Raging Loop is a visual novel that takes the Werewolf party game (also known as Mafia) and uses it as a setting for a supernatural horror story. The residents of Yasimuzu village are forced to adhere to a special set of Werewolf rules that grant several villagers supernatural powers, which they will need to uncover the identities of the murderous lycanthropes in their midst.
Yasimuzu village has its own version of the Werewolf rules, with distinct roles for the villagers that generally don't appear in the real-life version of the game. We are here today to explain the basics of Werewolf and the variants that come into play in Raging Loop.
How Does Werewolf Work?
Werewolf is a real-life game about social deduction. It's run by a moderator who is told the actions of the other players in secret in order to keep every character's identity a secret. Some members of the group are secretly werewolves (and they are aware of each other's identity), while the other players are villagers. The game is broken into a day and night phase. The werewolves can kill a villager each night, while the villagers host a group vote during the day to determine which player is lynched. The werewolves win if they kill all of the villagers and the villagers win if they kill the werewolves.
There are numerous variants of Werewolf that add different character roles for the villagers in order to add intrigue. These include a Bodyguard/Doctor who can protect villagers if they are targeted, a Seer who can determine whether a player is a werewolf during the night phase (but only they are made aware of its identity), and the Hunter who can kill other characters on their own, but can generally only do so a limited number of times.
The Raging Loop Version
Raging Loop brings the game of Werewolf to life with some actual murderous lycanthropes. The main character is trapped in a backwater village and must play by the ancient magical rules in order to determine which of the villagers are secretly werewolves. There are some villagers who possess the power of ancient guardian spirits and these act in a similar manner to the alternate roles in Werewolf.
The Crow
The Crow can tell whether a corpse that has been hung by the villagers belongs to a human or one of the Wolves. This means that the Crow is the first person to know whether the group made the wrong decision and murdered an innocent person.
The Monkeys
The Monkey villagers know each other's identity. They know who the other Monkey is and that they are not a Wolf. The problem is that the other villagers might not believe them and the Wolves could pretend to be the Monkeys in order to throw off suspicion.
It's hard to hate the Monkeys, as they're just too busy singing to put anybody down.
The Snake
The Snake has a divination power that they can use once per night. The power of the Snake allows them to learn if a single named individual is a human or one of the Wolves. They have the same ability as the Seer in Werewolf.
The Spider
The Spider acts in the same way as the Bodyguard/Doctor from Werewolf. They can choose to protect another villager from the Wolves, but they can only select one and it can't be themselves. If the Spider reveals themselves, then they are a huge target for the Wolves.
The Wolf
The Wolves can only kill a single resident each day, regardless of their numbers. The residents need to stay indoors in order to ensure that this rule stays in effect and people who wander out into the mist at night can be targeted by the Wolves. The only thing that can protect a targeted villager is the protection of the Spider, as no amount of locked doors or firearms will protect them from the wrath of the Wolves.
Raging Loop is available now for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The game will be coming to Steam on December 5, 2019.