with the game and also seem uncertain. One moment they state that their lack of experience was the downfall, then they blame the fact that it was now 3D instead of 2D, then they stated there was mixed issues with getting enemies to follow and- In the end, it is obvious what the issue was.

Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries was just too big. Too many story threads that weren't wrapped up right is the first sign that a game wants to be more but simply cannot do it. I'm personally shocked that they went out of business though; I was under the consensus that most people relatively liked or were okay with the game. I myself think it was 'eh'. The world did look nice enough and the gameplay was fine, but I had multiple issues with the story that left me unsatisfied.

A lot of kickstarter backers also lost their rewards at this point as well. I wasn't one of them, but I do feel bad for those who contributed and then didn't get what was promised to them.

The story doesn't end here though; a new company actually bought the rights to Woolfe. Right now they are selling the game and working to get rewards to backers, which I completely respect. They cannot edit the first game, they stated, but may work on the second part eventually. Apparently it wasn't that far into development and at the moment there aren't any concrete plans. Basically, Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries is stuck with a 'To be continued'.

So, in my personally opinion, what would've made Woolfe better?

Firstly, it's not a long game, so I would've made the story a bit more complete. It is deceptive; if a game feels like the storyline wrapped itself up properly then the game itself will feel like a more complete experience. Maybe have every episode be it's own small-scale adventure with a larger overarcing plot, but give more details so it doesn't feel entirely lost. Or, at least, break some of the storylines apart. There was a little too much information being tossed around at once. Also, it's kind of hard to feel bad about the city when it seems so dead. The girls are just pictures on posters and nothing more. Showing other NPCs would probably help liven some things, even if it was just the woman who rented her the room.

Again, I would like to specify that even with my gripes Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries is not a bad game. With all the awful games on Steam these days it's nice to see a game actively trying to be something better. I do actually believe the developers when they say they were trying to make something above and beyond, but I think that the weight of the game overcame itself. If there is a second part eventually I will review it too, but for now we just have to wait.

To Be Continued