The Wolf Among Us is a multi-platform computer game in the genre of interactive cinema/adventure, developed by the American studio Telltale Games. It is divided into several equal episodes, the first of which – Episode 1: Faith – was released in October 2013. You can play The Wolf Among Us on PC and consoles as well as on mobile platforms (iOS, Android).
The studio Telltale Games has long learned to create episodic games like The Wolf Among Us – one can recall the engaging Sam & Max Save the World with six chapters released between 2006 and 2007. At that time, the company decided not to stop at achieved results, and similar projects continued to emerge: Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead – it’s hard to mention them all. The Wolf Among Us is the flesh and blood of all of the aforementioned titles, although one can clearly note the game's inclination towards The Walking Dead franchise both in gameplay and graphics. Like in “The Walking Dead”, The Wolf Among Us features a unique visual style reminiscent of comics – with easily recognizable bold black lines and outlines.
In The Wolf Among Us, the developers from Telltale Games once again took a foreign game universe as a basis. The game is based on the comic book series Fables, created by Bill Willingham. The setting is New York, specifically the area of Fabletown, where characters from well-known fairy tales live: Snow White, Grendel, Beauty and the Beast, the Woodsman, and many others, including the “big bad wolf” – Bigby Wolf, the main character of The Wolf Among Us. With a dark past (one can recall his aggressive tendencies towards the unfortunate piggies), he is nonetheless trying to redeem himself – now he is, to say the least, the sheriff of Fabletown. However, the residents of the fairy-tale district still regard Bigby with suspicion – his past misdeeds are still fresh in their memories, and the protagonist doesn’t always manage to hide his animalistic nature. But choices are limited, especially considering that mysterious murders start occurring in Fabletown, which can only be investigated by someone with a truly wolf-like intuition.
Like in the case of The Walking Dead, the gameplay of The Wolf Among Us represents interactive cinema, where the player’s influence on the gameplay is limited to a minimal number of actions. However, in particularly important moments, the decisions made can affect the storyline, not only in the current episode but also in all subsequent ones. Essentially, the plot is the main “sweet spot” for which players need to engage with The Wolf Among Us. It's thrilling, intricate, and intriguing – it captures attention and promotes a deep immersion in the game. Of course, not all episodes can boast a brilliant story, but looking at the situation as a whole, a little masterpiece can be seen with the naked eye.