The Wolf Among Us is a new series by Telltale Games (the creators of The Walking Dead game). Their last venture helped them achieve game of the year, so the hype for this game was immense. The great thing is that it lives up to the expectations.
The game is based on the Fables comics. The setting of the story is a version of the Bronx known as Fabletown. It’s populated with fairy tale characters that were cast out from their homeland. They live in secret, hiding their true identities from “Mundies” (humans). The story follows Bigby Wolf (the Big Bad Wolf), a sheriff in Fabletown, who is on a mission to solve a grisly murder case with the help of Snow White. Bigby has a bad reputation with most people because of his past. It is clear that he has brooding anger issues and you as the player make morally conscious decisions about how you want Bigby to act. Choices about whether to rip a characters arm off or let him off more easily define this game. The choices you make affect the story and the characters of the story. Choose to help one character before another and the other might end up dead. The choices are weighty and will affect the next four episodes of the game.
At first glance, the situation (excluding the murder mystery) could be seen as being similar to the TV show Once Upon a Time, but this is far from that. This game is far more brutal and grim. These are more adult versions of the fairy tale characters you know and love. You see more characters from fairy tales as you keep playing and the list of suspects grows larger as the events around you continue to unravel. One of the things I loved about this game was the fact that when investigating, you feel as if you’re Bigby. You go into a house, start questioning the suspect, and call out their lies. This makes you feel like an investigator and throws you into the story. The storytelling is always the major selling point for a game by Telltale and this story does not disappoint.
Just like The Walking Dead, this is an interactive story with some QTE’s (quick-time events). Even though it’s just point and click, the action sequences are extremely intense (especially the final action sequence in the episode). The visuals are outstanding. They help set the tone for this noir-style murder mystery and set themselves apart from The Walking Dead by providing more color. The sound also adds to the experience. The music is mysterious and you always get the feeling that something is off. It contributes to the murder mystery vibe that this game has. The first episode is only two hours but it grips you for those two hours and leaves you wanting more. The cliffhanger ending is sure to leave people speechless. I for one did not see it coming and was completely shocked.
Telltale Games have brought this intriguing world to life and provided a solid mystery that will keep people guessing. The game is humorous, violent, and mysterious and it’s every bit as good as The Walking Dead. The only issue I had was very slight frame rate issues, but it never messed up my experience. I’m interested to see how decisions such as lying to Beast or choosing to arrest one suspect over the other changes the story in future installments of the series. I look forward to the next episode of the series.
Rating: 9.5/10
+Gripping story
+Great music and visuals
+Bigby is awesome
-Very slight frame rate issues.
jpatreviews 