In order to keep with the times, Lasher and the imm team are rolling out a shiny new version of Aardwolf compatible with the Apple Watch. Gaardian got their hands on this early alpha version, and we're excited to report on our experiences.

First off, we have to admit: The game looks gorgeous on the new 1.5” wide display. To adhere to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines which recommends avoiding too much information on the screen at any time, AardWatch (name still under review) features one line at a time scrolling with the sleek Digital Crown. We found this super easy to read for lines under 100 characters. The rest were cut off.

Image: Super easy account setup. Simply rotate the Digital Crown to get a randomized player name. We got JimBobJoe.

Leveraging the revolutionary Force Touch capabilities, pressing firmly on the screen causes useful controls to pop up within the app. There are many thoughtful controls to choose from: login, quit, note read, dictating a reply ("tell VelvetLies I couldn't see your entire message. Can you try using fewer words?") and a particularly helpful action to open aardmud.org on your phone 100 characters is the new 140 characterswhere you can resume gameplay on a client that supports multiple simultaneous lines.

The new Taptic Engine on the Apple Watch integrates seamlessly with your playing experience. Special “taps” are emitted on the player’s wrist at key points in the game, such as: when it’s time to quest again, anytime someone outbids you on the Aardwolf market, and when combat has ended (handy if you have a hard time keeping up with the line-by-line combat descriptions).

Image: scroll through each round of combat with the Digital Crown. We're hoping future versions will just summarize the entire outcome of combat on a single screen.

With the built-in heart rate sensor, AardWatch can even gauge elevated stress levels to know when you are botting at an early stage, which will immediately freeze your account before more drastic actions are taken.

Altogether, AardWatch is a fascinating and revolutionary new way to experience the MUD. With the vibrating notifications whenever someone doubles, we felt we were constantly connected to the pulse of Aardwolf, even during client meetings. We truly believe this will change everything.