At E3 2011, Telltale announced its comic collaboration for their next two projects. The first is from Skybound Entertainment’s Comics with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. The other is from DC Vertigo Entertainment, Bill Willingham’s Fables, under the name of its protagonist, Sheriff Bigby Wolf.
Thus, in The Wolf Among Us, released in 2013, players would soon fall in love with the world surrounding fairytale creatures adapting to the human world. With Season 2 closing in to release this year with the revival of Telltale Games, let’s look at what you should know about Fables’ lore and how Season 1 came to be.
There’s a Wolf Among Us
The Wolf Among Us follows the story of Fabletown’s sheriff, Bigby Wolf, his partner in crime, Snow White, and the mythical Fables, who live in 1986 New York. The Fables were once part of King Cole’s Kingdom in the Homelands until the rise of the Adversary. Many lives were lost to this dark entity, forcing King Cole to move his loyal subjects to the Human World, or in Fable’s terms, Mundies.
As we encounter these Fables, you may notice that characters like Bigby, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast are not in their animal forms. Yet we see a few, like Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows and the Three Little Pigs, Collin, one of in their natural state.
According to Fabletown Law, every mythical creature needs Glamour, a lifetime disguised spell that alters a creature’s appearance to look human. Any mythical creature seen without Glamour will be taken to the countryside Fable facility called The Farm, where Fables can be themselves without needing to be human. Many end up here because Glamour is described as a highly concentrated spell that justifies the high price.
Fables can find Bigby and Snow at the Woodland Luxury Apartment or The Woodlands for short. Fables also visit the apartment to attend business with the mayor and purchase Glamour. They have a basement floor for trials and body examinations for murder Fables to avoid the Mundy public. With enough evidence, a person can be executed in the Witching Well or placed under a sentence.
The Wolf Among Us Gameplay
We play as Sheriff Bigby Wolf. As sheriff, it’s our job to take care of the Fables around New York with whatever problem needs resolving. The gameplay mixes three past Telltale titles: Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 1, and Law & Order Legacies.
The main aspect of The Wolf Among Us is investigating crime scenes. You investigate a series of murders that have taken place around New York. The point-and-click gameplay is for clue-gathering and interrogating witnesses and possible suspects. Some of your items will become useful if you hold onto them long for their other purposes.
Take the cash in Bigby’s pocket, for example. You could use it to pay a prostitute since her client, the Woodsman, did not have any for her. If you hold onto it near the end of Episode 1, you can use it to pay the Bartender.
The quick-time events have returned for the action sequences. This time, it’s more polished and faster than Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 1. If you’re playing the game on a PC, you may not have enough time to react during each movement and button prompt on the screen. I suggest playing The Wolf Among Us on a controller to go through these scenes in a breeze.
And finally, you have the power of choice that could give you consequences and benefits on your path as Bigby. In this story, Bigby wants to make amends since he’s known as the Big Bad Wolf in the Fables’ world. You, the player, can help him decide what can make him improve to be a good cop or become the monster everyone sees despite him looking and acting human.
The Wolf Among Us Story Adaptation and World-Building
The game uses almost every element from the DC Vertigo Fables‘ first 48 issues. Similar to The Walking Dead: Season 1, the comics are used as a blueprint to develop another survivor story and are still part of the The Walking Dead universe.
With The Wolf Among Us, the writers made minor changes from the first 48 issues. These changes helped the decision-making gameplay and told an altered version of Fables’ murder mystery. The main change is the fate of the Fables. There are already established deaths in the comics, so adjusting the timing and cause for them did Telltale a favor while preserving most of the original story.
The world-building is incredible through the Fable community itself. The characters keep the players guessing what folklore they will meet and how they adapt to New York since leaving the Fables’ world. Aside from Bigby, you also have Fables who want to assist their community, like Colin’s brother, Dr. Swineheart, who gives medical treatment. Other Fables are struggling, wanting to relive their glory days before the Adversary attacked.
The neo-noir detective setting is colored in hues of pink, purple, and blue at night, making New York pop. The soundtrack by Telltale’s head composer, Jared Emerson-Johnson, makes this episodic series come together using a synthesizer that fits the 80s era. My favorite track to this day is Bigby’s Place, perfect for rainy weather and gives me peace as I isolate myself in my bedroom.
An Error in The Wolf Among Us
One major reason that prevents players from playing or returning to The Wolf Among Us is the game’s dialogue and asset load-outs. When I played this game on the Xbox One in 2014, I experienced these errors mid-way in Episode 1 and the beginning of Episode 3. It doesn’t matter what console you play this game as it came back to me with a vengeance in the Steam version.
The choices on the screen are replaced with an error message “<This Choice is Blank!>”. During scenes, the error is defaulted to the Silent option. It will also prevent the player from moving the character model, forcing them to rotate Bigby’s character model in one spot. On rare occasions, you may phase through objects and characters, like getting stuck in the mayor’s desk.
To fix this, press START on your controller or ESC on your keyboard to access the menu. Return to the Main Menu, then exit the game if you are playing on a PC or turn off the console you are playing it on. Finally, boot up The Wolf Among Us and play the affected chapter act you were on. The game should now return to normal.
The Wolf Among Us 2: Five Years of Development Hell
On July 19th, 2017, Telltale announced their development on Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season to finish Clementine’s story. Along with Clementine’s ending is Bigby’s next chapter for The Wolf Among Us: Season 2. Fans were excited about both of these entries until they saw concerning signs of Telltale terminating their employees in large numbers in the late summer of August 2018.
Their worries became a real nightmare the following month, on September 18th, when the studio shut down. While Skybound Entertainment and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman rescuedory Clementine’s st, Bigby ended up in development hell for the next five years.
We would not see anything relevant about The Wolf Among Us: Season 2 until the 2022 Game Awards broadcast. When I saw this trailer, my jaw dropped till it popped; watching Bigby whooping ass on the Scarecrow and the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz at a motel was not on my bingo card. Fans of Season 1 were losing their minds seeing the return of Telltale Games at full force.
So, how exactly did Telltale return? After the studio shut down, a handful of game developers formed LCG Entertainment, Telltale’s current studio operator. The main two are Galaxy Pest Control CEO Jamie Ottilie and Road Dawg Games Brian Waddler. Ottilie becomes Telltale’s new leader, while Waddler is the chief revenue officer.
Other partners included Heavy Iron Studios CEO Lyle Hall, Athlon Games Inc., and Fox-in-a-Box CEO Tobias Sjögren. Ottilie told the Venture Beat why these developers came together to preserve Telltale:
“All of us were big fans of the games Telltale created, as we strongly believed in games as a storytelling medium and nobody did it better.”
LCG Entertainment began operations on December 27, 2018, gathering the Telltale game library for around six months. Ottilier and Waddler also allowed former Telltale employees to be rehired under their new leadership.
During the acquisition, Telltale’s The Walking Dead would be partially owned under Skybound Entertainment while assisting in compiling all four seasons for the definitive edition. Skunkape already owns the rights to Telltale Sam & Max Trilogy as their original developers and series creator, Steve Purcell, wanted to make remasters for modern gaming consoles.
Should You Play Season 1 before Season 2?
Absolutely. The Wolf Among Us’ narrative may not be for everyone, but depending on your choices, you will encounter a cliffhanger ending. The game is worth the experience of seeing DC Vertigo’s Fables in a 3D-animated visual novel. Investigations are satisfying for those who need a detective game with a good mystery. And the quick-time events are pretty fun if you love fighting mythical creatures.
Play it to support Telltale Games as Season 2 is their long-time awaited dream, and celebrate the return of Bigby Wolf. The Wolf Among Us is available on Google Play, Apple Store, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam.
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