Let's Talk... The Wolf Among Us Ep. 1

The accessible premise of The Wolf Among Us makes it extremely easy for anyone who hasn't read the Fables comic series to dive straight into the game’s rich and interesting world, mainly because its based largely on fairy tale characters and their respective stories but also because the game does a great job of setting up this unique and fascinating universe. However, you’d be very much mistaken for thinking that these fairy tale characters make The Wolf Among Us fantastical and goofy, because the game actually takes a gritty and very noire-like approach to classic characters like Little Red Hiding Hood, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and more. It’s probably important to note that this is a Telltale game and it's very similar to The Walking Dead, and most people will know to expect minimalistic gameplay in favour of a compelling story and deep character development.

Some of the combat sequences are quite graphic and get real up close and personal

Thankfully, for a game that a focuses on its story, the story, so far, is pretty great. Some really interesting characters, truly excellent dialogue, and a fascinating setting offer a promising start to the series that paves the way for a story that could be better than The Walking Dead if it maintains its high level of quality. Although I was one of the many people who loved The Walking Dead, I find the set-up of TWAU to be far more interesting than TWD's fairly generic and largely overdone zombie survival setting. The basic premise is that all your favourite fairy tale characters are hiding away in their own secret community in a secluded area of a gritty 1980's New York. A lot of the universe is left half-explained or undeveloped as of yet, but you are told of a magic force called "glamour" that conceals the Fables community from the "mundane" population. It's a fascinating and unique story with some really strong storytelling. The exceptional voice acting and well-written dialogue make it easy to attach to the game's many characters, even though most of the characters only appear in one or two short scenes so far. Although I was one of the many people who loved The Walking Dead, I find the setup to be a lot more interesting than TWD's pretty generic and largely overdone zombie survival setting. Also, I found the darker, murder mystery-like set-up to be extremely interesting and engaging.

Like TWD, The Wolf Among Us has extremely basic gameplay, with the vast majority of the game spent in cutscenes or dialogue. Those who haven't played should know what to expect but for those who haven't, think of it as a sort of choose your own adventure type deal with some limited interactivity thrown in there. Dialogue branches are exactly as they were in TWD, you're given numerous options and a limited window to choose one. The consequence of each option is often quite ambigious, unlike something like Mass Effect where dialogue options are often plain black and white, good or bad scenarios, and you might not even realise the consequence of your words until much later, or even another episode entirely. Placing a timer on choosing dialogue creates a nice sense of urgency and immediacy, which helps to keep the game flowing at a consistent pace throughout. There is always a fourth and often very valid option: silence. The silence option can be a little inconsistent however, at times characters will react to your silence in a unique and interesting way whilst other times characters will simply act as though you said what you were supposed to say. Which makes it feel like some of the more important and story focused conversations have "right" answers, rather than just give you free reign.

The wonderful art style really captures the gritty, urban setting and dark storyline

The rest of the gameplay and "combat", if you can even call it that, is also extremely minimalistic. Much like in TWD, TWAU is still an adventure game in the loosest sense of the word and so there are still elements of investigative "point 'n' click" esque scenarios in which you are able to search small areas for story based clues and hints, as well as items for future use or dialogue prompts. It's really basic, so don't come to The Wolf Among Us expecting some complex point 'n' click adventure puzzle-like game that you'd have expected from Telltale ten years ago, because this certainly is not that. The investigative gameplay feels more laser focused on storytelling rather than in TWD, where they tended to be lengthier and more complex. As for the combat, the game mostly uses lengthy quick time events which require you to hit button prompts or line up the cursor to a particular area, which I found to be far more precise and accurate with a mouse than a 360 controller. These sequences feel longer than those in TWD but also more engaging and a little more satisfying to complete, and the feelings of inaccuracy and confusion I felt when doing QTEs in TWD are all but gone. Don't get me wrong, I still really don't like QTEs in games but they executed them pretty well here.

It goes without saying that this game looks absolutely incredible. It takes TWD's art style, vastly improves the quality of the look and replaces the slight focus on a realistic visual style with a far more comic book-like appearance. The wonderfully dark art style really benefits the game's gritty setting as well as some of the noire-esque themes. Some of the animations can be a little buggy at times, but certainly not to the extent that they were in TWD, and some of the facial animations can be a little exaggerated and goofy at times. The aforementioned voice acting and general sound design are truly exceptional, the incredible voice acting brings the character to life and each of the characters really do put in great performances. Although the controls are very minimalistic, I still found the mouse and keyboard to be a preferable option when it came to accurately nailing QTEs and when investigating the area, although a 360 controller is a valid option as well. The game features the use of multiple save files, naturally, but I did experience a bug that reset my second save file when I loaded it up for a second time, which can be pretty frustrating when you have to re-do the last two hours. Overall, though, the first episode of The Wolf Among Us sets the series off to a truly promising start, and, even as someone who really  enjoyed TWD, this series has the potential to be better than The Walking Dead.