The Wolf Among Us – Episode 5: Cry Wolf review for PC, PS3, Xbox 360

?Cry Wolf? marks the final episode in the first season of Telltale Games? excellent The Wolf Among Us. If you?ve been on board for the past four episodes, I don?t think this season finale will leave you disappointed. Things wrap up nicely, there are very few loose threads left hanging, and there?s a sense of real change being enforced by the player based on decisions made. Like the overall direction of The Walking Dead, you?ll see a similar ending regardless of what steps you took to get there, but the overall well-being of certain characters, and where they?re at emotionally and physically, seems to carry greater weight than the first season of The Walking Dead.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that the robust cast remains robust. While obviously telling a different story, than TWD, I find The Wolf Among Us benefits from a less bleak, apocalyptic setting than its Telltale predecessor. That?s not to say that everyone makes it out of this final episode unscathed, but with a large cast of supporting characters introduced and built up throughout this season, there?s more possibility for Bigby?s interactions with those characters to have a more meaningful effect in whatever season 2 ends up becoming. At least that?s my hope, and I?m willing to give Telltale the benefit of the doubt that I?ll see some real payoff on the next round of Fables inspired episodes.

But you don?t have to wait for Season 2 in order to see some actual results. The overall mystery that surrounds the deaths of Faith and Lily, the seeming enslavement of the girls working for Georgie, and overall effect of underworld string-pulling courtesy of the Crooked Man, will be resolved here. How that all shakes out is something you?ll want to experience for yourself, but there?s a few moments throughout this episode that stand out as memorable, and feel unique even when compared to Telltale?s other works. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bigby still had a trick or two up his sleeve, and I think fans of Fables will be pretty happy to see one particular sequence unfold here.

But for now I?ll stop being cryptic, and just urge you to go and check out the final episode in The Wolf Among Us when it releases today. It?s a satisfying conclusion to the overall arc, that will likely see you wanting to play through it all one more time, just to see what other paths you can take, and what changes those paths may make. I?ll say that this lacks the emotional, gut-wrenching elements of TWD?s first season finale, but things won?t be all sunshine and rainbows for Bigby and the rest of the cast either. I?m very curious to see what the next chapter of The Wolf Among Us has in store, and hope to see more of Fabletown in the near future.