Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf HD Remastered Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf HD Remastered
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Joe Dever's Lone Wolf HD Remastered artwork

Dungeons & Dragons hasn’t been that successful in the last 10 years or so. Although games like Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate tried in the past to make the pen and paper tabletop game popular among PC players, Wizards of the Coast franchise didn’t quite appeal to the masses.

But that doesn’t mean that D&D tabletop game doesn’t have a huge community behind, on the contrary. It’s just that the franchise has been quite unlucky when it comes to PC gaming. Many developers have tried to bring the D&D mechanics to PC, but few managed to do a decent job.

The good news is in the last few years multiple projects (i.e. Torment: Tides of Numenera), which are more or less based on the D&D combat system, have been successful on Kickstarter, proving that there will always be a market for this genre.

Story

The last adaptation of a D&D fantasy book on PC is called Lone Wolf HD Remastered. Written by Joe Dever, the Lone Wolf book series has 28 volumes and sold more than 11.5 million copies worldwide.

Three games made after the Lone Wolf series have been published in the ‘80s, but they don’t have anything to do with the one released recently on Steam.

Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf HD Remastered comes with a brand new story depicting events happened between the 3rd and the 4th book. As expected, the story has been entirely written by Joe Dever, especially for this game, which was initially released on Android and iOS mobile platforms.

The story is split in 4 acts, which can be played in one go, as developers have made them all available at once. This wasn’t available on iOS and Android and those who purchased the first act would receive the next one afterwards.

Lone Wolf’s adventures take place in a fictional world created by Joe Dever, which is called Magnamund and where two factions are fighting for control.

Among the good forces, the Kai Lords have been fierce enemies to the Darklords, followers of Ishir, goddess of the moon, and Naar, god of Darkness.

The realm of the Sommerlund is where the Kai Lords, an order of monks serving Kai (god of the sun), live and train to fight the forces of evil.

The Kai have innate powers that make them formidable warriors. They are trained from childhood at the Kai Monastery and one of these young initiates going by the name of Silent Wolf is the protagonist of the PC game.

Before starting the game, you are presented with a short background story explaining how Silent Wolf remained the last Kai Lord alive and took the Lone Wolf name instead.

The premise of the game is simple. The realm of Sommerlund is in danger, as the forces of the Darklords have started to attack villages without apparent reason.

As Freyearl of Sommerlund and the last member of the Kai Lords order of elite warriors, you are responsible for the safety of all Sommlending folks, which is why you have to investigate reports of an enemy incursion in a mining village called Rockstarn.

The Lone Wolf
The Lone Wolf

Gameplay

Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is first a novel and then a game. This means that you will have a lot of text to read and less action. However, if you are into fantasy books and PC gaming, Lone Wolf is a great mixture of both, so let’s see how the execution is.

You start by creating your character, and although everyone plays Lone Wolf, you can try out multiple ability combinations that fit your play style.

There are several Kai Disciplines that you can choose from such as: Survival, Mind over Matter, Animal Kinship and Sixth Sense. Lone Wolf also has six attributes that define his prowess in battle: Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Vitality, Kay power and Endurance.

The Kay power is some sort of mana, used when you cast your Kai Discipline abilities, while Endurance is used when you execute melee attacks. Beside mana and endurance, there’s also a cooldown on all abilities, so you have to be careful which one to use and when.

The combat looks very similar to that in the Final Fantasy series. It’s turn-based, but you have a certain time to make your choice before your turn ends. The bad news is you can’t see that, so you must always think ahead of each turn.

Then there’s gear that drops after each battle and you can sell it to various merchants you will find on the map. All your weapons (melee and ranged), as well as shields and armors can be upgraded using components that drop from enemies or bought from merchants.

By default you will carry a legendary weapon called Sommerswerd (Sword of the Sun), which was gifted by the god of the sun to the first Sommlending King and is the only weapon that can kill a Darklord.

You can’t execute melee attacks with this divine blade, instead the Sommerswerd can unleash its formidable powers if you have enough Kai power (mana). You start with just one ability, but as you progress into the game, you gain two more.

Depending on your fighting style (dual-wielding, weapon & shield) you have some melee attacks at your disposal. The more endurance an attack requires, the more damage it will do to the enemy.

The combat is based on QTEs you will have to execute in order for an attack or a combo to be successful. This is where Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf looks like a mobile game rather than a PC game.

Unfortunately, there is not much variation when it comes to enemies. You will be fighting the same 4-5 enemies with some skins changed and more abilities added, but other than that, there’s nothing else in the game.

The level up system is based on the choices you make during the completion of a chapter. This means that, if your choices involved your strength skills more, you will get more points in strength and more vitality when your character is automatically leveled up.

If you have a more stealthy approach or rely on your Kai abilities more, then you will get more Dexterity (Endurance) or Intelligence (Kai power) instead. It’s as simple as that.

Graphics and Audio

I have mixed feelings about the visual and audio aspects of Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf. While the visuals are decent enough during and out of combat, the sound is very weak in my opinion. There are some hilarious sound effects during combat, and considering you’ll be fighting a lot after the first hour or so, it becomes almost unbearable.

Apart from that, the re-stylization of the Lone Wolf is quite nice for this type of game. I haven’t encountered any graphics glitch during my gameplay, so here is another strong point of the game.

As you progress into the game, you will also unlock some additional artwork and 3D models made in pre-production, which can be found under the Extras tab in the main menu.

I also liked the soundtrack of the game, but after 15 hours of having to listen to the same music over and over again, I have decided to play my own music. Bottom line is the soundtrack is good, but very little for such a game.

Godzilla?
Godzilla?
 

The Good

  • Good adaptation of Lone Wolf gamebooks
  • Excellent soundtrack
  • Nice graphics for an interactive book
  • Engaging combat (requires strategy skills and planning ahead)
  • Decent illustrations and animations
  • Brings back nostalgia for fans

The Bad

  • Too linear
  • Mediocre story
  • Some graphical disparity during combat
  • Choices do not push the story to another path

Conclusion

Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf does seem to be a decent adaptation of the gamebooks but suffers greatly when it comes to story. Although you are promised choices that will have meaningful consequences later on, I didn’t feel that my choices would have pushed the story to another path.

Even though developers promised a non-linear story, the choices you make mostly lead to easier or harder battles. The whole game itself looks and feels very linear, which could have been avoided with more careful planning.

I can’t compare the story told in this game with Joe Dever’s work, but the PC game feels engaging at first and then becomes a little bit of a chore because of too many unnecessary fights that can’t be avoided.

In the end, the mixture of combat and storytelling is what makes Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf different from other games and that I have enjoyed a lot. I’m not sure whether I can recommend the game to Lone Wolf’s fans as I have no background on Joe Dever’s books, but I do believe that those who like fantasy literature will love this game as well.

story 7
gameplay 8
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 
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Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf HD Remastered screenshots (46 Images)

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf HD Remastered artworkMain menuMultiple choicesCharacter creationChapter I
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