There hasn’t been an official release date for Telltale’s upcoming title The Wolf Among Us but recently on their twitter account they hinted at announcing an October release date soon. When I spoke to co-producer Chris Schroyer at PAX Prime a few weeks ago he said nothing was nailed down but they would love the game to drop in time to see some Wolf costumes at Halloween. Reading between the lines, it sure sounds like it’ll be coming in early October.
I was a huge fan of Wolf’s predecessor The Walking Dead that scooped up a bunch of Game of the Year accolades and launched the small studio into an even brighter gaming spotlight. With a great father figure/daughter relationship and a narrative that ruthlessly tore at the heartstrings, The Walking Dead proved that storyline can indeed trump fancy mechanics and still result in a great game. Telltale proved they know how to write a great story that puts the player right inside the character, and the choice-based narrative in difficult do-or-die situations had me questioning my own humanity at times. During good old PAX Prime in late August I got my hands on a 15-minute demo of The Wolf Among Us and I can now honestly say that I cannot wait for October to roll around.
The Wolf Among Us is based off of Bill Willingham’s Fables comic series that chronicles the dark side of fairytales and their struggle to fit in and stay hidden in a mid 80’s New York. Although I’m not familiar with the source material I am a huge fan of fairytales and reincarnations of well known stories, and a modern-fairytale mini-series from the early 00’s called The 10th Kingdom was one of my favourite things to watch as a kid. As an adult now I am stoked to have a game based off of stories I’ve loved since my childhood.
The Wolf Among Us has the same cel-shaded visual style as The Walking Dead, but it adds some polish to give a sharper, cleaner edge. The colours pop but maintain a dark, gritty feel that adds great atmosphere. The story takes place in the mid 80’s in New York where fairy tale characters work to stay hidden. The main character, Bigby Wolf, the sheriff of Fabletown, works to keep everyone in line and make sure they stay hidden.
I don’t want to give away too many details but the playthrough started when Bigby gets a call about a disturbance at a rundown apartment complex and he ends up having to throw down with the Woodsman who has gotten out of line. The two have a history (“I’m the one who cut open your belly and saved Red Riding Hood!”) and the ensuing fight showed off the improved choice system and more immersive action compared to The Walking Dead, giving me several options as to where I could smash Woody’s head into. Schroyer says players will still follow a basic pre-determined storyline but there will be more impactful decisions that will alter the course of the story more than what we saw in The Walking Dead.
The dialogue and character interactions are great and I’m really looking forward to how they will interpret the different fairytales. The demo introduced Mr. Toad, a wife-beating sweatpant wearing slumlord with a foul-mouthed Cockney accent, and although the Woodsman and Bigby are relatively normal humans I’m intrigued to see the personalities of some of the more fantastical people/creatures.
Telltale has said the game will be released in the same episodic structure as the The Walking Dead and plans for Season 2 are underway if everything goes well. It will be a digital download title with no set plans to release a physical copy collection similar to that zombie filled game they released earlier.
It’s definitely a title worth checking out, even if you’re unfamiliar with the Fables series. The line ups at the PAX booth were over 4 hours long everyday and the twitter buzz has been growing steadily since then. Among the big releases expected over the next few months this one definitely tops my list as one of my most anticipated titles that I can’t wait to get my hands on again.
