This is THE werewolf game for me. So far, no other game has captured what it means to be a creature of two natures: man and wolf, flesh and spirit. The Sacred Hunt is a great way to focus your stories and an organic way for your characters to grow stronger with time. I like the spirit world and how it behaves like nature does, with all the wonder and terror that entails. In this game, you are a hunter that can hunt prey in both the world of Flesh, and the spirit realm known as the Shadow. There is a legacy you need to keep in mind, a duty to keep Flesh and Spirit separate, but you have an incredible freedom in how you go about that. Yet, you are not a hero in shining armor. You're a monster, and you need to be careful or the people you care about could get hurt. You choose how much of a monster you are. You have five choices of what kind of werewolf you will be, determined by the phase the moon was in when you had your First Change. And there are five Tribes that each have their particular Sacred Prey and different ideas of how to become the best hunters. Auspices are the tools you have and how you approach the hunt, while your Tribe is declaration of what prey matters most (all Tribes will hunt any kind of prey, not just their Sacred Prey) and what philosophy resonates with you the most. Of course, you can be tribeless as a Ghost Wolf, but there are disadvantages. Most importantly, though, the choice IS there. That is what makes this game (and other Chronicles of Darkness games) great. There is not much restricting your table from playing how you want. The game has great lore and excellent, evocative world-building. You are the children of a wolf god and the moon herself, so the stories go, and Wolf, your father, was the greatest hunter that ever existed. He kept the spirit and flesh separate. All was well. But then he grew weak, and his werewolf children made the decision to kill him, and the world was never the same again. You are given the purpose of taking on Wolf's role, and it is up to you how and if you accept that. Really, the game is elegant in this way in that it does not overwhelm you with lore if you are new to the game. You can learn as you go. All you really need to know for the lore is that short story above. The rest is, as they say, history. You live in the present, and there is hunting to do. Of course, you can dive more into the lore when you are ready and the game leaves a lot open for you to decide what is and is not canon for your game. Like other Chronicles of Darkness games for 2nd Edition, there are example settings in the book that provide fascinating plot hooks for your group. Of course, you can ignore all of that and make your own setting. There really is a lot of freedom here.

There are some issues, such as the organization of the book not always being the best and I dearly wish there was more material for the Tribes. Some of my issues with the mechanics are problems with the Chronicles of Darkness 2E system itself, so I will not be getting too much into those and stick with what is particular to Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition. There are also almost too many mechanical details that simply don't need to be there and slow the game down, such as the flowchart of conditions to explain what spirits are doing when they do things peculiar to them. The mechanics of spirits in general are somewhat challenging to understand and while I enjoy the spirit aspect of the game, I definitely think it takes too long to really understand them. I also have an issue with one of Forsaken's core mechanics: Harmony. Harmony measures where you are between the two extremes of Flesh and Spirit since you are technically both at the same time. The book describes Harmony as something that constantly goes up and down, with the middle of the meter being the "ideal" state. However, since you need to fail a roll to resist having your Harmony go up or down, and you have at LEAST 2 dice at character creation to do this and the roll is a success if even one die is a success, your Harmony may not change much even if it is tested. This only becomes more of a problem as you increase the Attributes used for the resistance roll.

Despite some problems, which every game has, Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition has held my interest for years and is my all-time favorite TTRPG game. If it isn't obvious by now, I very much recommend this game.

This is definitely an interesting look at an upcoming game by Onyx Path. I really like the fluff fiction and how open your backstory can be in terms of how you become Accursed; it seems you largely either inherit a curse, someone else curses you, or you take an action or deal that gets you cursed. I also really enjoy the details about the Outside realms and the Liminalities. The worldbuilding seems REALLY strong here so far, which I take as a good sign that the lore will be interesting. I was not exactly thrilled at the power levels of the Lineage so far. I think certain things need tweaked. For example, the Wild Form for the Primals seems underwhelming, especially when it has a flat disadvantage whereas the Hungry can do what the Primals can, and more, without a shape that can make them attack everyone, and they only suffer from very situational banes when they do so, PLUS they have an option to Regenerate where the Primals don't. Also, I question why Primals, the ones tied to a Creature that is themed with specific animals (wolves, cats, etc.) can't innately turn into these "natural" animal forms. Instead, they have to use Spells to do that. I argue Primals should just have this built-in. This lack of power is a problem for other Lineages as well, I think. The Dead can turn intangible and leave and return to their bodies but that seems to be the bulk of what makes them special. Meanwhile the Outcasts have these cool true forms that can grant them a guaranteed hit and they can go to the Outside much easier than others, but the material itself specifically says that their true forms don't really otherwise have mechanical potency on their own without spells, which seems like an odd choice for beings that are supposed to be semi-divine. I also think the Hyde is a rather weak character archetype and my least favorite out of all the Families from all the Lineages but that is more subjective. I think Primals should be focused more on being bonded to an animal Creature, not... Mad scientists tampering with the Creature. The Hydes would make more sense in a Lineage focused on hubristic scientists. Overall, this Ashcan is useful and gives us a basic glance at what we can expect from the full game. I think this game has a lot of potential, but I hope the mechanics are tweaked between now and when the full game is released.