When Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us first launched in 2013, it stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the prestige television dramas of its era. With blistering performances, a suffocating atmosphere, and razor-sharp writing, this neo-noir saga quickly cemented itself as one of the studio’s finest achievements. Now, years after its initial release and with a long-awaited sequel finally in production, Sheriff Bigby Wolf has returned—sporting a fresh coat of paint, redesigned environments, and a generous helping of behind-the-scenes extras. While some stubborn remnants of the original—namely its occasionally uncanny, stiff animations—prevent this remaster from feeling truly definitive, the story remains as captivating as ever, and the enhanced visual dressing only deepens its sinister mood.
A Fable Town Worth Revisiting
For newcomers unfamiliar with the source material, The Wolf Among Us thoughtfully adapts Bill Willingham’s acclaimed graphic novel series Fables. In this world, folklore characters secretly coexist with humans in a New York City enclave fittingly called Fabletown. Serving as a non-canonical prequel set roughly two decades before the comics, Telltale’s adaptation draws heavily on classic noir storytelling, placing players in the worn shoes of Sheriff Bigby—better known as the Big Bad Wolf—as he investigates a bizarre and gripping murder.
The setup is grimly efficient: a severed head on his doorstep, a ribbon in a ring as his only lead, and precious little else to work with. Bigby must rely on his keen instincts and perception to identify the culprit before the human authorities catch wind of the case and the fragile social fabric of the mythical community unravels entirely. Failure, after all, could mean the collapse of a secret society.
Yet the murder mystery is only part of the equation. After centuries of violence during his storybook days, Bigby’s constituents don’t necessarily trust him to deliver justice—and they scrutinize his every move. He’s forced to lean on familiar faces like Snow White, the Little Mermaid, and Bufkin from The Wizard of Oz as he navigates a web of complex issues spanning class consciousness, poverty, and abuses of power.
Choices That Carry Weight
Gameplay unfolds in loosely segmented chapters, primarily driven by third-person conversations where players select from a handful of responses as a timer rapidly ticks down. This system allows you to pressure a witness who seems to be hiding something, threaten them if they continue withholding information, or—if your moral compass permits—resort to physical violence.
The writing cleverly draws on its fairy tale roots without ever feeling corny. Despite terms like “witching well” and “magic mirror,” conversations remain emotionally charged, a testament to the underlying script and the resonant, enduring performances of the cast.
What elevates the experience is that your reactions are never one-sided. Characters remember your decisions, and a notification reminds you of this after significant choices. Promise to deliver something and fail to follow through? Expect choice words the next time you meet. In this way, The Wolf Among Us isn’t merely about solving a whodunit—it’s about determining whether Bigby will shed his villainous origins and prove himself as a sheriff and protector.
This moral gray area is where the game truly shines. You can cruelly punish citizens to extract answers, or strive to take their side even when it means defying the legal institution you’re sworn to serve. Exploring this curious territory helps you understand why Fabletown’s residents act as they do—and eventually, you may empathize with their actions, no matter how desperate or depraved.
Investigation and Action
Between social calls, you’ll occasionally control Bigby directly as he examines dingy locations—dive bars, ornate offices—interacting with clues to advance the investigation. Ethical quandaries abound: Should you interrupt a wake like an unemotional jerk, or kick in a door instead of knocking like a gentleman? As the confusing haze of right and wrong settles in, maintaining a “good guy” persona becomes genuinely challenging, especially when provoked. Smacking an obvious villain to get answers quickly would be so easy—but wouldn’t that make you just as bad?
The game also features interactive sequences requiring quick-time events during higher-octane moments. You’ll rip out throats, leap across city blocks, and snap broken bones, with failure occasionally leading to a game over. Fortunately, frequent checkpoints drop you right back into the action. The variety and frequency of these moments keep you engaged as you piece together the killer’s identity, particularly since many arrive with mesmerizing and sometimes gruesome animations.
Pacing and Presentation
Mirroring the original’s structure, The Wolf Among Us Remastered spans five episodes, each roughly two hours long, all included in a single package rather than sold individually. For the most part, choices feel impactful, keeping momentum chugging along nicely—until the penultimate episode, when the pace suddenly dips and characters begin needlessly reiterating their viewpoints. Having exhaustively investigated every lead in earlier episodes, I felt confident I understood the situation by episode four, making the slowdown feel slightly disjointed right when I was ready for the payoff.
To be fair, this is a remaster, not a remake. Substantial story alterations could ultimately do more harm than good if handled poorly. Enjoyable conversations still punctuate the episode, making the dragging only a minor blip in an otherwise brilliant narrative—one with a finale that certainly clawed me back. It’s simply that when the rest of the tale is so tight and considered, spending a couple of hours rehashing information you’ve already worked hard to uncover feels mildly frustrating.
That dissatisfaction is softened by the intentionally designed locations that brilliantly reflect their inhabitants’ personalities. Bigby’s tiny, sparsely furnished flat suits his lone-wolf status, while the local watering hole’s scrappy atmosphere matches its down-and-out clientele. The visual glow-up bolsters this environmental storytelling considerably. Everything from couch upholstery to adult shop artifacts has been redesigned with far more detail. Auntie Greenleaf’s apartment, for instance, is witchier than ever with hanging tassels and strewn curios. Elsewhere, the infamous Pudding & Pie remains seedy yet stylish, featuring Art Nouveau-style pendant lights and extravagant neon piping.
Technical Shortcomings
With so much effort lavished on the look, it’s disappointing that not every detail received equal attention. Characters sometimes move as if on swivels, and Bigby’s clue-finding animations feel strangely rigid and occasionally robotic. In the 2013 original, these issues were forgivable; in a modern remaster, the awkward animations and jerky movements stand out more prominently. They’re not so distracting that they undo the impressive polishing elsewhere—but I wish those edges had been similarly smoothed to soundly mark this as the definitive version.
Bonus Features Worth Exploring
Harkening back to the golden era of DVD extras, The Wolf Among Us Remastered includes a gaggle of bonus features for fans eager to peek behind the development curtain. Alongside a toggleable noir game mode that lets you experience the tale in black and white, there’s a digital gallery comparing original art with new versions, plus developer and cast interviews about the making of the game. For lore enthusiasts like myself, these additions are genuinely fun to sift through, even if the interface feels slightly old-fashioned and leans more sentimental than strictly useful.
The most compelling addition by far is the handful of playable deleted scenes. While rough around the edges, they highlight interesting plot threads and deviations that are exciting to experience after the final credits roll.
The Verdict
The Wolf Among Us Remastered revamps Telltale’s beloved episodic adventure, adding neon highlights to its already vivid world full of complex characters. While pacing still dips toward the end, nuanced performances and heart-pounding quick-time events quickly reel you back in as you bear down on the killer. It’s disappointing that some of the original’s stiff animations haven’t been ironed out—but the stunning environmental redesigns and solid suite of bonus features more than compensate.
Though not entirely definitive, this remaster is a powerful reminder of why The Wolf Among Us earned its reputation as one of the studio’s greatest works. And with the sequel on the horizon, it’s a brilliant way to either revisit or catch up on a neo-noir mystery that still absolutely deserves its flowers.