At long last I have come to the end of my VGA flashbacks (only 2 months after the actual event) and we've landed on the one game that I've been holding off on the most. One title which succeeded at blowing my mind so completely that I needed these past two months just to get all my thoughts together so that I could appropriately discuss it. I am, of course, talking about the grand announcement (or should I say; re-announcement) of 'The Wolf Among Us Season 2.' To be completely frank with everyone right now, I'm still in the throes of giddy shock right now as I feel like one of dearest friends has risen from the grave for one last pub crawl. (Let me explain why I feel so strongly about this.)
Telltale was a studio that had been knocking about for quite a while before it hit it's stride. In their early years they dabbled with various mediums that could facilitate cinematic storytelling until they took the steps to revolutionise that particular sub-category of games with 2012's 'The Walking Dead'. When that game first launched the franchise was at the height of it's popularity, with folk dedicating every fibre of their being to consuming this show, so for a related game to launch in this window heralded both incredible potential and risk to crash and burn. To muddy matters even more, this game wouldn't even be based on the TV show that had taken the horror world by storm, but on Robert Kirkman's comics which was still relatively niche in terms of audience. The title couldn't even rely on it's identity as a game to secure a sure-fire audience, as Telltale's new 'gameplay' style would defy many traditional classifications for a 'video game' and would inevitably be compared to a 'choose-your-own-adventure' DVD game. What I'm trying to say is that this game had everything working against it and very much should have crashed and burned. But it didn't.
Against all the odds, The Walking Dead hit audiences with more than just mild success, the game was heralded as a revolution to video game storytelling. (Personally I wouldn't go that far but the title was a good time.) The characters were endearing, their journey was heart-stopping and the conclusion of the tale was powerful enough to bring some audiences to tears. Telltale had established themselves as a true powerhouse in the gaming landscape and revived the 'point and click adventure' genre. But then the immediate question was raised. Where would the team take their talents next? They couldn't relay on Walking Dead forever, so what brand could they possibly move onto next in order to prove that they weren't just one-trick-ponies? They ended up with the comic book series: Fables.
Fables is a somewhat similar world to American Gods, as in it purposes a world in which the fairy-tale characters from The Brothers Grimm would walk the real world and try to survive. It took classic characters like The Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Snow White and threw them into a gritty and dark world of murder, prostitution and drugs. In theory, that concept has the potential to be one of the most eye-rolling 'wannabe edgy' stories of all time, but through a shared quality in writing and a dedication to remaining mature to the subject material, Fables handled it's premise with integrity and easily sold it's world to audiences. This was the world that Telltale wanted to share with video game audiences through their (Prequel?) series; The Wolf Among Us.
A lot of things went right for Telltale to set-up this particular series, and not all of it was intentional. 'The Wolf Among Us' followed the tale of Bigsby Wolf, (The 'big bad wolf' from Little Red Riding Hood) although here he was just a gruff looking plain-clothes detective right out of an noir movie. Bigsby served as the sheriff of the New York population of fable characters and it was his job to keep everyone following some variation of the law considering the fact that real police would have trouble enforcing laws upon citizens who can eat bullets and transform into nightmare monsters. His job is put to the test, however, once bodies start showing up and it's up to Bigsby to figure out who is putting down fables in his city.
So there it is, a fairly bog-standard crime thriller story with a weird supernatural twist. What's the big fuss about? Well, 'The Wolf Among Us' benefited from a great narrative team alongside years worth of source material, as this title managed to make every character in this dime-store novel feel real and interesting. When I came to the first game it was very much just to dip my toes into the waters due to a demo that impressed me, but I left that first episode absolutely hooked to a degree that only the best stories can replicate. But this is where a slip-up for Telltale managed to work out to their favour, as due to an unforeseen complication the second episode of 'The Wolf Among Us' had to be delayed by several weeks. Usually this would result in a huge hit to the audience, but the first episode of this game had landed with such an attention grabbing cliffhanger that everyone was salivating for some resolution. The delay only heightened the fervour for this title and allowed for others to get in on the excitement that was sweeping the gaming world. (As well as allowing for Streamers,YouTubers and their huge audiences to get invested.)
When it was all said and done, 'The Wolf Among Us Season 1' capped off as some of the finest work that Telltale ever pulled off and the team would never get the chance to match that high for the rest of the company's lifespan. Don't get me wrong, I liked 'The Walking Dead series 2' (a lot more than most people, it seems) and 'Tales from the Borderlands' is easily the funniest entry to the Borderlands franchise, but nothing from Telltale had me coming back month after month itching for my fix. Bigsby, Snow and all the fable cast had us enchanted and the subtle tease (which doesn't even really amount to a cliffhanger) at the end of season 1 would rattle around her heads for years to come. Telltale seemed to be very aware of how special this title was as well, as they never rushed to make a sequel and vowed to take their time in order to make it perfect. Unfortunately, that reticence ended up costing us the possibility of a sequel altogether.
In late 2018 it was revealed that Telltale games was shutting down for a variety of reasons that I can't be bothered to shift through in this blog. That was pretty much the end of all hope that we would ever see the promised sequel series as the studio was taking all of their talent and licences to the grave with them. Or at least so it seemed. Through some means, some Telltale staff managed to band together in order to pen the finale of their Walking Dead series, providing closure to the fans of that particular franchise and sparking hope for the company. Nothing more would be said until December last year, when fans were thrown for a loop with the surprise announcement of 'The Wolf Among Us 2'. (I almost fell out of my chair.)
You might have noticed that the majority of this blog didn't even touch on the VGA trailer itself, and that is because that trailer was constructed with the sole purpose of inspiring my brand of nostalgia. We see Snow White asking for Bigsby's help and nothing else, but we didn't need anymore to be flooded with memories of the best of Telltale's best. As of yet were still to get any concrete information on what this means the company (Is Telltale back?) but right now I don't need to know anything other than the fact that the Big Bad Wolf is coming back to my computer screen sometime in the future, and that's enough to set me buzzing.
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