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Review: The Wolf Among Us, Episode One

Coming off the back of Beyond: Two Souls, it’d be easy to think that The Wolf Among Us would be a very similar, lacklustre game. Thankfully, Telltale Games uses the opportunity to prove that they’re more than a one trick pony.

Their past efforts – while decent – were largely average movie- and film-tie ins. CSI and Back to Future were point-and-click adventures proved stale over time, and Jurrasic Park was nothing more than a QTE-riddled quasi-adventure. The works held their own but weren’t anything to phone home about.

Telltale’s last endeavour was the highly successful The Walking Dead. No, not Survival Instinct; the good one. It was a game rich with complex characters, game-changing decisions and a storyline that couldn’t be beat. It was Stevivor’s Game of the Year in 2012.

It goes without saying that Telltale had a lot to live up to in their adaptation of the Vertigo Comics Fables line. Clearly, the company took their history into account and picked a franchise that suited their newfound gritty storytelling.

The Wolf Among Us is a five-part episodic game where you play as the human embodiment of the Big Bad Wolf. He and his other fairytale comrades have been forcibly planted into the real-world, and must adapt to survive. Characters like Mr. Toad are forced to pay through the nose to maintain human glamours or else be shipped off to live on a farm, and once-majestic beings like Snow White are slumming it in menial jobs. The Big Bad Wolf, aka Bigby, serves as Sherriff of the Fables, keeping them in line.

Well, as best he can.

Gameplay is largely like Telltale’s last title, though the company has learned from their past mistakes. You’re able to see the items you can interact with on-screen far more easily, which takes out some of the less interesting guesswork that featured in The Walking Dead’s first two episodes. It could be argued that in The Wolf Among Us – just like in Beyond: Two Souls – you largely watch the action take place around you, but that really can’t be further from the truth. QTE sequences tend to mirror the action that unfolds and, in true Telltale fashion, mid-episode decisions already are being monitored. It’s pretty certain that they’ll come back to help – or haunt – you in future episodes.

Just because The Wolf Among Us is about fairytales doesn’t mean it’s light. Within moments of firing up the game, you’ll see The Woodman beating on a prostitute; splashes of blood litter the screen as frequently as in Telltale’s zombie saga. As if to punctuate it even more, each character manages to say “f*ck” after every second word. Telltale, just a word of advice on that one: you’re gritty and dark. We get it. You don’t need to act like a fifteen year old and swear like a sailor to try to impress us.

The bottom line is that you’re getting quality with The Wolf Among Us, and for a very cheap price too. Clocking in at just over $20 AUD, the entire series is definitely worth picking up. Why not give the first episode a go?


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.