While The Walking Dead is the crown jewel of Telltale’s adventure game lineup, they have a second title that is seemingly still running a bit under the radar. The Wolf Among Us, based on the comic series Fables, takes the excellent formula established by The Walking Dead and transfers it to a game that feels similar while doing enough different to easily stand on its own.

The clear thing that differentiates The Wolf Among Us from The Walking Dead is the property itself. The Wolf Among Us offers a rich, unique world teeming with fairy tale characters, magic and plenty of mysteries. The world is amazingly expressed in an art style that feels directly ripped from a comic while also offering beautiful noire-esque moments with dark images and settings bathed in glowing neon. While The Walking Dead is certainly a mature title, The Wolf Among Us still manages to go even darker, dealing in murder, violence and sexual depravity to a different level.

Episode 2, Smoke and Mirrors, continues the story of Bigby Wolf, aka the Big Bad Wolf, as he continues to deal with the killings that have been rocking the small fairy-tale community of Fabletown. This episode begins right after the insane cliffhanger ending of Episode 1 and the mystery and events surrounding the apparent serial killing only gets more twisted and deep as the episode goes on. Naturally the episode ends with another shocking moment, one that has serious repercussions for what is going on in The Wolf Among Us, even if it’s not as shocking as the first episode’s ending.

Gameplay for Episode 2 is as straightforward as ever. Smoke and Mirrors is less action-focused, instead focusing on Bigby trying to cut through the layers of deception to uncover the truth. The main gameplay element is still choice and the choices presented are still just as interesting. How you choose to go about your investigation will affect your world, even if it’s not in a huge way. Characters will constantly comment on your actions , giving you a feeling that you really are defining how your version of Bigby is. It’s why you play games like these and Bigby has a larger range of choices which makes it seem all the more meaningful.

Smoke and Mirrors proves that Telltale has this genre down pat. The first episode was a great introduction to this new world but Episode 2 solidifies the fact that The Wolf Among Us is right up there in quality with what we expect from The Walking Dead; perhaps even better. Which world you connect with more will mostly come down to preference. Either way, Fabletown’s characters and plot are sure to captivate you.

SCORE: 9.5 out of 10

A code for the Season Pass of The Wolf Among Us was provided to Pixel Related for review.