The Wolf Among Us Episode 1: Faith Review

by Illusivebroker on Apr 11th, 2014

 

The Wolf Among Us Episode 1: Faith Review

 

Note that I’m reviewing this game on Xbox 360

There’s been no doubt how successful Telltale’s The Walking Dead has been over the course of 2012. But with the first season of the game over with Telltale saw fit to bring out a new title with a much more distinct theme to it. This title is The Wolf Among Us; a brand new episodic point and click game series which holds many enjoyable and interesting concepts and elements to it.

The Wolf Among Us takes place in a fictional world in which the fairy tale characters from our childhood are real and far away from their original roots. You play as Sheriff Bigby Wolf; formally known as The Big Bad Wolf. He along with a good amount of fables have moved into a district of New York City called Fabletown. It’s here the sheriff works night and day to keep the peace in a society of fairy tale character which have become much darker and surpassed their original roles. No longer hunting down the three little pigs or little red riding hood; Sheriff Bigby is now the protector of the fables. While characters like Toad from The Wind and the Willows have been forced to adjust to their new lifes and have gained a certain distaste towards the Sherriff and the law of Fabletown. As many fables aren’t human and live within a human populated city, each fable is required to buy and enchant themselves with Glamours. These enchantments make fables appear human while allowing them to change form at will.

The story and setting for The Wolf Among Us is lined with the original Fables comic books, published by DC and written by Bill Willingham. The game series itself serves as a prequel to the comic books and basis itself in the dark, noire style tone of the comics. The tone and concepts that the game itself presents is incredibly interesting as it offers a simple, child-friendly concepts and is pushes it into a dark and unfriendly world which gives greater perspective onto the stories of these characters and their worlds.  Being the first episode in the series; Faith introduces you to the world and it’s the mystery that it provides. In the midst of keeping fables in line, a grisly murder occurs right on the doorsteps of the Woodlands. Trying to track down the killer, it’s up to Bigby and Snow White to try and track down clues to the murder with the help of some other fables along the way. The storyline for this episode holds some serious mystery to it and each turn in the story holds some engaging scenes and characters.

Gameplay follows the regular format of most of the Telltale games but it now has some much more enhanced and newer elements that try to add to the formula. Dialogue options during conversations with characters are controlled with the A, B, Y, X buttons on the controller, while movement is controlled using an analogue stick. Action sequences offer some newer ways to interact when compared to previous IP’s from Telltale. Circular cursors are established with both RT and LT prompts in order to perform actions like punching or pushing; while other button prompts help to avoid obstacles in the given sequence.

Presentation is where the game hits a wide array of marks, as the game has its own unique concepts and themes that it works off. The cell shaded graphics fits rather oddly with the tone and sound that the game try to establish throughout the episode. The game is full of a dark, palate of colours which only pushes that Noire feel even further. The soundtrack for the game is utterly gorgeous and again feels like a perfect piece that fits into this dark, engaging work of art. Each scene is graced with its respective tone and music, it can make you feel the depression, strain or tension of the scene in such strong ways. Although it often at times suffers from poor frame rate and lag issues which can break the immersion of the scene you’re in, it’s a much more frequent matter on console versions than on PC.

Overall the game is a testament to the strong and capable people at Telltale Games. The Wolf Among Us shows that it can stand on its own beyond the shadow of The Walking Dead Game. With dark and immersive storytelling and engaging dialogue and options The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 howls with pride in the marvel of storytelling and gameplay it provides.

Rating: 5/5

Categories: Reviews