The tale of Little Red Riding Hood and her run in with the Big Bad Wolf features Red as merely a naive child, but in GRIN’s re-imagining of the character she is older and on the path of vengeance. Red’s father has died in mysterious circumstances while working for the ruling B.B. Woolfe, and Red doesn’t believe in accidents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWZ6GgkY4vQ

Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries is a beautiful looking game, with the design of the industrial run down town of Ulrica telling a tale of being held too long by an iron fist. The clockwork soldiers that patrol the streets are a twisted version of children’s toys, their eyes glowing as they search for anyone who breaks the curfew. Each one of them is also named after a Kickstarter backer, and their name flashes up when killed. Then you have the forest which has been so warped by Woolfe’s reign that chunks float, with hints of magic glowing as the sun shines in the sky.

The story is narrated by Red through rhyme, which is quite hit and miss. Sometimes the poetry is put well together, yet other times it stumbles and falls where the rhyming couplets seem a bit stretched. The music though is rather well composed and does add to the atmosphere of Woolfe’s world, but some sound effects don’t sound too great like the death scream of insects.

Red herself is smaller than the soldiers but is more than capable of fighting them using an axe. There are also rats that attack, nipping at Red’s heels. However the combat within the game isn’t that good, coming across as basic and unfinished. Red has a quick attack and heavy attack, as well as access to a couple of magic based attacks. Most of the time though you’ll find yourself pressing the heavy attack button as soldiers and rats crowd you.

When performing other attacks, like the magic slam, it feels as though the hits don’t register. In fact it can be difficult to see if you’re hitting anything due to how unreliable the hit detection is within the game. Sometimes I felt like I died from being bitten by a rat even if it was a couple of feet away. In fact even in platforming the landings didn’t always register, with the game sometimes allowing Red to float above a surface or die by running near a spiked wall.

That was but the beginning of the technical bugs encountered within Woolfe, a game plagued with glitches and defects. Now and again the frame rate would just drop even when settings were put on the lowest possible options, leading to mistimed jumps and hits. Furthermore sometimes Red would just fail to grab a ledge making her fall to her demise, adding to the frustration. In one section of the floating forest the screen would just judder, fixed by restarting at a checkpoint.

Another problem was that the health display didn’t always match what was going on in game. Sometimes I would die with half my health still full – all the telltale signs of an unfinished product. The checkpoint system itself is generous meaning you’re never sent too fair back should you or the game fail.  The puzzles aren’t tough to work out but they are fun enough to solve, and if more focus was put on them in lieu of the combat then maybe Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries would have been better for it.

Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries can also be completed within two to three hours, cutting the story just as it starts to get interesting. A second part is expected in the future but the ending here feels quite unsatisfying as the majority of the questions asked at the beginning of the game remain unanswered. In fact you’re left with a lot more questions that what you started with.

Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries needed a bit more work before being released. There are bugs that need addressing within the game, and the combat itself is not that satisfying, especially when coupled with the poor hit detection. The short length of the game doesn’t allow the story to get going properly, with the end coming just as things get interesting. All the problems do detract from what could have been a fun re-imagining of a classic tale.

Score: 4/10