Visual Novel / Wolf Bride

Wolf Bride is one of the many stories under the Choices: Stories You Play collection. It is released for all players on October 13, 2021.

When strange dreams lead you to your mother's childhood home, you find yourself oddly drawn to two mysterious strangers. But there's more to both of them than meets the eye.

Wolf Bride includes examples of::

• Alpha and Beta Wolves: The trope is played straight with both the feral wolf pack and the werewolf pack, with Bastien being the Alpha male. Selene romancing him can become the Alpha female. Chapter 5 has Jett challenge Bastien for the title of Alpha. The choices you make either make it a Curbstomp Battle or a close victory.
• An Arm and a Leg: Chapter 16 has a guard get his arm ripped off by Primal!Morgan.
• Appalachia: The story takes place in West Virginia, with a premium scene in Chapter 3 purifying an old coal mine.
• Attack the Injury: In Chapter 9 if Selene sided with the humans, one option is to punch Jett's shoulder where Sergei shot him.
• Big Bad: Bernard Sayre, the biggest threat to the Pack, and the one who has been hunting them and draining them of their magic. For 163 years.
• Bisexual Love Triangle: Throughout the book, Selene is torn between Bastien (male) and Morgan (female), both of whom she shares a bond with. Unlike most examples of this trope, Selene can be with both of them by the end of the story, without having to choose between them, with her being relieved that she doesn't have to "pick a side".
• Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Morgan reveals she's blind in Chapter 4.
• Brought Down to Normal: Chapter 16 reveals the werewolves who've had their magic drained by Sayre can't transform even under the full moon.
• Chekhov's Gun: Chapter 9 allows Selene to get a gun from Morgan. It gets used in Chapter 12 and to try to force Sergei to surrender in Chapter 14. Chapter 15 also has one in Sayre's office after learning his experiments with extending his life with werewolf life energy have left him with the same weakness as them, and Selene can steal a gun or a knife from his office.
• Childhood Home Rediscovery: Chapter 9 has a premium scene to have Selene and Morgan go through her childhood home which was burned down.
• Compelling Voice: Chapter 9 has Selene able to learn Dominance,
• Content Warnings: From the moment the book is opened, it tells that there are mature sexual situations.
• Crowbar Combatant: The least amount of True Wolf upgrades has Selene kill/incapacitate Sergei in Chapter 16 this way.
• Death by Childbirth: One of the risks for a wolf-kin going into labor during a full moon is this. Morgan's mother died this way.
• Developers' Desired Date: The preferred love interest is Bastien, not only because he's the alpha of the werewolf pack, but also because he has more screen time and premium scenes than Morgan.
• Dream Weaver: A premium scene in Chapter 5 has Selene enjoy a private lucid dream with Morgan.
• Fish out of Water: Selene is very much new to the werewolf lifestyle due to her mom having never told her anything about it, having left Hunt's Peak after getting together with Selene's father, an outsider.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Chapter 15 has Morgan finally go Primal on Bernard Sayre after learning the reason she was never able to have any connection to the magic was cause of him draining her magic. Selene can then become Primal that same chapter too.
• Gaia's Vengeance: Chapter 16 has this with the final battle. Having Animal Speech has all of the animals of the forest big and small fight against Sayre's mercenaries, even having a deer goring one if Thunderhoof was adopted.
• Gas Leak Cover-Up: The attack in Chapter 7 is described by multiple people as either rabid animals or Bigfoot. Selene can just as well add more fuel to the fire saying it was guys in bearskin coats on PCP.
• Hated by All: Jett ended this way at the end of the story. He was already toxic to everyone, he never accepted Bastien's lead as alpha still challenging him to a fight with him was still injured, he did not accept Selene as the new Speaker after Noemi's death and also the inclusion of Morgan in the pack mainly because she is Bastien's sister, besides being blind. Things worsened for him for not accepting the werewolves drained back to the pack and wanting to kill the baby from Callum and Layla because he was blind too. Jett ended up losing the Alpha title to Bastien and expelled from the pack.
• Have We Met?: Chapter 1 has Selene able to say this to Bastien after he rescues her from her car accident.
• Healing Factor: Chapter 10 allows Selene to learn Werewolf Healing after a sparring session with Bastien.
• Heel–Face Turn: Hugo can be convinced to switch teams in Chapter 12 in a premium choice.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: As with all Choices characters, you can name your character, the default name being Selene Russet. You also name the male and female love interests, their names respectively being Bastien and Morgan.
• How Many Fingers?: Selene does this less in a hurt or drunk sense but more in a lights-out sense to test Bastien being able to see how well he can see in the dark. He says she's not holding any fingers.
• I'm Taking Him Home with Me!: Chapter 5 has the option to take in an orphaned fawn, with the default name of Thunderhoof.
• Innate Night Vision: Night Vision, which is bought in Chapter 3, allows Selene to be able to see in the dark.
• Interface Spoiler: The True Wolf chart first shown in Chapter 2 reveals which Chapters you get new powers in.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Chapter 16 has Jett, in his brief time as Alpha of the Pack, and if you help Layla deliver her baby in Chapter 15, tell Callum and Layla to get rid of "it," their newborn daughter due to being born under a full moon, rendering her blind.
• Jabba Table Manners: A premium date with Bastien in Chapter 3 has him use his hands to bite into a rib eye steak in public before Selene has to non-verbally remind him to use a fork and knife.
• Lunacy: Full moons are considered bad for the Pack that wolf-kin are sent into town until the full moon's over. During the full moon, they're completely Primal and savage, with only silver bullets able to hurt, if not kill them during that time. Morgan was born this way, having gone blind from the complications.
• The Many Deaths of You: Chapter 16 has this for Sergei if you choose to kill him, his deaths being varied by how many upgrades were bought.
• Maternity Crisis: Chapter 7 has Layla, who's pregnant with Callum's child, nearly go into labor while it's not only a full moon and the Pack is attacking the town, but newborn babies born during full moons are immediately Primal. At the hospital, Layla says no to imaging for "religious reasons." The real crisis comes during Chapter 16 at the final battle.
• Mercy Kill: In Chapter 5, Selene and Bastien come across a lone fawn. Animal Talk reveals he's all alone and without a mother, Bastien feels it'll be better to put him out of his misery. Selene can agree and do so, or take the premium choice and adopt him. Of course there's also letting him go.
• Missing Mom: Isobel reveals in Chapter 13 that her mother left soon as she was born, only having stayed around to give the Pack a baby.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Selene gains new True Wolf abilities through premium choices.
• The Nose Knows: Chapter 8 has Selene able to learn Scent Tracking. Morgan also uses this to compensate for being blind, even shooting at full moon mad werewolves.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: In a premium scene with Bastien in Chapter 1, one of the ways Selene can talk about her life with her mother is this.
  Selene: You know, school, Girl Scout camp, couple of years of community college. Really, nothing worth talking about.
• No True Scotsman: At the end of Chapter 4, Jett calls out Bastien, saying no true Alpha would listen to a human over the Pack.
• Oh, Crap!: Chapter 15 has Sayre in this position when Morgan not only gains her Primal form, but Selene can gain hers as well. Especially if the player has bought each and every upgrade, fully making her the Wolf Bride.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: The werewolves of the Pack have three forms. Human, being everyday normal people. Wolf, being four-legged wolves that only those with Animal Speech can understand, and Primal form, their taller and stronger werewolf form.
• Precious Puppy: Chapter 3 has Selene and Bastien babysit a couple wolf pups while the Pack goes out to hunt.
• Long-Lost Relative: Chapter 11 reveals that Morgan is Bastien's long-lost sister.
• Really 700 Years Old: Chapter 15 reveals Bernard Sayre is this, not being the great-grandson of the founder of Sayre Energy and Power, but THE founder himself, having been draining the Pack for their magic for 163 years.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Chapter 14 has the Pack do this when Sergei kills Noemi the Pack Speaker.
• Secret Societies: The Knights of Ossory, an ancient group of werewolf hunters that Morgan is part of like her father before her.
• Silver Bullet: Bastien says while those would kill them just as much as any human, it's only during a full moon when it's the only thing that would work against them then. Chapter 5 has Jett shot by one by Sergei and Chapter 6 shows it takes longer for those wounds to heal.
• Shout-Out:
  • In Chapter 3, one of the questions Selene has is about running around shirtless fighting vampires. Bastien calls it ridiculous.
  • In Chapter 4, experiencing Morgan's blind vision in a premium choice gives the achievement Eyes Wide Shut.
  • In Chapter 5, taking the premium choice to adopt Thunderhoof while also having Animal Speech gives the achievement "Bambi's Mom."
  • In Chapter 8 if Selene learns Animal Scent, one of the options after is to say "Squirrel!"
  • In Chapter 16, if you tell the hostages to warn Jett, they come back with the whole Pack and the wolf-kin as The Cavalry and Big Damn Heroes, with the achievement "Look to the East."
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Chapter 4 allows Selene to learn Animal Speech, allowing her to understand the animals of the forest and when the Pack goes into wolf form.
• Super-Strength: Wolf Strength allows Primal wolves to lift up even the heaviest objects. Selene getting this in Chapter 7 allows her to even throw a car.
• This Cannot Be!: Chapter 11 has Morgan not take kindly to the news that she's been part of the Pack all this time after having been raised to hunt them all her life. Jett also reacts this way upon hearing the news that Morgan, having been working for Sayre, is not only Bastien's sister, but would have been the Alpha. Chapter 12 has Sergei in this spot if Selene has Werewolf Healing and having blasted her point blank with a shotgun blast.
• Title Drop: Chapter 10 introduces that Selene is the rare once in a lifetime Wolf Bride: a wolf-kin who can become a werewolf and produce children.
• The Topic of Cancer: A premium date in Chapter 3 reveals Bastien's mother died of cancer when he was younger.
• Toxic, Inc.: Sayre Energy and Power is this, having run coal mines and even outright dumped barrels of toxic waste into the rivers of Hunt's Peak.
• Wham Line: Chapter 9 has Morgan reveal that Bernard Sayre is her father.
• Wham Shot: Chapter 2 is this for Selene. Whether she's romantic with Morgan or not, Bastien, Jett and Callum transform into werewolves.
• What the Hell Are You?: In Chapter 12 if you have Wolf Healing, a soldier shoots Selene in the leg, only for the wound to heal up just as fast as it was shot, with him saying the trope name.
• Wrecked Weapon: In Chapter 9 if you go for peace and have Wolf Strength, Selene has the option to grab Sergei's gun and crush it.