Telltale will invite newcomers to jump into The Wolf Among Us 2 alongside loyal fans of its original game, as the sequel presents a narrative that stands on its own.
In the latest issue of Edge magazine, Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie discussed the long-awaited follow-up to the 2013 noir adventure The Wolf Among Us, based on Bill Willingham's Fables comics. Ottilie indicated that newcomers to the series would be able to "come in at this point and understand what's going on" despite the game following on from the first series.
"We strive to design our narratives so they can stand on their own," Ottilie said, though he hopes some new players might consider revisiting the first season before jumping in with its sequel. It shouldn't matter too much, though: "We think the opening of the first episode sets things up in such a way that the player understands how the characters got where they are now."
The Wolf Among Us 2 will remain faithful to the episodic release format of the first season and retain some elements that are consistent with the original game – but it is also simultaneously starting over with a fresh team under the Telltale banner, who are using Unreal instead of the notoriously buggy Telltale Tool engine to further explore the world of Fables.
"The challenges with the old proprietary engine were well-known," Ottilie explained. "We wanted the speed, power, flexibility and art pipeline of Unreal. However, we still needed our proprietary tools for many aspects like enabling quick iteration and our choice-driven episodic gameplay, so we had to refresh those tools to sit atop and work with the new engine."
The Wolf Among Us 2 will be released episodically in 2023, but Telltale will complete development on every episode before the first part is released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and Xbox One. The developer is keen to avoid any potential delays in getting the chapters out to allow players to follow the story and complete the season.
"There's something about building anticipation and allowing players to speculate what might happen next that is an important part of both good storytelling and Telltale games," Ottilie explained. "When done well, like some of the recent limited series we've seen on streaming channels these last few years, you can capture the collective imagination and a moment in culture."
The original Wolf Among us centred on Bigby Wolf and a murder investigation in Fabletown – a hidden world where versions of classic fictional character live. The new game, set 6 months after the first, will see Wolf suspended and in anger management counseling. Snow White will now be deputy mayor of the game's Fabletown setting.
The first trailer for The Wolf Among Us 2 offered fans a glimpse of the game's heavily stylized visuals, synth score, and new characters, including alternative versions of Tin Man and Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, as Ottilie admits that some creative freedom is used to tell "interesting and fresh stories" that could also become "canon to the bigger universe."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
Continue reading...
In the latest issue of Edge magazine, Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie discussed the long-awaited follow-up to the 2013 noir adventure The Wolf Among Us, based on Bill Willingham's Fables comics. Ottilie indicated that newcomers to the series would be able to "come in at this point and understand what's going on" despite the game following on from the first series.
"We strive to design our narratives so they can stand on their own," Ottilie said, though he hopes some new players might consider revisiting the first season before jumping in with its sequel. It shouldn't matter too much, though: "We think the opening of the first episode sets things up in such a way that the player understands how the characters got where they are now."
The Wolf Among Us 2 will remain faithful to the episodic release format of the first season and retain some elements that are consistent with the original game – but it is also simultaneously starting over with a fresh team under the Telltale banner, who are using Unreal instead of the notoriously buggy Telltale Tool engine to further explore the world of Fables.
"The challenges with the old proprietary engine were well-known," Ottilie explained. "We wanted the speed, power, flexibility and art pipeline of Unreal. However, we still needed our proprietary tools for many aspects like enabling quick iteration and our choice-driven episodic gameplay, so we had to refresh those tools to sit atop and work with the new engine."
The Wolf Among Us 2 will be released episodically in 2023, but Telltale will complete development on every episode before the first part is released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and Xbox One. The developer is keen to avoid any potential delays in getting the chapters out to allow players to follow the story and complete the season.
"There's something about building anticipation and allowing players to speculate what might happen next that is an important part of both good storytelling and Telltale games," Ottilie explained. "When done well, like some of the recent limited series we've seen on streaming channels these last few years, you can capture the collective imagination and a moment in culture."
The original Wolf Among us centred on Bigby Wolf and a murder investigation in Fabletown – a hidden world where versions of classic fictional character live. The new game, set 6 months after the first, will see Wolf suspended and in anger management counseling. Snow White will now be deputy mayor of the game's Fabletown setting.
The first trailer for The Wolf Among Us 2 offered fans a glimpse of the game's heavily stylized visuals, synth score, and new characters, including alternative versions of Tin Man and Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, as Ottilie admits that some creative freedom is used to tell "interesting and fresh stories" that could also become "canon to the bigger universe."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
Continue reading...
