The Wolf Among Us

Episode 1: Faith

Fables have been a part of our culture for a long time.  Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, the Three Pigs, they’ve all been intertwined with much of our childhoods.  What TellTale brings to us is a twisted take on that universe.  Based on a current comic book series, Fables is another episodic point and click action/adventure game to follow-up TellTale’s 2012’s Game of the Year “The Walking Dead”. 

Its leaps and bounds better than The Walking Dead’s similar action sequences.

The story starts with a Star Wars-eque intro scene setting up the world where you are about to inhabit. Detective Bigsby, formally known as The Big Bad Wolf (“I’ll huff and I’ll puff…”), is who you take control over in an artistic version of New York City. 

All the Fable characters had to embrace the “Mundy” world (“Mundy” means regular people, mundane humans) due to an evil presence chasing them out of their home land.  The way characters like Big Bad Wolf and Beast are able to live in the city is due to a drug-like substance called “Glamor”.

Glamor is a magic potion that hides the fables real appearance so they can look like humans. All the other fables unable to pull off the human look, get sent to “a farm” up state. All this is happening in a stylized 80’s noir theme that seeps through your screen with its neon lights, electronic music, and gritty cell shaded environments

The plot point (this is not a spoiler) begins when someone gets murdered.  You, being a detective, are looking for clues about who, with what, and why. For anyone familiar with The Walking Dead, Fables story is just as gripping, but in different ways. 

There are still conversation wheels, where you choose your response within a time limit.  Unlike The Walking Dead, this title features a few scenarios that seemed to lend you more time, and at times no limit at all.. One main aspect of the game is its use of action sequences and how awkward they can be. Trying to aim with a very sensitive cursor over an area and press the correct button within seconds could use a bit more polish.  Although its leaps and bounds better than The Walking Dead‘s similar action sequences.

TellTale has a knack for implementing a jaw-dropping dramatic story with heart-pounding action. This game seems like another milestone for the studio.  As always with their episodic content, the cliffhanger at the end left me begging for more answers. (This inevitably led to me purchasing the season pass). As for now, all we can do is speculate what comes next… until Episode 2. 

@Coatedpolecat