Review: The Wolf Among Us

The Wolf Among Us is a series of interactive cutscenes with some sparse adventure game elements. It was developed by Telltale Games. It is based on the Fables comic book by Bill Willingham, and acts as a prequel to that series. The game was released episodically in five parts, from October 2013 to June 2014.

Sheriff Bigby Wolf, having a quiet moment with a soon to be murder victim.

In New York City there is a neighborhood called Fabletown where characters from old stories live in secret. One night the sheriff of Fabletown, Bigby Wolf, formerly the infamous Big Bad Wolf, breaks up a domestic disturbance between a prostitute and her client. The next day Bigby finds the prostitute’s head on the steps of Fabltetown’s main building, and is tasked with tracking down her murderer. But trying to uphold the law is difficult in a town going through a recession, and where the disparity between the wealthy human Fables and the poorer, less normal Fables is reaching a boiling point.

The Wolf Among Us is mostly cutscenes of people talking for several minutes. You decide what Bigby will say in a conversation, usually choosing from four different options, and almost always under a time limit, until the scene ends and you move to the next scene.

The shrinking bar along the bottom represents how much time you have left to pick an option.

Sometimes, in between the talking scenes, are areas when you can control Bigby, and walk around, and comment on things in the room.

The point of the game being mostly cutscenes is that it is supposed to create the feeling that you have some effect on the world. Characters act differently depending on what dialogue option you choose, and sometimes what you say or do causes Bigby some trouble later. Each episode has one area where you can only go in one direction, and which direction you go effects the second destination when you finally get there.

Snow White is Bigby's boss and sometimes sidekick.

But it is all an illusion. There is no real choice in the game, and most of the choices you make do not cause serious unavoidable problems. All the important plot points happen no matters what you do, characters always die when they need to die, and Bigby always goes to the same places. The game often likes to tell you that a character will remember something Bigby said or did, but most of the time that never comes up. It’s almost a trick, what really matters is how much empathy you feel for these fictional characters and your own moral compass, and that makes you choose the dialogue options you choose, not a desire to beat the game.

Even though you do not do much during the cutscenes, they are far more entertaining than the parts where you walk around. I do not understand why Telltale thought I would enjoy moving Bigby around, making unimportant comments about things for a couple of minutes. In a normal adventure game you normally walk around and comment on things because you are looking for a way to overcome an obstacle. But here it is busywork, the game could just as easily have Bigby move around on his own.

The story which the game focuses so much is good, but flawed. The initial mystery is full of more red herrings than clues, and I am not sure it would be possible to solve the mystery. The game drops the mystery in the third episode anyway, at which points it turns into a regular crime drama story. The ending also tosses off a twist at the very last second for the sake of having a twist, though it is easy enough to ignore. But the rest of the story it is well written and the characters and setting are likable and interesting. The subplot of how some Fables are treated like crap or ignored because they do not look like pretty normal humans, or simply cannot afford to live in the nice part of town is a compelling piece and leads to a lot of the best parts of the game. Of course, I may just like the story because I am a fan of the comic and enjoy seeing characters I liked already. For fans of the comic, you will be pleased to know that none of the cast are written out-of-character and the setting is recognizable.

It was nice getting to see characters like Jack and Snow White voiced.

The game itself runs decently, no bugs or anything. But to play the game you always have to be able to get online. The game records the choices you make and compares them to other players, but that is not a vital part of the game, and you should not have to log onto their servers every time you want to play it.

The Wolf Among Us is a good story, with a fun setting and a fun cast. But it is a shit game, and it is not a fantastic story, which given that it’s focal point of the game is unfortunate. I guess what I’m saying is, unless you are a fan of the comic, do not go out of your way to play it.