Game Blog 3: The Wolf Among Us

Game Blog Week 3

Game: The Wolf Among Us

Question 4: Do choices you make in the game contribute to the sense of meaningful interactive moments?

(Contains Spoilers)

The Wolf Among Us is a heavily scripted, narrative based game from Telltale Studios. Much like its other releases the game focuses on a linear story with set events but leaving the player to choose how the main character reacts and in some cases even changing the order in which some of the more minor events take place. Whilst playing the game I am left with the sense that yes, my decisions are meaningful and I felt like I was impacting the story and characters directly depending on my actions. I believe the game tries to reinforce this as well, when you make certain decisions a little notification will appear on screen say “character x appreciates that” or “character x will remember that” it makes you think that your particular action had an effect on the character and there will be some consequence depending on what you said or did. Unfortunately when you break it down you realise that you really only have minor control over what is going on. A good example of this when Snow White asked if she should inform Ichabod Crane (her boss) about the murder of Faith. There were four dialogue options, tell him, don’t tell him, wait till you have more evidence to present and stay silent. I chose the dialogue option saying we should wait before we tell him until we have more evidence however it doesn’t matter which option you choose Crane reacts the same in every scenario which asks the question, why let us choose in the first place? By letting us choose what to say it keeps the events feeling organic, it feels like you caused that particular event to happen- whether or not this is the truth doesn’t matter, the point is that the game makes you feel as if your choices are directly contributing to the game narrative and dictating certain events of the story and so as a singular experience you felt as if the game you just played was your story. Its when you play through a second time that you begin to realise that your story isn't all that unique. Regardless of this, the fact that you think you are creating these meaningful interactive moments is what’s important as it will leave the player with a sense that they themselves achieved something and an overall positive experience.