After years of many different game series, Telltale Games finally hit the big time with their adaptation of The Walking Dead. By crafting a fantastic story and cast of characters, the game won many game of the year awards along the way. With everyone hotly anticipating the second season of The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us flew under the radar for many people. Based on the line of graphical novels titled Fables, The Wolf Among Us actually serves as a prequel and is meant to fit into the continuity of the series.
Back in October, we saw the release of the first episode of The Wolf Among Us and it captured my attention right away and has never let up in the time since. Sadly, we have now reached the conclusion with The Wolf Among Us: Episode 5 – Cry Wolf. As a result, we will be reviewing that episode, as well as referencing the previous four. So if you haven’t played them, especially the first four episodes, I highly recommend doing so before reading further due to the likelihood of multiple spoilers.
When we last left our protagonist Bigby Wolf, sheriff of Fabletown, he was in quite the predicament as he seemingly cracked the case finally and had found the enigmatic Crooked Man. The last episode ended with a bang as he found him and as a result, this episode ramps up the action very quickly. The smooth talking Crooked Man tries to plead his case, with Bigby able to make a few different major decisions on how to go about trying to take him in to Snow White.
This leads to a major showdown of epic proportions where Bigby squares off against the likes of Jersey Devil, Tweedledee, Bloody Mary, and Georgie Porgie. The action in this scene is fantastic, especially for a game like this with many different quick time events, which were some of the best seen in the series thus far.
This is followed by the game’s first true chase sequence, which is also done through a sequence of moving the analog stick. This adds a lot more tension to the game and allows you to see the true power of Bigby Wolf as he is continuing his transformation. The following sections involving Georgie Porgie and Bloody Mary, at least on my playthrough, kept up the intensity and were downright heartbreaking at times. The Wolf Among Us has been very good at pulling the heart strings, perhaps not to the level of The Walking Dead, but still very efficiently.
The final portions of the game are drawn out a bit, but in a good way as you must almost play attorney to try and convict the Crooked Man, when facing his peers in Fabletown. It’s a little hard to truly distinguish how much of an impact your decisions have on this portion without replaying it multiple times, but the final decision you must make will certainly shape any potential future seasons without a doubt.
Similarly to the last couple episodes, Episode 5 of The Wolf Among Us did not feature too much in the way of investigation. Most actual walking segments were just simple move to the point and open the door and such instead of more in depth snooping. While this does detract a little from the experience, the story itself has always been the central element of The Wolf Among Us and that is the most important part of a chapter that is built as a conclusion to a season long mystery.
the incredibly deep cast of characters are really what help to pull this game together
Along with the story, the incredibly deep cast of characters are really what help to pull this game together, especially in this final chapter. Before the episode was over, we got the chance to see most every character that we’ve come across in the previous four episodes thus far, the ones that are alive anyways. Many of them get what appear to be conclusive endings, while others leave a lot up to the imagination, that hopefully can be further explored in a future season.
As with the last few episodes, the stuttering was not too much of an issue in the game. The only point where it was really bad was the opening “previously on” segment which showed some of your biggest decisions of the previous four episodes. As a result, it had to process a lot of information, so it was forgivable, especially with no issues of note beyond that. The sound was excellent as always, with the central theme being perfectly used in the most tense moments, which were often this episode.
The length of the The Wolf Among Us: Episode 5 – Cry WOlf was mostly on par with the last few episodes of the series. It wasn’t overly long but also wasn’t too short, as it was paced well enough to prevent feeling like it was over way too fast, which was the case with Episode 2. Cry Wolf spans a few major settings, with the action starting right out of the gate and continuing through the nearly hour and a half episode.
While The Wolf Among Us has had some high quality chapters, The Wolf Among Us: Episode 5 – Cry Wolf is arguably the best of the bunch. It takes all of the storylines we’ve been introduced to thus far and intertwines them together while wrapping up most every one of them. The entire episode is satisfying from beginning to end and Telltale was clearly on top of their game with their conclusion to this noir mystery.
At this point, we have no idea whether or not The Wolf Among Us will receive a second season, but based on the cliffhanger ending, which will make your mind race, and how well received it was, the chances are at least pretty solid. The Wolf Among Us was easily one of my favorite games of 2014 and I sincerely hope we get a chance to see more in this universe, as it has almost infinite potential.
