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Near Perfect - Why The Wolf Among Us Worked

Ratat

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Yes, the audio at the very end got muted. I know I know.

Haha Amogus.

This is a video talking through the plot and themes of The Wolf Among Us, released by Telltale in 2013 to follow up their Walking Dead game.

We'll be doing a slightly new format here, one I kind of tried in my Outlast video, where we talk about the games plot in chronological order, and stop occasionally to talk about why the narrative works, and what we can learn from it.
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:44 Episode One
11:16 Episode Two
17:01 Episode Three
24:00 Episode Four
28:32 Episode Five
34:37 Concluding Thoughts
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Generic Tags
The Wolf Among Us, Telltale Games, Horror Games, Fables, Wolf Among Us Two, Gaming, Video Essay, Sleep, Ratat, Until Dawn, Life is Strange, Bigby Wolf, Lore

20 Comments

@shadysider21 1 year ago

I always appreciated that the game let Bigby exist in a moral grey area where you can try to be better while also failing and falling prey to some of your darker instincts (never not gonna kill a tweedle sorry)

@yidingliu8663 1 year ago

The Wolf among Us and Max Payne, 'hard-boiled' tropes 'done right' by surprisingly good writing.

@KnightHub445 1 year ago

I love toad as a character because its so real. Like yes the legal system is unjust against people like him. But at the same time he refuses to even try and do right and even when HANDED the means of getting a glamour he refuses

@keystonelyte 10 months ago (edited)

My favorite interpretation of a fairy tale in this series is giving Bloody Mary straight up dominion over mirrors.

@punchyrivera 3 months ago

Who’s here because wolf among us 2 trailer came out and got a release year for next year. I’m excited for this.

@laraschroeder5195 1 year ago

I actually think it was implied that Narissa was Faith the whole time, with the line “The doctor wanted to do some more tests (on Faiths head)” and the reference to Faiths fairy tale where she disguised herself to escape the kingdom. That leaves the question of who was Faiths head, but idk that’s how I interpreted it.

@fallenwarlock2418 1 year ago (edited)

Update on season two: I believe they’re back to square one. AdHoc Studio, who was working on the writing, cinematics and animations for the game, has ended their partnership with Telltale due to the project’s lack of progress. Telltale kept asking for more time, things were seemingly going nowhere, and AdHoc needed to work on something that was actually getting release anytime soon so the studio could keep the doors open. Telltale still claims season two is in development. By the way, AdHoc Studio was founded by Telltale’s ex-employees, including one of the writers and two of the directors of The Wolf Among Us (so yeah, Telltale just fumbled the bag hard).

I don’t even remember how young I was when season one was released and now I’m getting my masters degree, I don’t think this game will ever see the light of day.

@TheBentleyButton 1 year ago

The Wolf Among Us is by far my favorite story game. Really not talked about enough for how tight the whole thing is. Such a shame to see the state of the second game though. Fingers crossed…

@Ephenger 1 year ago

You say Bigby’s at his worst in episode 3, but he was already balding.

@christiancrafoord 1 year ago

they took the best from the comics literally, nailed the ambience, lore, ASTOUNDING VISUALS AND MUSIC! if one pays close attention to each episode one can find small references and details everywhere, the developers knew what they were doing and seemed to be fans of the original comics!

@Topboxicle 1 year ago

I think my favourite part of the Wolf Among us, other than the art style, music and general aesthetic because that absolutely kills it. Is that although as mentioned there is a correct order to go to some locations, there isn't really any correct choices, the only real difference between a 'good' playthrough and a 'bad' playthrough is how many people hate Bigby by the end. The game even kinda emphasises that what dictates a good or a bad playthrough is up to the players own morals. It's the only game where I've seen a morality system work because it isn't scored by anything but the consequences of your actions and a percentage poll lol.

@theturtlestomp 9 months ago

I've always found it ironic that the only person to properly stand up for Bigby, (while still insulting him) is Colin, the pig who has probably been the most harmed by Bigby. (besides Red Riding hood, but she's not here right now.) It really shows that Bigby isn't a hopeless case and that someone at least recognizes he is trying to be better.

@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303 1 year ago

David Cage slander, my favourite midnight snack. The Conor storyline in Detroit Become Human is frankly great, it'd have been a 8/10 if it stuck to that and had the rest in the background

@GibboDoesStuff 1 year ago

15:41

Fun fact about the Bigby vs Beast Fight, this is one of the fights in game where you can Canonically “Lose”.
At the end of the fight where you send beast through the door, if you do nothing beast is the one who throws you through it and you continue the story as normal.

In the Wolf Among us Comics that follow the games story, Bigby even stated that beast is stronger than him “He’s stronger then I am, no doubt about it”, but then says that he is more violent “there’s no nice way to put this, I’m a lot F**** meaner”.
Even the Jersey Devil was almost able to kill Bigby, and without the woodsman, he would have done it.

I think it helps put into perspective that there are Fables stronger than Bigby, it’s just that his capacity and affinity for violence exceeds that of most Fables.

@taylorgillgren5443 1 year ago

The L.A. Noir background music was the cherry on top of this video. Nice work man

@minkshaming 1 year ago

when the wolf is sus

@chrisv4472 1 year ago

I never made the connections between the Fables and their place in this tale, thank you for presenting that depth so clearly and thoroughly.

@justpassingby298 11 months ago (edited)

It's actually kinda insane that the wolf among us was so critically acclaimed, but it's the closest thing to an original IP by telltale. Genuinely wonder if telltale didn't rely so hard on coasting on established IPs like... Minecraft or Wallace and grommit. Then if they would've survived. Just purely off not needing to find the next thing they could pay the license for so they could develop the next game for.

Edit: AND THEN THEY WOULDN'T NEED TO ABIDE BY ANYTHING CONTINUING TO EXIST. They could've made actually meaningful events happen. But then again I guess this is the same studio that killed of characters like. The next chapter just to make development easier

@UnstablePax 1 year ago

Unless I remember it wrong, Snow White existing in the present didn't really spoil that it wasn't her as Fables can "reappear" (?) if they are popular enough in the real world. It is just that they won't be an "exact copy".

@lucian_evenin 1 year ago

I still really love the ending of The Wolf Among Us—even today, it gives me goosebumps. I just wish Telltale were more open about the sequel’s development. They've been completely silent for such a long time.

P.S. I noticed some hints of Whirling-in-Rags. A video about Disco Elysium would be awesome!