The Wolf Among Us

Editor's Notes

Digital Xbox One version reviewed.

High-Def Digest reviewed all five 'The Wolf Among Us' episodes on the PC as they were released. Here are the reviews:

'Faith'
Smoke and Mirrors'
'A Crooked Mile'
'In Sheep's Clothing'
'Cry Wolf'

Introduction

'The Wolf Among Us' is based on a DC comic book series called 'Fables'. Actually, the series is more similar to a graphic novel than a traditional comic book, as it is more violent and adult than those publications generally tolerate. In the comic’s backstory, all manner of mythical creatures from humanity’s legends and tall tales are not only real, they live in New York City of all places. They were evicted from their magical Homelands centuries ago and have since taken up residence in the Bronx. Adjusting to the world of "mundies" (or mundanes, as they call us plebeian mortals) has been difficult for them, to say the least, and they often find themselves in the lower strata of our society. The creatures are collectively known as Fables and there are many of them, mostly from European folklore, such as Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Bluebeard.

The game was originally released in October of 2013 for various consoles in an episodic format, not unusual for adventure games. It was developed by Telltale Games, which has a reputation for releases in this genre (they also created the lovely 'Walking Dead' episodic game and are working on 'Tales from the Borderlands' and a 'Game of Thrones' adventure title). It finished in July of this year, but now is has made the jump to the Xbox One and PS4.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

In 'The Wolf Among Us' the player takes the role of Bigby Wolf, formerly known as the Big Bad Wolf. It is the same Big Bad Wolf who blew down the poor piggies’ houses, conned Little Red Riding Hood, and was generally quite a dastardly character in his youth. Since coming to the mundy world he has tried to reform, and has accepted the position of sheriff of Fabletown. In noir fashion, with a gruff demeanor and constant flow of cheap cigarettes, he solves crimes and punishes evildoers. While the comics line takes place more or less in the present, 'The Wolf Among Us' is set in the neon New York of the 1980s.

As an adventure game, story takes center stage, with gameplay and visuals pushed to the side to make room for the plot. The primary mechanics consist of limited movement, dialogue trees, and occasional quick-time events when Bigby gets in a fight. The fun of the game comes not from endless adrenaline in the form of combat or speed or platforming, but from savoring the history, personality, and characterization of each Fable. This is a slow-moving game with periodic plot twists and surprises to keep the player entertained.

Bigby Wolf has all the responsibility of the office of Sheriff of Fabletown, and is the sole law enforcement officer. I will spare the details for those who have yet to enjoy it, but the five-episode arc is primarily a murder investigation. Throughout the game, the player gradually shapes their Bigby into a good cop, a bad cop, or something in between. The other characters react to Bigby’s decisions and actions accordingly, and they will remember his choices in subsequent episodes. As I played through the game, I realized that my Bigby had not changed much from his time as the Big Bad Wolf. He is still a brute, quick to horrific violence when challenged, but not without the occasional display of compassion for the less fortunate Fables. The way the game records and later deals with player choices is thorough, and even very brief interactions can yield surprises later.

This version of the game is almost completely unchanged from its 360 cousin. It looks the same, plays the same, and sounds the same. While some of the stuttering from the action sequences has disappeared (this stuttering is also common in both seasons of 'The Walking Dead'), it has been replaced with something worse. Immediately before or after save points, which usually follow a decision by Bigby, I was subjected to long loading hangs. These took the form of a complete screen freeze without as much as a small loading icon in the corner. Several times the hang was so long I nearly restarted, convinced that the game had frozen my console. In addition, sometimes the dialogue trees completely bugged out, saying something along the lines of "Empty choice here!" in every slot. This prevented me from moving forward and required a checkpoint restart, and generally occurred after the beginning of a chapter (chapters are smaller segments within the larger episodes).