The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 – The Gritty Underbelly of Fairytales

When Telltale Games released Episode one of The Walking Dead in 2012 I was not immune to all of the hype surrounding the game or the studio. I told myself I should at least give The Walking Dead a try some day as it sounded like a compelling action game. Fast forward to October of 2013 and another one of Telltale’s games showed up on my radar. This time it was The Wolf Among Us and it seemed a little more appealing to me than zombies. So when the first episode of the game appeared for free on Xbox Live as part of a holiday promotion I jumped at the chance to download it. It sat on my 360’s hard drive for a week until I finally played it on New Year’s Day. I poured a few hours into the short episode and when all was said and done I couldn’t wait to play episode two.

The Wolf Among Us is a prequel to Fables, a long-running and ongoing comic book series originally created in 2002. Like the comics, the game is a dark and gritty modern day twist on old fairy tales. In the world outlined by the comics and the game “fables” are a collection of legendary characters and monsters hailing from a variety of folklore. These creatures lived in their magical homelands until a tyrant and his armies known as “The Adversary” forced the fables to flee. They crossed into the realm of mundane humans and created a place for themselves known as Fabletown. For centuries the town existed alongside regular humans and the fables were able to completely mask their presence.

As society changed Fabletown changed with it. The town is now located within New York City’s Manhattan section and keeping peace among the fables has become difficult. The Big Bad Wolf (who has given up his violent ways) is now known as Bigby Wolf. He is Fabletown’s sheriff and has been tasked with keeping peace among the residents. His main job is to keep other fables from killing each other and to make sure the residents of the magical town stay in human form.

The game begins when the sheriff is asked to investigate a commotion in the apartment complex owned by Mr. Toad. Heading upstairs Bigby finds the Woodsman beating up a prostitute. He intervenes and during the fight the two of them go crashing out the window. The Woodsman gets the better of Bigby and begins to strangle him until the prostitute attacks the lumberjack with his own axe. She leaves the weapon embedded in the man’s skull and he slinks away, having lost the will to fight. (Fables are magical creatures and it takes a lot more than an axe to the skull to kill them.)

The fable prostitute thanks Bigby for his help and tells him the fight broke out when the Woodsman refused to pay her. The girl is slightly fearful at the thought of returning to her pimp without money. (At this point in the game you can give the woman your money.) The sheriff warns the girl to be careful before heading back to his apartment complex, The Woodlands, located in the wealthier part of Fabletown. At the main gates he notices Beauty and she warns him not to tell her husband, Beast of her whereabouts.

In the elevators Bigby runs into Beast and at this point you as the player can reveal what his wife was up to, or you can say nothing. I chose to inform Beast of Beauty’s actions and went on my way. Bigby finally makes it to his apartment and starts to relax when he’s disturbed by Colin, one of the Three Pigs who has come to crash at his place. Fables who can’t pass themselves off as human are sent to Upstate New York to live in a place known as “The Farm.” At this point you can either let the large pig stay with you or threaten to return him to The Farm.

Just as Bigby sits in his favorite chair with a hard drink in hand he’s summoned by Snow White, an aide to Fabletown’s mayor. She brings the sheriff out to The Woodlands’ courtyard and directs him to the scene of a grisly murder. A fable woman has been decapitated and her head was placed in front of the apartment complex for others to find. The murder kicks off an investigation into who the girl was, why she was murdered and a host of shady events taking place in the seedier underbelly of Fabletown.

The Wolf Among Us is primarily an adventure game. Most of the game is spent going from location to location and investigating objects. The really interesting meat of the game comes in two flavors. First is the numerous decisions that have to be made. Every question asked has either an immediate impact on the story or will have a future impact. If Bigby is a nice guy or a vicious jerk the characters you interact with will remember it. In a fun change of pace you’re only given about ten seconds to make your decision and the game autosaves after your choice is made. The near split decisions often feel like gut reactions, making it difficult to separate your actions from your emotions. In other words, you don’t have the luxury of mulling over the dialogue choices you must make. I played it more or less down the middle. I chose to give the fable prostitute my money at the start of Episode one. Later in the game I fought off another fable that attacked me. When he was down I made the gruesome choice of ripping his arm off and flinging it across the room. (You don’t mess with the Big Bad Wolf!) Those numerous decisions will surely come back to aid or haunt the sheriff in upcoming episodes.

As an adventure game the strength of the characters and the writing are essential. Happily, Telltale delivers on every front. Bigby is easy to sympathize with as a character with a troubled past. When he was the Big Bad Wolf he caused the fables a lot of misery in their former homelands. In Fabletown he seeks to redeem himself but the task isn’t easy because of his past. Other characters such as Mr. Toad, Colin, Snow White, Faith and even the Woodsman all feel fleshed out. They have their own complex pasts, motivations and present concerns. The more the game explored the characters and their gritty 1980s New York City home, the more they grew on me.

When you’re not exploring or investigating in The Wolf Among Us there are action scenes. The gameplay takes place in the form of quick time events. The QTEs are so well placed they never become annoying, nor are they particularly difficult. Telltale blended them into the narrative of the game in a way that doesn’t break the immersion factor. One moment Bigby is talking to a character and the next moment he’s giving chase or fighting them. Failing a QTE too many times will result in a “Game Over” but game is kind enough to autosave before these sequences happen.

My only gripes with The Wolf Among Us are the long load times and performance issues. I don’t know if this is a nagging feature only present in both console versions or if it’s exclusive to the 360. The load times can take as long as 30 seconds and can break the immersion in a game that basically plays out like a dark TV investigation drama with cel-shaded graphics. (Thanks to other reviews I do know the PC version has virtually no load time.) Scenes often slow down and frames occasionally drop. While annoying, these problems aren’t necessarily a deal breaker. If you have a choice I heartily recommend getting the PC version of the game.

The Wolf Among Us Episode One is short and sweet. The game can be completed within two hours and a huge cliff-hanger will immediately have you wanting to play more. All of the characters are genuinely interesting people (“people” in some cases) and the gameplay fits in perfectly with the game’s TV drama feel. Actual game performance is spotty at times on the 360 version but but the game is still playable. I got Episode One for free and paid $14.99 for the season pass, I feel a game this good at such a low price was a steal. It’s easily worth the $24.99 it goes for on other platforms (or if you missed the Xbox promotion). I can’t recommend this game enough to anyone who will listen. After reading this review go out and give The Wolf Among Us a try. Unless you hate adventure games you’ll probably be captivated by Telltale’s take on the Fables universe.

Images courtesy of Xbox.com, Daily Joystick Podcast and True Achievements.