When we first published an article about The Wolf Among Us, the episodic adventure from Telltale Games based of DC’s comic series Fables, we had plenty of good things to say about it. We didn’t give the game a full review at the time because we believe review scores should be reserved for completed games, but with the release of the fifth and final chapter we are are ready to make the call, and let me tell you, the last four chapters of The Wolf Among Us are every bit as good or better than the first. Telltale has scored a huge home run with this one, taking their already hugely successful choice-based adventure model and delivering an engaging, stirring title that’s easily the best game I’ve played all year.
Set in a world where the characters of fairy tales have fled their homeland and secretly taken up residence in a Manhattan neighborhood, things aren’t turning up happily ever after for the Fables. Sheriff Bigby Wolf, formerly the Big Bad Wolf of storybook fame, is the lone sheriff in Fabletown. Charged with upholding the law and keeping the peace, Sheriff Bigby isn’t the most popular guy in town; other Fables remember his violent past and regard him as a bully working for a corrupt, uncaring government. Meanwhile that same government regards its sheriff as a hot-headed liability who can’t be trusted. When a murder takes place in Fabletown it falls to Sheriff Bigby to investigate, but in order to find the killer he will have to win over the other Fables… Or force them to cooperate.
Fans of Telltale’s highly-acclaimed episodic adaptation of The Walking Dead will be able to step into The Wolf Among Us without any trouble as the two games play almost identically. As Bigby, players will move from scene to scene investigating leads, collecting clues and occasionally handing out a solid beating. As in The Walking Dead, TWAU presents you with dialogue choices and options for how to behave, generally ranging from being compassionate to being a huge dick. Whereas The Walking Dead presented you with a lot of exploring and puzzle solving, The Wolf Among Us is more direct, generally involving smaller locations, more dialogues and far fewer puzzles.
From start to finish The Wolf Among Us is presented beautifully with the best cell-shading I’ve seen of any game to date. The game literally looks like a living comic book brought to life with vibrant colors, expressive character models and big action. Even playing on the iPhone I found myself surprised at how worked up some of the fight scenes got me. Complimenting this is a great soundtrack and exceptional voice acting that has just a touch of fairytale whimsy, but which is down-to-earth and serious enough that when I get into an argument with Mr. Toad or a fistfight with the Woodsman I can still take it seriously.
Speaking of whimsy, I have to give TWAU credit for taking a setting that I wasn’t at all excited about at first and making it truly engaging. Fairytale characters living in New York sounded like a corny premise, but it didn’t take long walking the rough streets in Bigby’s shoes before I was hooked. Despite being populated by mythical creatures the story of Fabletown is surprisingly human and sympathetic: Desperate people who have to do desperate things to survive, former princes and princesses desperately trying to cling to lives they once lived, unprivileged citizens who feel that their government either can’t or doesn’t want to protect them, the Fables’ struggles are identifiable enough that you almost forget that they have horns and fangs. Furthermore, Sheriff Bigby, with his short temper and no-nonsense attitude, is a great figure to guide the narrative. You get enough cues from his character to make the story flow naturally, but plenty of free reign to make that story feel like your own. And that story is wonderfully engaging, and very effective at drawing you into the world. When a suspect fed me a line I wanted to push them, when a Fable told me their troubles I commiserated, and when Bigby got mad, I got mad as well. Really mad.
I don’t want to make too many comparisons to The Walking Dead, but one way in which the The Wolf Among Us far exceeds it is replayability. In games where choice is the primary play mechanic it’s only natural to want to see how your choices affected the outcome of the game; in TWD my second play through diminished some of the magic as it showed how seemingly important choices, some of which I agonized over, didn’t really change things that much. I’ve played through The Wolf Among Us three times now, each time in completely different ways, and while none of the choices I’m presented with drastically alter the progression or outcome of the story, each play through felt like a meaningfully different retelling of the story, enriching my overall enjoyment of the title as a whole. This feels like a major triumph of both storytelling and logistics, presenting a story that feels congruent no matter how you choose to play it.
When The Wolf Among Us comes to an end it is superbly satisfying in its resolution, with endings that feel personal to the player who made the hard choices to get Bigby to the finale. It is hands down one of the most satisfying conclusions I can think of, and it will leave you wanting more. All together the series’ five episodes probably clock in at about nine hours of gameplay, and for $25 for the complete package I feel that’s more than a good deal for a game with such gorgeous production, such an engaging story and so much fun to be had. So if you liked The Walking Dead, Fables, adventure games or even if you don’t like any of them them, I can confidently recommend The Wolf Among Us. This one has something for everyone.
