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Press release:
27 January 2021, Warsaw, Poland.
The Poland-based indie games studio Different Tales studio has just announced that they’ve won the “Digital Culture” award for their text-based RPG “Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest” (which they did yesterday at the ‘s “Polityka’s Passports” award ceremony, Poland’s no. 1 culture award).

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is the first-ever video game adaptation of the legendary pen-and-paper RPG from the World of Darkness universe. Set in Bialowieza, Poland, Europe’s last primeval wilderness, the game tells a horror story inspired by true events: 2017’s protests against commercial logging.

Different Tales was awarded for “creating immersive tales based on text, economically using video and audio, and masterfully utilizing the video game medium.” Werewolf was favoured by the jury over this year’s other nominees: Ovid Works (“Metamorphosis”) and One More Level (“Ghostrunner”).

“This is a game about rage, and about turning it into something good. I want to dedicate it to all the people who took their anger this year, took to the streets, and decided to do something about the surrounding reality,” said Marta Malinowska, writer at Different Tales, during the award ceremony, referring to mass “Women’s Strike” protests sparked all over Poland after a total government ban on abortion in 2020.

“Werewolf: the Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest tackles the themes of ecology, identity, history, and many faces of activism. The fact such a game was awarded proves that digital culture has an equal voice in the public space to literature, film, or music, a voice that comments on our reality. We are very happy to receive it, and proud that we had a chance to tell about the situation in Poland, and use our local elements to create a story with a universal appeal,” said Artur Ganszyniec, designer & co-founder at Different Tales.

“I’m overjoyed that the idea of creating games that comment on the world around us, and bring gaming closer to journalism, has been appreciated. This award is, to me and to the team, a strong indicator that we should continue on our path of experimentation with the medium,” said Jacek Brzeziński, director, programmer & co-founder at Different Tales.

“We couldn’t be more proud of Different Tales. It’s the second time they were nominated to “Paszporty Polityki” with their unique and bold vision for a videogame – that’s not only quite different with its appearance and artistic statement, as well as from the production point of view.

We’re amazed that not only us and the gamers loved “Heart of the Forest”, but that it can also make such an impact on the cultural aspect of our country. This award is proof that the future ahead of Different Tales is bright and clear, and the bar for them is set high. We can’t wait to put it even higher and show you even more groundbreaking experiences from them,” said Adam Magdziak, Marketing Manager at Walkabout Games.

The production and release of “Heart of the Forest” have received a huge support from Paradox Interactive – the owner of the “Werewolf: The Apocalypse” brand and the rights owner of the “World of Darkness” universe that was used in the game.

It was the second time Different Tales was nominated for Polityka’s Passport. In last year’s edition, the studio was recognized by the jury for their Wanderlust: Travel Stories, which laid the foundation for Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest is available on Windows and MacOS via Steam and GOG.com, and also on the Nintendo Switch.

Follow Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/differenttales/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/differenttales

About Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a legendary role-playing game first released in 1992 by White Wolf. The player is a Garou, commonly referred to as a werewolf. Their kind is locked in a two-front war against the spiritual desolation of urban civilization and supernatural forces of corruption seeking to bring about the Apocalypse.

About Different Tales
Different Tales is a storytelling studio co-founded by The Witcher head story designer Artur Ganszyniec and project lead Jacek Brzeziński (The Witcher, Hitman, Dying Light).

Over the last dozen years, Different Tales members have worked on fantasy franchises with a cult following, mobile games for the mass market, artistic experiments, critically acclaimed products about killing people and prototypes that were meant to exceed the boundaries of the medium. They are always ready to tell a new story.

Website: differenttales.com
Facebook: facebook.com/differenttales/
Twitter: twitter.com/differenttales

About Walkabout Games
The publisher behind Liberated and Wanderlust: Travel Stories, Walkabout Games is a Polish publisher and developer of aspiring independent game studios.
It supports ambitious projects full of new, exciting, and risky ideas that evoke the kind of amazement that we all love video games for.

Website: walkabout.games
Facebook: facebook.com/WalkaboutGames/
Twitter: twitter.com/Walkabout_Games

About World of Darkness
World of Darkness is a transmedia entertainment brand encompassing a number of modern fantasy horror franchises, including Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and more. Through tabletop roleplaying games, video games, board games, literature, comic books, and more, these franchises tell mature stories in a dark supernatural fantasy layered over our modern world. Since 1991, World of Darkness has defined monster-perspective entertainment for a generation of fans. For more information visit www.worldofdarkness.com.