[Editor’s Note: Be warned that this review is for episode two of The Wolf Among Us, and while spoilers for episode one will be avoided as much as possible, they are an inevitability in a review such as this. If you want to know about Episode One, then check out our review.]
Four months is a long time to wait, akin to waiting for an American TV show’s mid-season break to end; but for The Wolf Among Us, the mid-season break came after just one episode: an episode which got a lot of people hooked into buying the season pass if they hadn’t already. That’s a big problem for this game: expecting people to wait this long for the next episode really isn’t good enough, and Telltale will have worn out some of the good will they’ve built up with the delay between these two installments. Regardless, those four months are up now and they have finally given us Episode Two of their take on the Fables comic books.
Like many TV shows, especially procedural dramas, the opening is full of bombast and excitement to get you hooked - but then the characters have to get down to the nitty gritty and the action calms down. That’s the case with Episode Two. Bigby spends much of his time investigating and interrogating, with little time spent on action.
The shocking events of the first episode are thankfully covered in a “previously on” catch-up when you start the game, giving you a good reminder of not only the story, but also the choices you made when playing the game. Your choices are important, as one of the first major interrogation sequences will have a completely different suspect strapped to the chair in front of you - depending on what you did in the Trip Trap bar in the previous episode. That interrogation sequence is seemingly longer than any in the previous episode, which is something to get used to as a lot of episode two is based on questioning shady characters about their dodgy dealings in the increasingly dark world of Fabletown.
Where Episode One set up Bigby as a detective-type character with an anger management issue, episode two puts you in several situations where you need to decide how to handle that problem. Do you rough up suspects or take the softly-softly approach? Different approaches may have different results and will change the way other characters feel about Bigby. During a sequence at Georgie Porgie’s “Pudding and Pie” strip bar, Bigby has a multitude of opportunities to take out his frustrations on the despicable and deplorable Georgie and his seedy establishment. Georgie is abusive to his dancers, treats people like scum and really seems to embrace the “kiss the girls and make them cry” aspect of the nursery rhyme from which he comes. How do you treat someone like that? Do you smash up the stereo? The bar? The neon lights? Or, do you keep your calm and hope that the threat alone will be enough to extract the information you need? The options are there, but once again the game tests your own morality as you play along. It wants to know: will you rise above these horrible characters? Or will you dish your own brand of vigilante justice on them?
At the other end of the scale though is Bigby’s questioning of TJ - Toad Junior; the small, nervous amphibian boy who witnessed a horrible and violent crime in the previous episode. TJ is skittish, and responds poorly to aggressive behavior - so the big bad wolf needs to be muzzled to get the most out of this conversation. The contrast between the questioning of TJ and the more aggressive ones of the first suspect and Georgie Porgie show us that Bigby is much more than just a violent beast but when the violence comes out, he can be as vicious as they come.
There are fewer action sequences in this episode, with just one relatively short QTE fight sequence to get through. Considering how the button recognition still seems to be a little off, that may be just as well. The QTE moments, along with the continuing issue over lagging video, are problems that really do drag things down in Telltale Games titles. They’ve been there since the beginning, so their continued presence - despite much criticism - baffles as much as it grates.
These technical difficulties mean you have to work a little to love the game, putting up with these noticeable flaws to really get to the meat of the matter. If these issues are still around at the end of the series, it may make some people think twice about ordering their season pass of Telltale Games’ two next big franchises: Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands, both due for release in 2014.
If you can put up with the technical problems, you’ll be rewarded with a phenomenally written title which is growing and changing in a positive direction. Where the first episode was a noir-style detective story, this has become something darker: more depraved, and yet also more heartfelt. The action has been replaced with character development. Bigby’s growth into something more than a beast is evident in Episode Two. Ichabod Crane shows a range beyond “creepy annoying boss”. Beauty and Beast’s love for each other is clearly presented with both shown to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep the other one happy, although Beast’s insecurities also burst out of him too. It’s a tale that really has gotten its claws into me now and I’m genuinely hooked. I can’t wait to see what happens next; I just hope I don’t have to wait another four months for it.
