Game Info
GAME NAME: The Wolf Among Us
DEVELOPER(S): Telltale Games
PUBLISHER(S): Telltale Games
PLATFORM(S): Xbox One (Reviewed), PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, iOS
GENRE(S): Adventure
RELEASE DATE(S): November 4, 2014
This second episode of Telltale’s title The Wolf Among Us, called Smoke and Mirrors, takes on the same approach and has the same energy as the first chapter. It does however, take the stakes to the next level and leave a bit of intrigue in its wake. The graphics are still as beautiful as usual with the neon color palette and the various shades of black and gray.
(The review below may contain light story spoilers, though attempts were made to keep details as vague as possible.)
Smoke and Mirrors lets you dive deeper into the psyche of Bigby and allows you to connect with him. It doesn’t matter if you play as a nice caring guy or a monster, you will walk away with a deeper understanding of who this character is. This episode really hammers out a lot more of the dark, fantastic worlds of the fables, and throws you into a few dramatic situations that don’t have a right or wrong solution and its up to you on how you handle and approach these situations. It’s honestly pretty amazing, after I encounter these events I will dwell on it later and wonder if I should have been nicer or more of a tough guy to see what else may have happened due to those actions.
The writing is pretty superb. I have definitely started making bonds with certain characters and have a feeling of who I dislike and don’t trust and those characters that I do trust and I just hope that none of them do something to set me up or stab me in the back. I just love how this game makes you think and reacts differently to all your choices and has characters remember actions you make.
Smoke and Mirrors resumes just minutes after all the shocking events that occurred with Faith in Episode 1. Most of this episode deals with the drama and how Bigby and all the other Fables deal with the fallout of what happened. It’s nice you have an impact on their reactions depending on how you choose to act. All I have to say is the dialogue in this episode ranges from sweet and sincere to full out telling someone to eff off. So you will experience a range of emotions.
Episode 2 also does a great job at setting up some bad guys and nasty villains. A scene that got me worked up was with Georgie in the strip club, he has a complete lack of human dignity for anyone and getting info from him either through talking or violence will get an energetic play of events regardless of what you choose. One of the other encounters which had me saying “Shit!”, was when beast finds you talking to beauty in an hourly motel and he gets the wrong idea. You are on a case but its up to you on how you handle that situation. The fact that things are timed so quickly makes you really have to react in a smart way.
The music is still great and ties in perfectly to the cinematics but I did experience a little bit of frame rate delay, it was extremely minor but it crept up occasionally. The best part of this episode was being able to connect evidence together near the end and hopefully you discover who the “supposed” murder is and connecting his fetish to Snow White. This episode will leave you satisfied while also leaving you on a major cliff hanger.
The Recommendation
Smoke and Mirrors is an awesome second episode to The Wolf Among Us.It’s roughly 80-90 minutes and is packed with great characters, energetic scenes and some really tough decisions. Even though the plot is moving slowly right now, I’m 100% invested into the characters and outcome of the story. I say it’s worth the investment.
