[The Wolf Among Us] "You're not as bad as everyone says you are." - Episode 5 out now!

vegeta_666

Consoles: Steam (Windows/Mac), Telltale Store, XBL Marketplace, PSN, PS Vita and iOS

The Wolf Among Us is Telltale's latest venture into the realm of comic books and graphics novels, this time adapting Fables, a comic done by DC/Vertigo about creatures and characters from folklore, fairy tales and fables who have fled from their world to ours, and now reside in Fabletown, a neighbourhood in New York City. Keeping them all together is Bigby (the Big Bad Wolf), the playable character for this season. It has been stated this story is canon.

From Telltale's website:

The Wolf Among Us is a five episode series from the creators of the 2012 Game of the Year: The Walking Dead. Based on Fables (DC Comics/Vertigo), an award-winning comic book series, it is an often violent, mature and hard-boiled thriller where the characters and creatures of myth, lore and legend are real and exist in our world.

As Bigby Wolf - THE big bad wolf in human form - you will discover that the brutal, bloody murder of a Fable is just a taste of things to come, in a game series where your every decision can have enormous consequences.

Your choices matter: it’s not only WHAT you choose to do that will affect how your story plays out, but WHEN you choose to do it
A mature and gritty take on characters from fairytales, legends and folklore who have escaped into our world. These are not the characters you’d see on a little child’s lunchbox.
Play as Bigby Wolf: formerly the most feared monster among the Fables, now Sheriff of Fabletown and protector of those he used to hunt. He must restrain the beast within if he is to earn the trust of those around him.
Choose Bigby’s actions carefully. Will you approach a situation calmly or unleash your inner rage? The way you act will determine how others respond to you.
Set before the events seen in the first issue of the comics – you don’t have to know the characters or the world to play!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIgx0vPPDtA

(Launch Trailer)

Screenshots:

Links:

Background info for Fables (Kotaku)
FABLES wiki



Episodes:

Faith - Released October 11th, 2013
Smoke and Mirrors - Released February 4th, 2014
A Crooked Mile - Released April 8th, 2014
In Sheep's Clothing - Released May 27th, 2014
Cry Wolf - Released July 8th, 2014

vegeta_666

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

Episode Decisions!

Faith - Episode 1:

Did you give Faith your money?
Did you tell Beast the truth about Beauty?
Who did you help first? Toad or Prince Lawrence?
What happened to Prince Lawrence?
Who did you arrest?
Who did you say was the prime suspect?

Smoke and Mirrors - Episode 2

How did you respond to Crane about Snow's Death?
How did you treat the murder suspect?
Did you let Snow come with you to the Trip Trap?
How did you handle Georgie Peorgie?
Did you keep punching when Beast was down?

A Crooked Mile - Episode 3

Did you interrupt Snow's eulogy?
Where did you go first? Dum's Office, Crane's Apartment, The Trip Trap?
Did you offer Flycatcher a job?
Did you burn Greenleaf's tree?
Did you kill Tweedle Dum?

In Sheep's Clothing - Episode 4

Did you sent Colin back to the farm?
Did you attempt to remove Nerissa's ribbon?
Which Crooked Man operation did you go to first?
Did you send Toad to the farm?
How did you respond to the Crooked Man?

Cry Wolf - Episode 5

What did you do to Georgie?
Did you give the Crooked Man a trial?
How did you punish the Crooked Man?
Did you accept TJ's gift for Snow?
What were your last words to Nerissa?

Vic

This episode was intense, and darker than I could even imagine.

Episode 1 spoilers

I can't say that I am a fan of the fact that half of the female cast has already been killed off in the first episode, or all the prostitution (especially if what seems to be implied about Beauty is true). I get that this is a dark and gritty world, but I don't know if it needed to be dark and gritty in exactly that way. Snow was such an interesting and adorable character

I am really enjoying Big Bad as the protagonist, especially the way you are reminded of his savage nature by the frequent presence of a violent alternative in conversation. I never thought I would see "rip his arm off" as a dialogue choice in a game.

Overall I am entirely sold. Can't wait for the next one.

DrunkMc

I picked this up being a fan of the Walking Dead video game, and the review from Rev 3 games. Man, I am not disappointed. The first chapter was amazing and the perfect length for a single sit down play through. All charachters are instantly engaging and fleshed out. LOVED IT.

That being said, I agree with @Vic

The whole time walking towards the office with the sirens flashing, I was just like, "Oh fuck, don't be Snow, Don't be Snow, Don't be......................snow...........

What a start. Amazing intro to this awesome world. I never read the comics, but this game makes me want to.

Kadoken

Does Scott Cohen voice the Wolf?

Wyborn

WAIT WHAT THIS IT OUT NOW!?

JUST

HOLY SHIT I DIDN'T KNOW

nicopernicus

I'm going to pick this up next week. First i need to finish my Dark Souls playthrough. I'm very very excited for this though.

shoeboxjeddy

Oh how I love Fables. The fact that both it and Walking Dead have excellent game adaptations that fit (and add to!) the source, rather than getting tie-ins that are mashed into an existing, ill-fitting format for convenience is great. Next up, Powers or Locke & Key could use some love.

But back to the game. The action events are much better designed than the stuff in the Walking Dead game, but the control stick quick time events were finicky and punished me occasionally when I didn't feel I'd actually made a mistake. I imagine the inventory must carry over between episodes, considering there's no use for 90% of the stuff you pick up (Optimistic, Bigby...) Top characters I'd love to see in future episodes: Boy Blue, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Prince Charming, and a conscious Fly Catcher. I pretty much know we'll see Bluebeard and King Cole though, so they don't need to be on the list.

Plot Spoilers

I don't think the killer is the Woodsman. Bluebeard is a total "if you've read the comics" red herring so far. My actual working theory will be posted in the comic spoilers. Here, I'll just say that what the Mirror says seems EXTREMELY important.

My Choices

Went to Mr. Toad first, which obviously cost Lawrence. Was able to break Toad's lies easily at least, and caught up to TweedleDee. At the bar, I ripped that dude's arm off, I don't think Bigby has the control required to just let everything slide off his back after the day he was having. Then I caught TweedleDee (unless it was Dum?), since I don't think the Woodsman is the killer. I'll go back to see the alternative results, but I like this for my 'main' playthrough still, feels very dramatic and noir.

Comic Related Spoilers, DO NOT CLICK if the game is your first Fables thing ever

So... that ain't Snow. I mean, people seemed shocked that she survived a headshot, getting decapitated is a FAIR SIGHT worse. So... celebrity look-alike glamoured prostitutes? They made a huge deal of bringing up glamour over and over again. Which means Faith isn't dead. In fact, she might be the murderer, or the murderer's boss. Bigby needs to read more Marlowe books, note a femme fatale when he sees one. The Woodsman was an excellent choice for new Fable to bring up, close connection to Bigby but free and clear from future story arcs. I'm excited to see how he ends up. As far as disappointments, I really wanted to see more of the business office. It's also interesting, Snow seems a lot nicer and more vulnerable now then she does in volume 1. Does something happen to her (other than... not getting decapitated?).

Spoilers related to Fairest Volume 1

So when you saw Beauty running off under suspicious circumstances, did anybody else have a momentary SERIOUS freakout?

Road Block

So that was rather intense. Action scenes were rather impressive, got caught off balance by how quickly they got thrown at me.
I quite liked the style, felt more comicbooky then even the Walking Dead, which fits the setting well.

Story stuff:

So going to Toad's first may have been a mistake, sorry about that laurance. That particular scene looked like a murder being pretty poorly disquised as a suicide. Unfired gun, unexplained bloody knife, fold out bed wth blood on it retracted, suspect with blood on their face when the vic apparently shot himself from the chair. Yeah Dee nothing suss here. Which lead to the choice between catching Dee or the woodsman being pretty easy. Fairly certain Woodsman didn't do it, I doubt Dee killed Faith but a lead on her boss who I named as a suspect is deffinatly worthwhile even without the Laurance thing.

Also lied to the beast, didn't think it was a good idea to get involved without knowing what was up, no point letting the Beast jump to conclusions.

So major seriously do not look here unless you've read atleast the first volume of fables spoilers

I'm wondering where they are going with finding Snow's head. Obviously a deliberate choice, anyone with a passing knowladge of the comics will know snow is alive by the time the comics starts, so it stands to reason Faith is also alive. Makes me think that the mirror will be doing his little my lips are sealed speech again next episode. Unless of course Telltale is doing some kind of reboot which seems unlikly to me.

shoeboxjeddy

Road Block wrote: »

Unless of course Telltale is doing some kind of reboot which seems unlikly to me.

No, it's confirmed to be a part of the comics' storyline, like the Walking Dead game.

SilentBobX

Shoeboxjeddy

Oh dude, thank you, thank you, thank you for reassuring me that Snow might not be dead. I don't read the comic at all (the bullet thing) so when I saw Snow's head on the steps I screamed "NO! FUCK! ...NO!"

Bloodsheed

Just finished the first episode. Fantastic, and I know it's early, but all I could think is "They've done it again...", which is good considering Walking Dead was my favorite game of the year.

I want to give special mention to the color pallet/style. After feeling the brown of Walking Dead the pastel/purple-pink hue was a fantastic change and really gave the whole thing an even better atmosphere.

Also have to mention my favorite scene:

Snow/Bigby in the alleyway. "That would explain the ribs..."

As for choices, I seemed to fall in the early majority:

Did you give Faith your money? Yes.

Did you tell Beast the truth about Beauty? No.

Who did you help first? Toad or Prince Lawrence? Toad. It seemed more urgent...

What happened to Prince Lawrence? ... which was the wrong choice, as it turned out.

Who did you arrest? Tweedle. I really think Woodsman was just wrong place, wrong time. Which seems to be the story of his life.

Who did you say was the prime suspect? Faith's Boss. Last person she said she was going to see before she died.

Now the crushing weight of waiting for the next episode.

End of Episode, Comics And EVERYTHING spoiler:

Seriously. Comics too.

Especially after that gut punch at the end. Even if I know it's a swerve, still was really a kick to go out on.

kal

I really enjoyed the fight scenes in this both visually and from a game play standpoint. The button prompts flashed by quickly enough in certain areas to make the fights believable and not one sided but not so punishing as to have to replay them over and over again. They were brutal where needed and also well choreographed considering the outcomes of missing or hitting the prompts.

KI never found The Walking Dead quick reaction stuff to be very good so the fact that it has been improved in this is really great.

Lorahalo

This game is gorgeous. So pretty.

Lorahalo

Also did anyone here

Go to Lawrence's place first? I was surprised to see that something like 80% of people went to Toad's first.

Sprout

Lorahalo wrote: »

Also did anyone here

Go to Lawrence's place first? I was surprised to see that something like 80% of people went to Toad's first.

Well, it seemed like what was happening at Toad's was a problem RIGHT NOW. When I first saw Lawrence, I thought "yeah, that guy's been dead a while", so I thought I had made the right choice. Maybe not, though. I'll have to give it another playthrough.

Also, I came out missing a Book of Fables entry. Maybe it's on that other path.

kal

Lorahalo wrote: »

This game is gorgeous. So pretty.

The jaggies for me are pretty terrible. I have aliasing turned on and I really don't remember TWD looking this bad but they are super noticeable. Everything else looks great though.

Sprout wrote: »

Also, I came out missing a Book of Fables entry. Maybe it's on that other path.

Who did you miss?

Bloodsheed

Sprout wrote: »

Lorahalo wrote: »

Also did anyone here

Go to Lawrence's place first? I was surprised to see that something like 80% of people went to Toad's first.

Well, it seemed like what was happening at Toad's was a problem RIGHT NOW. When I first saw Lawrence, I thought "yeah, that guy's been dead a while", so I thought I had made the right choice. Maybe not, though. I'll have to give it another playthrough.

Also, I came out missing a Book of Fables entry. Maybe it's on that other path.

I'm missing one too. I don't know if they fill in order or if the ?s on the page are always in the same place, but it's just the last one that I'm missing.

I have:

Bigby
Snow
Woodsman
Faith
Beauty
Beast
Toad
Collin
Crane
Bufkin
Fabletown
The Farm
Mundies
Glamour
Lawrence
The Tweedles
Holly
Grendel
Bluebeard
Bigby's Mercy

Best guess is the other one is if you rip the arm off, since I didn't.

kal

Bloodsheed wrote: »

Sprout wrote: »

Lorahalo wrote: »

Also did anyone here

Go to Lawrence's place first? I was surprised to see that something like 80% of people went to Toad's first.

Well, it seemed like what was happening at Toad's was a problem RIGHT NOW. When I first saw Lawrence, I thought "yeah, that guy's been dead a while", so I thought I had made the right choice. Maybe not, though. I'll have to give it another playthrough.

Also, I came out missing a Book of Fables entry. Maybe it's on that other path.

I'm missing one too. I don't know if they fill in order or if the ?s on the page are always in the same place, but it's just the last one that I'm missing.

I have:

Bigby
Snow
Woodsman
Faith
Beauty
Beast
Toad
Collin
Crane
Bufkin
Fabletown
The Farm
Mundies
Glamour
Lawrence
The Tweedles
Holly
Grendel
Bluebeard
Bigby's Mercy

Best guess is the other one is if you rip the arm off, since I didn't.

Your guess is correct. I just looked it up.

The_Scarab

Anyone know roughly how long it will be until the next episode? I wasn't there for the Walking Dead mid-game, I picked them all up at the end as one package. How long was that, between instalments?

Lorahalo

About 2 months per episode, if I remember correctly.

vegeta_666

The_Scarab wrote: »

Anyone know roughly how long it will be until the next episode? I wasn't there for the Walking Dead mid-game, I picked them all up at the end as one package. How long was that, between instalments?

The Walking Dead was listed as bi-monthly (but it ended up being more monthly at the end) and this is listed as monthly so it shouldn't be too long between installments! I can see it sticking to a one a month schedule.

The_Scarab

Oh that's fantastic news. For some reason I had in my head around 6-7 months. I honestly can't remember the Walking Dead releases while they were happening. I'll definitely pick this up right now then, instead of waiting until the very end.

Wyborn

Holy shit, this was fantastic. Lots of noir, lots of hints about how this is going to all be tied together, good acting for everyone, the art was gorgeous and the action was intense

This is a really strong start, and Bigby is just fantastic

Only thing is

Bigby noted that the gun hadn't been fired in a week - was there a way to call Dee out on that? I think I missed it

Lorahalo

I had a bit of a laugh during the opening credits. Someone (I think it was the Art Director?) is named David Bogan. If you don't know, a bogan is basically an Australian redneck.

kal

Wyborn wrote: »

Holy shit, this was fantastic. Lots of noir, lots of hints about how this is going to all be tied together, good acting for everyone, the art was gorgeous and the action was intense

This is a really strong start, and Bigby is just fantastic

Only thing is

Bigby noted that the gun hadn't been fired in a week - was there a way to call Dee out on that? I think I missed it

Not that I noticed. I have a feeling that will come up in episode 2 if you took that certain person into custody.

Wyborn

Boy did I ever!

And so did everyone else apparently

Glal

I dig that you could see some of your choices reflected in the preview for the next episode.

kal

Wyborn wrote: »

Boy did I ever!

And so did everyone else apparently

Yeah much like TWD I was pretty much in line with the group as far as choices went except for

Not saying a word to Beast about Beauty and letting the elevator door shut in his face. I think I was in like the 5 percent range on that one.

I found myself using the no dialog option a lot more in just the first episode than I did in the whole TWD.

Wyborn

Yeah, silence feels way more natural from Bigby than it did from Lee.

As to that:

I told Beast the truth, and I think that put me in the 7% range. Most people just seemed to go along with what Beauty said! I found that a little odd

But then I know Beauty's deal more than other people

Glal

I just told them both I wanted no part of it. Which put me in low, low percentages.

Fireflash

I only ended up paying attention to walking dead at a time when all episodes were released. I liked that I was able to go through the whole story in a few sittings within two weeks. I kinda want to play this now, but I think I'll try to wait so that I don't have to wait months between each episode.

Wyborn

It's being released monthly, I think?

Dragkonias

Hmm...only five bucks? Cheaper than I thought it would be. Was interested in this already but I'll go ahead and buy it right up.

Glal

That's the cost for a single episode, mind, not the full game.

Personally I quite like TellTale's episodic model, they're good at breaking the chapters at points where I want more, but got enough to be satisfied.
Probably the only developer where episodic doesn't just mean "yeeeeah, we'll release the next bit at some point honest".

Dragkonias

I already know that.

But I thought the WD a bit more expensive but I ma be wrong.

Wyborn

I went ahead and bought the entire season

Dragkonias

I will say the load times and occassional stuttering are a bit distracting.

SoundsPlush

Wyborn wrote: »

It's being released monthly, I think?

Walking Dead was supposed to be released monthly, as well.

Wyborn

I thought TWD was bi-monthly

Not that I would know, I guess, since I didn't keep up with it

The_Scarab

Glal wrote: »

That's the cost for a single episode, mind, not the full game.

Personally I quite like TellTale's episodic model, they're good at breaking the chapters at points where I want more, but got enough to be satisfied.
Probably the only developer where episodic doesn't just mean "yeeeeah, we'll release the next bit at some point honest".

The 'on the next episode' coda is the real masterstroke because it builds a connection with the next instalment. It was so massively effective in The Walking Dead episodes.