The Wolf Among Us - Review

Are you afraid of the big bad wolf? A review of The Wolf Among Us. 

If you hear about Telltale, the chances are your first thought might be of they’re The Walking Dead games, and for good reason – they’re excellent. In my opinion though, The Wolf Among Us is the best game Telltale ever made.

I love a fairytale, especially a dark one. Sure, Disney is fun – I’ve even been to Disneyland Paris a couple of times, so I can’t say I’m not a fan of their whimsical retellings – but a good, dark fairytale or folklore is something I just love, and The Wolf Among Us is just that. Blending Noir fiction with fairytales isn’t something you see every day, but this game does it superbly.

You are Bigsby Wolf, who you might know as The Big Bad Wolf, and you’re the Sherriff of Fabletown, where fairytale creatures have taken sanctuary, in New York. Working for Snow White, your main responsibilities include making sure the magical inhabitants of Fabletown keep their identities secret from everyday people by using glamour, looking into potential issues and crimes amongst the fairytale citizens, and all the usual work you would expect a police officer to carry out.

Throughout the game, you encounter dozens of characters famous from fairy stories and legends. Snow White, Ichabod Crane, Beauty, Beast, Toad, I could go on. There are villains to be found too; Bloody Mary, The Tweedle’s, and the main antagonist, the Crooked Man bring such a dark atmosphere, bringing truly threatening characters to life. Bloody Mary in particular has stayed with me; brutal, viscous and completely sadistic, she is a fantastically terrifying villain to face.

If you’re familiar with Fable, then The Wolf Among Us and the characters within are likely familiar to you. With that being said, this game is also a noir detective story, full of murder, drugs, blackmail and sex. Difficult themes, such as sex work, social inequality and trauma are dealt with throughout. The game looks at social cohesion and justice, governments letting their people down, the struggles of everyday people being ignored. Don’t let the premise of a game based on fairytales fool you – this is a very adult story with an incredibly dark premise, and it’s the darkness which makes it such an irresistible playthrough.

Whilst most of the decisions you make are more about the direction of conversation than anything else, there are some decisions in the game which will have huge consequences. Your actions decide who survives and who dies. The story is fantastic, the world building is immersive, and the writing is brilliant. The comic book’s art style is timeless, and it’ll still look incredible whether you played it when it was first released or now.

It’s perhaps surprising that a chose your own adventure game has one core ending rather than multiple, but don’t let that put you off. Your decisions still matter, they shape your playthrough, and the choices you make can lead to slight variations in the ending, such as who is still by your side once the adventure is done. Your choices do affect your story, and the decisions you make can have consequences for those closest to you.

Whilst this is first and foremost a story game, that’s not so say that there is no action. Whilst you wouldn’t play this for combat, it’s worth noting that the action is exciting and often brutal, bringing added tension to an already brilliant game.

The Wolf Among Us two has been in development for what feels like an eternity, and a lack of updates led fans to speculate that the game was cancelled. In late 2024, Telltale confirmed that the game is still going ahead, despite rumours of budget and other issues halting production. Whilst I’m certainly not holding my breath and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is eventually cancelled, I am holding out hope that this masterpiece of a game will have the much-anticipated sequel one day.

Overall, The Wolf Among is a brilliant game with exceptional writing, a gorgeous art style and an action-packed plot. I absolutely adore this game, and I would argue that it has some of the best story telling of any game ever made. The characters are well rounded with depth, the plot moves at a good pace, the action is fun, and the story is gripping. If you haven’t played this, why not? What are you afraid of?

Are you afraid of the big, bad wolf?

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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