The Wolf Among Us

Single player games have an aura, a soul that makes them special. Traditional gamers  smacks their lips when they find a good story based single player game. Companies can debate the death of single player games all day long, yet we see good story based single player games releasing to this very day. The Wolf Among Us is one such memorable game.

The Wolf Among us is developed by Telltale games of the Walking Dead Fame. It’s a point and click episodic game based on Bill Willingham’s comic book series called Fables. I have neither read the comics, nor played any games from Telltale games before this, but I’ll tell you one thing- Telltale knows damn well how to tell a tale!

Story:

A strange and unusual murder rocks Fabletown. Murders don’t usually happen in Fabletown, so the sheriff Bigby Wolf is tasked to investigate at once. Wolf aka the Big Bad Wolf is a Fable, who lives in Fabletown along with many other Fables. Homeland is the Fable equivalent of earth, that has magical gates. This comprises the legend, the myth and the Fables.

Fabletown is a town where Fables from the Homeland have taken refuge after an exodus from the evil villain called The Adversary. These Fables use Glamor, a substance that masks them and disguises them as human so that they can blend and live with the mundies or humans. Failure to use glamour will lead to Fables being expelled to a place called ‘The Farm’, not to be confused with the farm that pets go when they are really sick. 

Wolf works alongside his colleague Snow aka Snow White, to solve what seems to be a strange murder in an otherwise peaceful Fabletown.

Fabletown is a city inspired by Manhattan, with a 1980s noir feel to it. This paired with a dark and gritty setting and a neon themed lighting sets pace for the story to unravel in a total of 5 chapters. 

I’ve never been a big fan of mythical tales or fantasy type content. Hell, I’ve not even watched Game of Thrones yet. The only experience that I enjoyed was the first Witcher game I played years back. So going into this I was surely skeptical, but to my surprise, I was hooked to the story from the beginning. Even if you’re not someone who enjoys fairy-tales or the fantasy genre, you will end up liking the story of this game.

Graphics & Sound:

They’re not setting any records with the graphics but, it couldn’t be more fitting to the games’ setting. It’s reminiscent of most comic books and that’s a good thing. Animations also have a feel of comics to them, rather than being cinematic. Voice acting is top-notch and accents have been done accurately in my opinion. Music is also a plus in my books since it seamlessly blends with the narrative of the game.

Running this on a decent laptop took no effort and this game hardly pushes hardware. 

Gameplay:

This is where things get kinda interesting. There’s no gameplay here per se. This is a point and click type graphical adventure with the frequent button smashing QTEs(Quick Time Events). You play as Bigby Wolf, the detective who gets to inspect and investigate items at a scene. Some of these items are stored in inventory and these items are pieces of the puzzle that you solve later on in the game. There are no actual puzzles in the game; so by puzzles, I mean solving mysteries and crime.  

At the core of the game, you’re choosing between dialogues and reactions to questions by other characters. These options have consequences and impact the relationship with a few characters. You can choose to be silent, by not responding (this has consequences). You also have an option to choose certain locations to head to, which impacts the story.

Some of these choices are hard to make. It can be gut-wrenching at times. There’s Colin, a pig who lives in Bigby Wolfs’ apartment, who has a history with The Big Bad Wolf in the Homelands (The Wolf in the past was a bully, a menace to the majority of the residents there). He can’t afford glamor and has escaped multiple times from ‘The Farm’. There’s a moral dilemma as a player when he asks if Wolf will be sending him to ‘The Farm’ for not using glamor. These choices make the characters feel closer to you and you feel like you are Bigby Wolf. Things get personal. But don’t go into the game expecting something in terms of an open-world game. This is a linear story-based game, let’s just establish that.

The investigative aspect of the game is something I liked. It paves way for the story to proceed further, making you doubt every character and rethink the decisions you made. When talking to people I observed the beautiful animations that told me if someone was lying. This just shows the effort put into directing this game. Major choices make this game feel very personal and that is something Telltale excels at with The Wolf Among Us.

Conclusion:

This is more of a TV show that you can partially control than a game. But I stayed for the story. 

I can think of very little in terms of cons, the biggest one being replay value. Once you’re done with the game and you know the story, the urge to play it back is just missing. This is due to the sure-footed and linear storyline. One more reason is, the choices don’t alter the game in a major way. 

The Wolf Among Us is Bigby Wolf’s shot at redemption. With the murder of a common citizen, there’s chaos in the city. The common folks, the second class citizens who lost a member are fuming at the authorities and Wolf, the detective has the choice to bully and resort to violence and aggression, or doing things by the book. There are moments where Bigby transforms into the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ and it’s just magnificent. The game is magical and makes you feel empty once it’s finished. The game ends with a cliffhanger. Telltale has faced major hiccups, but it looks like all is well. They have announced a sequel to the game and I’m eager to play it on release. For me, this is a must-play, a lighthearted game with soul.  A game where you’re not competitive but relaxed, where you don’t have to master combat but enjoy as the story unravels, exposing the ugly side of the people in Fabletown. At price of $10 or ₹500, I’d say it’s very well worth it, provided you are aware of the kind of game it is.

Pros	Cons
Great Story	Simple Gameplay
Graphics are surprisingly good	Lacks replay value
Well written characters
Animation and Voice acting are top notch