The Wolf Among Us – Remastered review

• Reviews by Serena Nelson
• Published:

An already howling good time is lightly transformed with graphical upgrades and bonus content

I am a big fan of “fractured fairy tales,” where beloved stories get twisted and turned into something different but still recognizable. This goes all the way back to the original cartoon of that name from the 1960s but has also been more recently popularized by the show Once Upon a Time. One of the more interesting takes on this theme has been the Vertigo comics series Fables by Bill Willingham, where the many creatures of myth find themselves in modern-day New York, where they’re forced to make a living in the “real world.” The franchise was wonderfully brought to life as an interactive adventure by Telltale Games in 2013, and now The Wolf Among Us Remastered delivers an upscaled version with some bonus material included. While the plot itself is the same, there’s enough replayability, enhancements and new content added that even if you have played it before, it is worth going back to it a second time.

These Fables, as they’re known in this setting, exist alongside what they call Mundies, or normal human beings like us. They need to hide their true nature from the world as they eke out a miserable existence as best they can. The more animalistic creatures, such as the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, require a magical “glamour” to hide their true appearance or risk being sent to a place called the Farm. You play as Bigby Wolf, the renowned huff-and-puffer who serves here as the sheriff of Fabletown. Trouble is brewing, as Bigby is called to investigate the murder of a fellow Fable whose decapitated head was found on the front steps of a building in one of the city’s more affluent neighborhoods.

In The Wolf Among Us, it’s up to you to figure out who the victim is, the reason for her death, and go deep down the proverbial rabbit hole to deduce what in the heck is going on in the city. There is plenty of intrigue as the game plays out like a neo-noir detective mystery against the backdrop of a city full of fairy-tale characters and legends from both old and more modern stories. Bigby and Snow White work together in the Woodlands apartment building, and depending on how you act throughout the game, there could be more going on than just being colleagues. Of course, there are plenty other characters you meet and interact with throughout the game: Ichabod Crane, from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” is the deputy mayor and comes off as quite sleazy and corrupt; Beauty and Beast are accustomed to an opulent lifestyle even in a different setting; and the legendary mirror stalker Bloody Mary lives up to her name and comes off as a sociopath. And these are just a few of the characters on display.

The cast is superbly voiced, and each character sounds like what you would expect from the way they look and act. Even in his human form, Bigby growls like a gruff detective right out of 1950s noir movies, as if he gargles razor blades. The Tweedles, Dee and Dum, have much more British-sounding accents, which makes some sense since Alice in Wonderland has a more English setting. The Jersey Devil just as appropriately sounds like he’s from New Jersey. This is just a small sampling of the excellent voice cast, which persists through the five chapters. 

The music and ambient effects feel equally at home in this story of mixed-up fairy tales with a noir vibe. City noises are everywhere, from cars chugging along and honking at each other to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof of Bigby’s apartment complex. This is a world that feels lived-in and believable – it just happens to be filled with fantastical characters from children’s storybooks. The soundtrack is prevalent as well, but often subtle throughout the quieter periods. The more laid-back investigation scenes have a mellow undertone as you look for clues, while confrontations with other characters have a faster tempo, the tense score grabbing at your gut as you never know if Bigby is going to make it out of that particular scrape.

The artwork of The Wolf Among Us is just as beautifully designed, and now better than ever. Based off a comic series, the 3D visuals have a suitably graphic novel style to them. The use of primary colors with harsh lines, complemented by liberal use of shadows and lighting, adds to the feeling of reading a (very adult) comic book. While the original game already looked stunning, this remaster ups the aesthetic even further. The basic look remains, but a lot of the more bestial characters stand out better and feel more real. Bigby’s various wolf forms are much more stunning, his fur accentuated in both his human/lupine hybrid form and full wolf transformation. The scales on Grendel (from the old Beowulf legend) are now distinctly visible, while the feathers on The Wizard of Oz’s flying monkey Bufkin are much more detailed. While before these images appeared flatter, you can really see the improvements here.

Much different than before is the added black-and-white noir filter that you can toggle on and off at any time. The story plays out the same regardless of whether you use this or not, but it gives a nice sense of the way older detective movies looked. In both color and black and white, the action and movement are fluid and seamless, and facial expressions are vividly portrayed during close-up scenes between Bigby and whomever he is talking to. Even as a wolf he conveys a wide range of emotions, from frustration to anger, to as polite as he can manage. And it’s not just him, everyone here looks and sounds believable, as fantastical as they are. Telltale Games are known for their impressive character-driven storytelling, and that certainly is the case here.

Also in classic Telltale style, The Wolf Among Us is full of choices you have to make as you trudge through the sordid lives of the Fables. The story as a whole plays out the same whether you act like a jerk or a righteous man-beast of the law, but various scenes are altered based on what you say and where you go first. For example, early on you can visit a person of interest’s place or go see Mr. Toad. I won’t spoil anything, but if you go to Toad’s place first, the other scene plays out very differently. 

The Wolf Among Us – Remastered

Genre:	Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction
Presentation:	Realtime 3D
Theme:	Adaptation
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Stylized
Control:	Direct Control
Action:	Quick Time Events
Gameplay:	Choices matter, Narrative

There are a lot of choices throughout, and what you say to others affects how they react. It’s up to you if you’ll be strict and by-the-book, dismiss everyone’s feelings, or try to do what you feel is best. Personally, as a goody-two-shoes person I chose to try helping my fellow Fables. And for the most part trying to act like a saint helped to defuse potential powder kegs and increase other people’s opinion of my Bigby. Some situations ended up out of my hands despite my best efforts, but how I reached those outcomes nevertheless took different paths to get there.

Along with the many, many scenes spent talking to others, sometimes as the Big Bad Wolf you’ll get into fights. These play out as quick time events where you have to be fast on your feet (or rather with your fingers). Or at least, it feels that way. Thankfully, the game gives you plenty of time to hit the right key or button or click the right spot to avoid getting knocked around. There aren’t any fail states here either. If you miss too many control prompts it’ll leave Bigby a bit worse for wear, but even if you take damage, you won’t die and have start over from the beginning of the sequence. In fact, there are no deaths or game-overs at all. What happens sticks, and the story continues, the autosave locking you into your current path regardless of the consequences.

The other major gameplay element is the more leisurely investigation scenes. The Wolf Among Us can be played with either keyboard/mouse or gamepad. I chose the former and the controls are smooth using the WASD keys to move around and the mouse to click on hotspots. Areas of interest pop up as you slide the cursor over them and are context-sensitive. Based on what you’re interacting with, you can open or kick down doors, pick up items, or more often than not just look at stuff, usually with a comment from Bigby. There is an inventory of sorts, but rather than being used in the conventional way, acquired items simply provide extra options during dialogue sequences, such as offering a matchbook to light a cigarette or giving money to various people.

The game itself is pretty much a one-to-one retelling of the original, so if you finished The Wolf Among Us back in the day, the only real incentive to replay the remaster is in trying alternate choices this time around. The real bonus here is a good chunk of extra content available for the first time. There are five deleted scenes that didn’t make the original, like the aftermath of the fight between Bigby and the Woodsman, expanded to include a cleanup scene so the Mundy cops don’t get suspicious. 

You can play these scenes any time from the main menu, and they are pretty rough cuts. I noticed a lot of issues, such as visual clipping and characters “skating.” That said, these weren’t supposed to be polished final cuts as they were, obviously, deleted during the initial production. The five scenes total about 45 minutes of new content, and will likely be the main draw for those who have already played the game. In addition to this, there is about an hour’s worth of behind-the-scenes videos that you can peruse at your leisure. 

If you haven’t ever played The Wolf Among Us, much better late than never. Of all the Telltale games, this was always one of my favorites. It’s a gripping tale of what happens when storybook characters are thrust into the seedier underbelly of modern major cities. While there aren’t any puzzles to speak of, the familiar-yet-new characters are fascinating and the story itself is exciting right up to the climactic ending. There are quite a few QTEs, but don’t let that scare you away as they’re very forgiving of mistakes. And with all the choices to make, how you play may not affect the outcome as a whole, but it does impact what kind of person you’re trying to be. It’s a pretty lengthy game too, a single playthrough taking me about seven hours to complete. And with plenty of replayability, it’s worth at least a second go around just to see how others react to a different side of Bigby Wolf.

Final Verdict

The bigger question is surely whether The Wolf Among Us Remastered is worth picking up if you already own the original. While I can’t speak for anyone but myself, I’d choose to buy the remake for the extras and better graphics, lovingly updated for a modern audience. The look isn’t significantly different, but the visuals are now more stunning than ever with all the small extra details. Add in a fair chunk of bonus content from the deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes videos, and a black-and-white noir filter for those who want to feel like Sam Spade, and I highly recommend giving the remaster a good hard look as it improves on an already impressive classic.

Serena played The Wolf Among Us – Remastered on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.

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