Video Game of the Day is a daily show available on Amazon Alexa devices and here on this website. Each day, we briefly discuss the history of a single game, randomly chosen. If you would like to listen on your daily flash briefing, you can enable Video Game of the Day here: https://amzn.to/2CNx2NJ.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome! My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s Video Game of the Day!
Telltale Games had a fairly infamous rise and fall over the last several years, with their games roller coastering in popularity. From the massively popular Walking Dead to their middling Game of Thrones entry, Telltale was all across the board. In the middle of their run, though, was a game based on a relatively unknown franchise that has become one of their most popular with fans. Today, let’s talk about that game based on the Fables comics. Today’s game is The Wolf Among Us, developed by Telltale Games and released on… pretty much everything in 2013. Please be aware this game is quite mature and this description may contain some content not super great for children but I’ll try and be as vague as I can.
The Wolf Among Us is based on Bill Willingham’s Fables comics, which sees fairy tale creatures trying to hide out in Fabletown, an enclave they made in modern day Manhattan. If you’re familiar with the popular TV show, Once Upon a Time, there are a large number of similarities. The Wolf Among Us takes place in 1986, 20 years before the start of the comics. Players play as Bigby Wolf, the Sheriff for Fabletown who tries to keep the peace by any means necessary, because to do otherwise may risk exposure of the fable creatures to the outside world.
Bigby receives a call one night about a disturbance and finds the Woodsman drunkenly harassing a lady of the night. After Bigby shoos him off, she leaves but is later discovered murdered, with only her head found on the front step of the Woodsman’s house. Bigby must solve the murder which is more complex than it initially appears.
The gameplay in The Wolf Among Us is very similar to other Telltale games and involves the player investigating small areas for clues, choosing dialogue prompts when talking with the many fairy tale characters, and performing quick button presses during cutscenes to succeed in things like chasing down fleeing criminals or dodging attacks. The game was released over 5 episodes with the final episode releasing 9 months after the first.
The story was well received by critics with most of the criticism going towards Telltale’s aging game engine and increasingly formulaic style. Still, fans were able to forgive these issues in light of the gritty, noir storyline which presented a new world to many fans unfamiliar with the Fables comics. Fairy tale adaptations weren’t uncommon at the time but few felt as fleshed out and dark as The Wolf Among Us, which has since made it a cult classic for many fans. A sequel was immediately greenlit but due to the demise of Telltale Games, it’s future looked bleak. When LCG Entertainment announced their revival of the Telltale brand, it wasn’t long before they announced their first new game, The Wolf Among Us 2.
Thank you so much for listening! If you’d like to see some screenshots of The Wolf Among Us, head over to our Instagram account @vg_oftheday where we post screenshots for each game we talk about on the show. You can also follow me on Twitter @vg_oftheday for up to date schedules for all of my content. Make sure to leave a review on Amazon, too, if you haven’t already and don’t forget to check back here tomorrow for another Video Game of the Day!
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Devin "Katosepe" Sloane is a long time gamer and host of the show Video Game of the Day. He firmly believes Darklands is the pinnacle of gaming achievement and this is a hill he will die upon. Where his nickname came from is a secret to everybody.
