History VideoGame / Wolf

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wolf_4.png]]
''Wolf'' is a 1994 [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer DOS]] game (you'll need UsefulNotes/DOSBox or similar to play it on a modern machine) downloadable [[http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/531/Wolf.html here]]. In it, you simulate the life of a wolf in one of three environments: the pleasant timber forest, the blazingly hot prairie, or the frigid arctic. Hunt prey, mark your territory, find a mate, raise pups, and generally run around being a wolf. You can also harass humans and their cattle, if you're feeling suicidal.

Has [[SimilarlyNamedWorks no relation]] to the film ''Film/WolfMikeNichols'' released the same year.

!!Tropes present in this game:
* AlphaAndBetaWolves: The alpha/beta/omega hierarchy is used, as this was thought to be true at the time of its release.
* {{Arcadia}}: Humans apparently love the forest and prairie, since they're pleasant and good for grazing cattle. You'll wish they'd go home instead, because humans are the most annoying enemy in the game.
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: The alpha wolf generally gets to be (and stay) alpha by being bigger, stronger, and more aggressive than the rest of the pack. This dates the game, because we now know this is not always true of real wolves, whose "alphas" are the parents of the rest and thus dominant by default.
* BloodlessCarnage: Meat is red, but that's as much blood as you'll ever see. The process of killing an animal - whether that's you killing your dinner or a hunter killing you - results in zero blood.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted; while you only have one health meter, it governs your physical abilities. If you are injured, you will be unable to sprint and can only limp along at a pace about as fast as a trot. Played straight with your hunger, thirst, and endurance meters, however. Either you can run some more, or you must trot; either you are fed and watered, or you are dead. You don't slow down before you stop.
* DeathFromAbove: Hunters prowl the skies in helicopters and planes. If you see one coming, don't even bother barking to alert your packmates; just tuck your tail between your legs and '''''scram''''', because if that shadow touches you, a sniper is gonna take you down in one hit.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The game is called ''Wolf''. You are a wolf. You do wolf things. That's... about it.
* GrimUpNorth: The tundra itself seems to try to kill you, even on "good weather" settings.
* GuideDangIt: Mating and successfully raising pups is the most difficult thing in the game, partly because it is never explained how. You both have to have nearly full stamina and health, and the opposite sex alpha has to be receptive, which requires it being the right season (this is different depending on the biome), luck and interacting with them long enough (this includes laying next to them when you sleep), and when you finally do succeed you have to play the game for the ''entire pregnancy,'' which takes forever because time passes very, very slowly in this game. It's a bit easier to actually mate if you're the female because the alpha male will automatically do some of the stuff required (such as sleep next to you), and will initiate sex on his own, something the female rarely does when computer controlled. When you finally do have pups, you often have to struggle to keep them alive, so you will probably lose at least one of the pups you worked so hard for. The game also doesn't inform you they will also chase away the other pack members when they reach a certain age.
* HoldTheLine: Some of the scenarios require you to keep your mate or cubs alive for a certain number of days.
* HumansAreCthulhu: They'll kill you faster than anything else. Aerial humans are always hunters, but it's impossible to tell a harmless hiker from a deadly hunter until the bullets start flying, so avoid the walking ones, too.
* HyperactiveMetabolism: Averted; you need a full belly to heal, but it's not instantaneous. A rabbit does not solve your limp, even assuming you can limp fast enough to catch said rabbit.
* InstantDeathBullet: Helicopter and plane bullets; sometimes ground-fired bullets.
* InUniverseGameClock: Day turns to night in a matter of minutes, and eventually, the seasons will change.
* LifeSimulationGame: ''Wolf'' is one of the {{Trope Maker}}s for animal simulation games. You take control over the survival of a wolf pack.
* ManualLeaderAIParty: When you rally your pack to hunt large animals, you'll only control your own wolf. The others will simply follow along and provide an attack bonus if you make your move while they're reasonably close. You can also press A and have the game autoplay for you if you wish.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Dying results in a screen that says "<<Your wolf's name>> has died of <<the thing that killed you>>." Starvation, dehydration, and bullet wounds are the most common. [[HumansAreCthulhu Especially bullet wounds]].
* NintendoHard:
** The scenarios tend to try to kill you as fast as possible - you may start out injured, thirsty, and far from water, for example, and just solving your basic needs can take up most of the time allotted. Even setting the simulation parameters to easy (plenty of prey, few humans, good weather), you're still likely to die quite quickly.
** Successfully reproducing. The developers seem to think wolves hate sex or something.
* NobleWolf: The game generally tries to depict wolves realistically, but was made with the intent that seeing how they live would make people care about them. The information snippets are ''definitely'' written with a NobleWolf in mind.
* OneHitKill: Helicopter and plane bullets are always one-hit kills. Bullets fired by ground-based hunters may sometimes be one-hit kills, but are just as often two-hit kills.
* OneWordTitle: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The game is called ''Wolf''. You are a wolf. You do wolf things. That's... about it.
* {{Permadeath}}: Your packmates, should something unfortunate befall them.
* PregnantBadass: Pregnant alpha females are still the ''alpha'' for a reason. She's just as capable of joining in an elk hunt as she was before mating season.
* PapaWolf: The alpha male when the pack has cubs, in a very literal version of this trope. Do ''not'' wander into a neighboring pack's territory.
* SavageWolves: You can be this if you want, but the stereotypical "attack all humans on sight" is the ''absolute easiest way in the game'' to get yourself killed. A single bullet may instantaneously reduce you to a cooling body, and two will ''always'' do the trick. It gets worse with humans using helicopters and planes; whether they have better aim or more powerful rifles is unknown, but they kill you in one shot flat. The best way of keeping yourself alive against humans is to simply ignore them and their animals (as farmers can and will shoot you for attacking their cows).
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** ''VideoGame/WolfQuest'' is essentially this game modernized.
** ''Lion'' is a follow up to this game, but with lions, (obviously).
* SprintMeter: Your wolf can only run at top speed for a certain distance, determined by its endurance. You can trot for forever, however.
%%* ThreeQuartersView
* TimedMission: Scenarios all have a time limit on them, such as "find water in twelve hours" or "defeat the alpha within two days".
* TooDumbToLive: Attack a cow and farmers ''will'' shoot you. You ''will'' die '''very fast'''.
* UnstableEquilibrium: Being injured means you can no long sprint, which makes it more difficult to hunt. However, you require food in order to begin the healing process, meaning you're likely to stay injured and thus stay hungry longer (unless you scavenge off the carcasses laying around, or had a stash of meat hidden somewhere nearby).
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: If you manage to become alpha, make sure to pick on the beta who's the same sex as you. If you don't, they'll start a fight for dominance when ''they'' think they can take you, rather than getting a good reminder of why they shouldn't.
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: The simulation ends when the player's wolf dies, whether that wolf is an alpha or the omega and regardless of the state of the rest of the pack.
* WildWilderness: You're part of it.
* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: Wolf Needs Food Badly: Hunger is one of your pressing concerns, along with thirst.
----

Has [[SimilarlyNamedWorks no relation]] to the film ''Film/{{Wolf}}'' released the same year.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The alpha wolf generally gets to be (and stay) alpha by being bigger, stronger, and more aggressive than the rest of the pack. This dates the game, because we now know this is not always true of real wolves, whose "alphas" are the parents of the rest and thus dominant by default.

%%* {{Abandonware}}

* AlphaAndBetaWolves: The alpha/beta/omega hierarchy is used, despite the fact it was known to be inaccurate even upon release.

* RealityEnsues: Attack a cow and farmers ''will'' shoot you. You ''will'' die '''very fast'''.

* FinalDeath: Your packmates, should something unfortunate befall them.

''Wolf'' is a 1994 DOS game (you'll need UsefulNotes/DOSBox or similar to play it on a modern machine) downloadable [[http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/531/Wolf.html here]]. In it, you simulate the life of a wolf in one of three environments: the pleasant timber forest, the blazingly hot prairie, or the frigid arctic. Hunt prey, mark your territory, find a mate, raise pups, and generally run around being a wolf. You can also harass humans and their cattle, if you're feeling suicidal.

Has [[NamesTheSame no relation]] to the film ''Film/{{Wolf}}'' released the same year.
----
!!Tropes:

* {{Abandonware}}

* ScienceMarchesOn: The references to alpha and beta wolves are generally considered redundant in modern literature, being based on observations of captive packs with an unnatural social structure of unrelated or semi-related individuals.[[note]]The breeding pair of a wild pack is naturally dominant because they are the parents of the other wolves - the other adults are last year's grown cubs who haven't yet left to form their own packs, and who typically do not challenge their parents, since they would then have breeding rights ''with their other parent'' and wolves aren't big on ParentalIncest. Captive packs made up of unrelated wolves introduced to each other in adulthood tend to have a more volatile hierarchy, since there's no natural order but physical strength and disagreements must be settled; the two parties can't simply part ways.[[/note]]

* ThreeQuartersView

* GuideDangIt: Mating and successfully raising pups is the most difficult thing in the game. The opposite sex alpha has to be receptive, which requires luck and interacting with them long enough (this includes laying next to them when you sleep, which the game never tells you to do), and when you finally do succeed you have to play the game for the ''entire pregnancy,'' which takes forever because time passes very, very slowly in this game, and is even harder if you're the female for obvious reasons. When you finally do have pups, you often have to struggle to keep them alive, so you will probably lose at least one of the pups you worked so hard for.

** ''WolfQuest'' is essentially this game modernized.

* [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly Wolf Needs Food Badly]]: Hunger is one of your pressing concerns, along with thirst.

* NintendoHard: The scenarios tend to try to kill you as fast as possible - you may start out injured, thirsty, and far from water, for example, and just solving your basic needs can take up most of the time allotted. Even setting the simulation parameters to easy (plenty of prey, few humans, good weather), you're still likely to die quite quickly.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''WolfQuest'' is essentially this game modernized. That does not necessarily make it better.

''Wolf'' is a 1994 DOS game (you'll need DOSBox or similar to play it on a modern machine) downloadable [[http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/531/Wolf.html here]]. In it, you simulate the life of a wolf in one of three environments: the pleasant timber forest, the blazingly hot prairie, or the frigid arctic. Hunt prey, mark your territory, find a mate, raise pups, and generally run around being a wolf. You can also harass humans and their cattle, if you're feeling suicidal.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The alpha wolf generally gets to be (and stay) alpha by being bigger, stronger, and more aggressive than the rest of the pack.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Dieing results in a screen that says "<<Your wolf's name>> has died of <<the thing that killed you>>." Starvation, dehydration, and bullet wounds are the most common. [[HumansAreCthulhu Especially bullet wounds]].

* DemonicSpiders: Humans, again. While they may not have a lot of health relative to an elk, they can shoot, something no animal can do, and it's not at all uncommon for them to hike in groups. Bullets do massive damage; if you're not down in one hit, you're ''definitely'' dead in two. The only proper method of dealing with humans is to avoid them.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The game is called ''Wolf''. You are a wolf. You do wolf things. That's...about it.

* [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly Wolf Needs Food Badly]]: Hunger is one of your pressing concerns, along with thirst.

* ManualLeaderAIParty: When you rally your pack to hunt large animals, you'll only control your own wolf. The others will simply follow along and provide an attack bonus if you make your move while they're reasonably close. You can also press A and have the game autoplay for you if you wish.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted; while you only have one health meter, it governs your physical abilities. If you are injured, you will be unable to sprint and can only limp along at a pace about as fast as a trot.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Dieing results in a screen that says "[[Your wolf's name]] has died of [[the thing that killed you]]." Starvation, dehydration, and bullet wounds are the most common. [[HumansAreCthulhu Especially bullet wounds]].