The Wolf Among Us: Season 1
The full season of The Wolf Among Us tells a story worthy of better design.
Idon’t like hitting the ‘Q’ key very quickly to do things. In The Wolf Among Us, abusing this one button—to win a fight, to transform into a wolf, to lift a car—ties the violence of sheriff Bigby Wolf to the strain on my finger. That interactive connection is a reason to include button mashing and quick time events, but it’s not a great solution. I enjoyed all five episodes of The Wolf Among Us— a lot—but I’m disappointed that it holds onto some of the conventions established in The Walking Dead.
Familiar story
Like that other dilemma-laden adventure from Telltale, The Wolf Among Us adapts a graphic novel series into interactive episodes, where dialogue choices make up most of the decision-making. Telltale tells a great story, and Fables makes for a fantastically odd cast and premise: Sheriff Bigby Wolf, also known as The Big Bad Wolf, struggles to protect refugee fairytale characters in a magically-disguised New York slum.
The Wolf Among Us is great for its source material and its writing, acting, character design, and ethical challenges—the same reasons The Walking Dead is great—but Telltale still struggles to express action, and can’t always maintain the illusion of meaningful choice.
Most disappointing is that the response to my actions sometimes feels incongruous. At one point, for instance, I chose to interrogate a suspect by the book, and was scolded for another character’s violence. A single line of dialogue in the final episode cleared my name, but it didn’t really seem to make a difference. I’m not concerned with how much my choices ‘really’ mean—I accept that Telltale isn’t really building hundreds of unique branches—but the illusion must be maintained so I don’t feel helpless.
When my choices do feel meaningful, The Wolf Among Us is brilliant. And, as long as it’s part of the theme and not because the characters have limited dialogue, it’s also brilliant when choices don’t feel meaningful. Like any good noir story, The Wolf Among Us can’t be solved. The finale satisfyingly resolves the plot, but there is no right choice and there is no winning.
The best conflict is between order and compassion, which is where Telltale really finds the ethical gray area it loves so much. Do you send a struggling father and his son to ‘the farm’ because they can’t afford the magic which keeps the Fables disguised among humans? What if Snow, the only person you trust, tells you it’s necessary to keep everyone else safe?
Those challenges, and the quality of the characters and writing that make them matter, are where Telltale aces The Wolf Among Us. It ends with a polite nudge to “continue the story” with the Fables graphic novels, and I’ll take its advice. Telltale got me invested and I want more—I even fear a little that the comics will disappoint me, because it won’t be my Bigby in the story.
I wish my choices in this series had more meaning, and I think interactivity can be better than quick time events, but The Wolf Among Us still feels like something I lived more than something I watched.