"The Wolf Among Us" Gives Fairytales a Second Take

The Wolf Among Us features a wide array of characters from fables,
nursery rhymes, mythology, and popular stories.

Time off is the best.  Over spring break I was able to dip into my back log and finally play a couple of games that I had purchased in one of the Steam sales.  My first adventure took place in TellTale's comic book spin-off series The Wolf Among Us.  I have to say that I was impressed and continue to enjoy the signature TellTale style of storytelling.

The Wolf Among Us is based off of a DC Comics series known as Fables.  I had never heard of the series before playing the game.  The basic premise of the game/comic is that many of the heroes and villains from popular fairytales and mythology have been forced to live in the same world as everyday humans.  There's a very Harry Potter-esque difference between the magical beings and the regular humans known as "mundies."  In order to live among humans these characters, especially the less human appearing, are forced to use powerful and expensive spells to disguise themselves as regular people.  Life isn't easy for these fairytale characters who find themselves struggling to blend in and make a living in the modern world.

In order to protect and uphold the laws for these magical beings a sheriff is appointed.  That sheriff happens to be the main character in the games, Bigby Wolf.  As the name implies, this is the Big Bad Wolf of "The Three Little Pigs" fame.  Bigby reminds me of a film noir style of detective--a brooding, hard drinking and smoking hero who has a tough life but still manages to get the job done.

The series centers around the investigation into the serial murders of several women from the fairytale community.  As Bigby investigates he learns that there is a wide ranging conspiracy that involves some of the more well-known fairytale characters.  Part of the challenge is simply trying to connect the dots to figure out who has actually murdered the women.  Players have to search for evidence, find clues, and interrogate suspects to unravel the mystery.  I don't want to go into too much detail and ruin the story for anyone.

Georgie.  Owner of the "Pudding and Pie"

For me the best part of the game was seeing how some of the most well-known fairytale creatures were incorporated into the world.  Characters like Ichabod Crane, Snow White, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Grendel, The Woodsman, Beauty and the Beast, and so many others are much different than their fairytale beginnings.  Georgie Porgie of the nursery rhyme, runs a strip club called the "Pudding and Pie" in the game.  He's a tattooed pimp who caters to the exotic tastes of the fairytale community.  Tweedledee and Tweedledum are private investigators and thugs who do the bidding of the rich and powerful.  Yeah, these ain't your sweet, innocent nursery rhyme characters....

Bigby is an interesting character because players are able to make choices that shape his personality.  He can be the rough, gruff, tough-talking and scary "Big Bad Wolf" or the kinder, gentler, reasoning authority.  You can choose to have Bigby rough up a suspect or to simply interrogate them.  There are times where Bigby can't ignore his true nature and is forced to revert to his wolfish self--mostly during action-packed fight sequences.

Unlike other episodic story games, I had purchased this entire series at one time.  I found that I actually prefer the binge-playing option over the one chunk at a time option.  It was nice to be able to finish up one episode and have the story fresh in my mind as I moved onto the next part.  It took me a few days to play through the entire series, but I didn't feel as confused about what was happening due to large gaps between episodes.  In the future I am going to try to buy my episodic games on sale and all at one time.

The Wolf Among Us is another great episodic story game from TellTale.  I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys TellTale's games or to fans of the comic books.  You can pick it up on Steam (I would wait until a sale--you can get it much more cheaply) for $24.99 or on other mobile devices.