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Welcome all to The Wolf Among Us community playthrough.

Made by Telltale games at probably the height of their power, TWAU was released episodically in 2013 – 2014, so unbelievably it’s 10 years old.

I say unbelievably because it certainly doesn’t look 10 years old to me. The stylised artwork, and indeed the whole game, is based on the ‘Fables’ comic book series by Bill Willingham. I have never read any of the comics myself, but I understand that this game is set 20 years or so before the events of the comic books.

Set in the 1980’s, the premise of ‘Fables’ is that all the fairytale characters you can think of are living in New York, disguised as normal mundane people (“mundies”) like you and me, by use of a magic potion called ‘Glamour’.

But if you’re expecting this to be a cutesy game with Disney princesses, wise cracking cartoony sidekicks and Thumper the rabbit running merrily about you’re going to be in for a shock.

In the gritty, noir-like world of this game the fairytale characters have had to adapt to life in mostly pretty squalid conditions and are themselves largely changed into hard nosed, street smart characters trying to scrape by. And some are doing better than others.

It’s only fair to point out upfront that, despite the fairy tale element, this is not a game for young children. The characters swear, they may be alcoholic, or abusive and themes like prostitution and control are in play too.

I think this balance between the fairy tale and the gritty and dark tone of this game is part of what makes it so fascinating. Add that together with the look and sound of the game, and you’ve got something pretty special here.

THIS SECTION IS AIMED AT ANYONE WHO HASN’T PLAYED A TTG GAME BEFORE BUT IF YOU’D RATHER GO INTO THIS GAME COMPLETELY BLIND THEN IGNORE THIS AND SKIP TO THE NEXT POST.

Gameplay

This is a telltale game, and if you haven’t played one before it is definitely not a traditional adventure game. You play as Bigby Wolf, the sheriff of the Fabletown, and while you will be investigating, looking for clues and questioning people, this is a ‘choice’ game, which means a few things you might want to set your expectations with before you start:

First there are a lot of cutscenes which contain timed choices you have to make, either in response to other characters or events. As always with Telltale, silence is an option and if you haven’t chosen when the timer runs out, then silence is what you go with.

Don’t misunderstand me, it isn’t all cutscenes and choices, there is free movement around and investigation as well, but in a more limited fashion than in a ‘traditional’ AG.

Second, and there’s no getting away from this, there are Quick Time Events (QTEs) also during the cutscenes. It will largely be obvious when they are coming, and you can go again if things don’t work out, but you will need to be ready to click (or tap if you’re on phone/tablet) sometimes.

Third, this game is easier to start playing than it is to stop and I mean that literally! It autosaves for you and there is no separate save mechanic, but if you are in the middle of a cutscene bit, although the game can easily be paused, if you exit the game at that point you’ll be back to the last autosave next time you load it up again.

Finally, don’t let all the above put you off! As I have said, it is not a traditional adventure game and the gameplay might take a little getting used to for some, but somehow it fits the style of the game really well. If you’ve played TTG games before you’ll know what I mean. And the game is really worth it.

How are we doing all this then?

As mentioned before, the game splits up naturally into 5 different episodes. Each episode itself divides into 5 or 6 chapters, and what happens in those chapters can vary depending on the choices you make.

Each whole episode is probably about 2 hours or so of gameplay, so we will try and go at a pace of about one episode a week, although it’s entirely possible we’ll combine ep 4 & 5 into one.

We’ll kick off section 1 in the next couple of days when we’ve all checked in.

In the meantime, let’s get the game installed and ready. Please do check in and let us know you’re ready to go. It would be great if you could say whether you’ve played TWAU before or not, and whether you’re familiar with TTG games or not. And what you thought of them (although no spoilers please obvs.)

If you’re feeling impatient, why not play through the first chapter of the first episode (which serves as an introduction) to get a feel for things. You’ll know when you have finished the first chapter because you’ll see “Episode 1: Faith” and find yourself outside a building surrounded by some railings.

Let’s get on and meet the Sheriff of Fabletown!

Nice intro, ID!

The first Telltale game I played was Bone, and I enjoyed it very much. It felt like a fairytale brought to the screen. I also played some episodes of Sam & Max, which were very funny, but I never really got around to liking the episodic format. I’ve always preferred the freedom and large areas of locations that you can explore at once, reminiscent of the Golden Age. Naturally, being a huge Monkey Island fan, I played all episodes of Tales of Monkey Island.

As a fan of Back to the Future, I also played that one. However, it marked a shift in philosophy for Telltale games towards more of an “interactive movie” format, culminating in The Walking Dead. It won Aggies in both Editors’ and Readers’ choice, but as I recall, after that, none of the Telltale games were considered eligible for Aggies due to a stripped-down gameplay in favor of a story concept.

Now, The Wolf Among Us and its fairytale basis sound fun, and I might give it a chance. Who knows? I’ve said before that I would never taste aspics, which my mom always loved to prepare, and now… I’m still not eating aspics, but I’m aware that things can change as you get older, and I might just like this game (though I still wish they were a bit more puzzle-oriented). I’ve also noticed that The Wolf Among Us 2 is set to be released this year.

Great to be playing this wonderful game as a CPT. It’s been years since I last played it. Bigby! Maybe I’ll even find new scenes, you never know.

I have installed TWAU and finished the first chapter. Had to get used to the QTEs again, but if I can do them anybody can. I still remember how I felt about the very first QTE 10 years ago, so let me reassure people who are new to TWAU: Fables can take an enormous amount of physical damage and they heal much faster than us mundies.

I haven’t played many TellTale games. Sam and Max, Puzzle Agent 1 + 2, Tales of Monkey Island (unfinished) and Tales from the Borderlands.

PS: The Sam and Max series was good. I recently replayed both Puzzle Agent games, they’re a nice snack in between meals and I enjoyed Tales from the Borderlands at first but got bored after a while. Did finish it though.

Karlok - 16 January 2024 06:02 AM

I haven’t played many TellTale games. Sam and Max, Puzzle Agent 1 + 2, Tales of Monkey Island (unfinished) and Tales from the Borderlands.

Oh yeah, Puzzle Agent, I own both games - If I’m not mistaken, that might be the only “universe” and original character created from the scratch by Telltale. I forgot to mention that I also played Wallace and Gromit, I liked the atmosphere in that one.

Game installed and working fine with translation into Spanish. I have experience with TellTale games so no problem with QTE and decissions.

Very good introduction, Intense Degree. I can’t wait to play Section One!

Game installed. Sorry for the delay. Because of weather, -11F as I walked my dog this morning, there have been several internet outages in our area.

As I said I have not played the game before, or any Telltale games for that matter, so I am unfamiliar with the mechanics. Are there “wrong choices/” I.e. ones that can result in a dead end? For those of us who have not played this or other Telltale games before, maybe a little handholding is in order until we are familiar with everything?

Should we start the game and play until “X” happens to insure we are correctly installed? (BTW I had two download errors during the download, but a restart picked up where they left off. Still took 20 minutes. Also, game went on sale on GOG recently, so instead of $14.99 it’s now selling for $5.99.)

No dead ends, but the “slightly different dialogue” part is not true. Choices may change the story, including the choice where to go first.

Yep, as others have said, no dead ends, but differences. Some tiny, some much bigger.

rtrooney - 16 January 2024 01:32 PM

Should we start the game and play until “X” happens to insure we are correctly installed? (BTW I had two download errors during the download, but a restart picked up where they left off. Still took 20 minutes. Also, game went on sale on GOG recently, so instead of $14.99 it’s now selling for $5.99.)

Intense Degree - 15 January 2024 04:15 PM

If you’re feeling impatient, why not play through the first chapter of the first episode (which serves as an introduction) to get a feel for things. You’ll know when you have finished the first chapter because you’ll see “Episode 1: Faith” and find yourself outside a building surrounded by some railings.