The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 Part 2
0Bigby Wolf isn't worried about survival. Before he left the Homeland, he was the Big Bad Wolf. The one who terrorized the Three Little Pigs. The one who schemed to have Little Red Riding Hood for dinner. He can handle himself. But he is worried about his job as the sheriff of Fabletown, a community of fairytale immigrants hiding in plain sight in 1980s New York. And as Bigby looms over The Wind in the Willows' Mr. Toad, separate button prompts for questioning Toad and hitting him in the face force me to decide what kind of sheriff Bigby really is. I'm sure as hell worried about my reputation.
Bigby's reformed, you see. He's trying to leave his big bad days behind and help people. Problem is, it's not always easy to do the right thing. Telltale Games' now-signature moral dilemmas form the core of The Wolf Among Us, which proves last year's The Walking Dead wasn't a fluke of mature video game storytelling for Telltale. Wolf trades the zombie apocalypse for a murder mystery, but the dialog options and tough moral decisions are familiar territory.
Except there's that job to think about. The Walking Dead's Lee Everett was more or less a blank slate with a big moral compass to follow: Do what's best for Clementine. When I played Walking Dead, choosing who would live and die twisted my guts, but I always tried to make choices that would keep Lee and Clementine safe. She was my North Star.
Bigby Wolf, on the other hand, is an established character from Bill Willingham's Fables comic series with established relationships (most everyone fears or hates him). As a result, I never feel like I'm trying to build emotional bonds with Mr. Toad or Bigby's boss Snow White the way I did with The Walking Dead's survivors, who were all meeting for the first time. Without a moral anchor like Clementine, though, guiding Bigby's character is harder, more nuanced--and more fun as a result.