The Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 - Smoke and Mirrors

The content is fantastic, though the timing between episodes holds the game back.

This episode has a fairly basic story, driven forward by great character writing and a compelling air of mystery, but it’s plain to see that there are many dramatic, earth-shattering moments yet to come.

The writing in the second episode of Telltale's A Wolf Among Us series does more to investigate the dark corners of your soul than your shrink can in an hour. Sadly, you can play through the episode in just as much time.

Second episode was better than the first. Let’s see where this story goes.

Bigby plays both good cop and bad cop in an episode that's mostly good.

The most important thing is that while I wasn’t in as much of a shock when I got to the cliffhanger at the end of this episode, I was left wanting more, and if episode three was installed and ready to go, there is no doubt in my mind that I would’ve happily played on.

Smoke and Mirrors is a great second act to The Wolf Among Us. Its 90 minutes are packed with memorable characters and scenes, as well as some of the most agonizing decisions Telltale has ever forced me to make.

Whereas The Walking Dead asks “How far will you go to survive?” The Wolf Among Us seems more preoccupied with “How far will you go to preserve your humanity?” After seeing how far Bigby was pushed in this second episode, I can’t wait to find my own limits.

The Wolf Among Us continues to impress visually, echoing its comic book roots without sacrificing animation.

When it comes to the writing of its protagonist and furthering the story, Smoke and Mirrors is a definite step forward, especially after a three-month drought of interactive storytelling.

The direction is so intense that you get lost in this dark New York fairy tale with its surreal characters, excellent dialogue and morbid thriller flair. For the long wait it is rather short though.

Smoke & Mirrors isn’t quite as good as the superb Faith and is a little shorter, which is a kick in the flying monkey nuts after how long it took to turn up, but it’s still an excellent and enjoyable adventure full of intrigue, surprise and emotion.

Nice colors and a ton of glitter disguise a world full of dodgy characters and moral squalor. Bigby is constantly under pressure and we are immediately caught in a web of lies. This is the right turn for the series.

While not as good as the first episode and with noticeable flaws to iron out, the second episode of The Wolf Among Us still shines with great characters and superb recreation of Fabletown.

Maybe it is only a transition episode, but after Smoke and Mirrors you are going to love Bigby and Fabletown. It wasn't a simple task, and we will see the consequences in the near future. The writers could use this empathy in the next chapters to bond the gamers for the rest of the season.

Short, but beautiful. The Wolf Among Us continues to impress.

Despite a few missteps, Smoke and Mirrors is an excellent follow-up to Faith. It’s a twisted journey through Fabletown’s dirty, neon underbelly exploring the darker side of glamour magic and the exploitation of fables. It ends somewhat abruptly, with a terrible revelation, making the wait for the third episode already agonising.

The biggest accomplishment with the new episode however is the fact that your actions have more consequences on a personal level.

As bleak as "Smoke and Mirrors" is, it makes you want to help these characters, to give them something besides another day of nothing but despair and heartache. Things in Fabletown will almost surely get darker before they get better, but "Smoke and Mirrors" guarantees we're in this for the long haul.

The Wolf Among Us Episode 2 generally feels quieter and more focused on Bigby’s detective side. Even when you are given violent options, they are less primal than Episode 1’s lengthy action scenes, but it also draws attention to Episode 2’s weakness.

Not as good as the first Episode, but it works to continue the story. But the next episode should offer more possibilities and real decisions.

This episode is meant to connect the first and the third ones, so many of the events and actions here are not as decisive as we could expect, but still, it's a part of the story we cannot miss.

Smoke and Mirrors, second episode of Telltale's Wolf Among Us, takes us to the next level in the shockingly ended story of the first episode. As playing Bigby, we continue to solve the murders in Fabletown as we're getting closer to even more surprising conclusions.

More personal than the first episode, but also with its same flaws. Smoke & Mirrors is a game with a slower pace, but still absorbing and cool.

I was let down by how slow-moving Episode 2 is; it feels more like a bridge in the story than a complete chapter. Still, I can't deny that the world and the mature tone are captivating.

Fairy-tale-ish New York for adults is magical once again, and it continues to be that excellent noir detective fiction sparking your interest. However, the content itself is weaker this time, and the long waiting was not helping it.

Almost transformed in a visual novel, the second episode of The Wolf Among Us focuses on conversations to advance the plot, making it quite an odd adventure game.

The first chapter fascinated the public with the great characters and a well crafted cliffhanger. A shame that this second part doesn't seem able to show the same qualities, to shrinked between the linearity and the absence of new fascinating characters.

Smoke and Mirrors establishes that The Wolf Among Us will likely be worth seeing through, although whether it’s worth doing so now or waiting for the season’s end is a more open question than one might have anticipated at the end of the first episode.

Like its predecessor, Smoke and Mirrors enjoys great writing, excellent voice acting and a lead who is likeable in all the right ways. That said, the second chapter in The Wolf Among Us feels somewhat too short -- like a build-up, a segue to bigger things. There are also moments where the writing trips, leaving players to wonder if Bigby's been hit on the head one too many times.

The Wolf Among Us Episode Two: Smoke and Mirrors doesn't always live up to the promise of the first episode and is marred by some technical issues. However, The Wolf Among is still an intriguing and stylish murder mystery that has us eager for the next episode.

Stylish aesthetic and cinematic flair still keep the overall experience enjoyable, but my initial spark of love for the series has largely disappeared. After a shoddy narrative decision revealed within the first 15 minutes of Episode 2, my trust in the series has diminished.

Ultimately the pace of Smoke and Mirrors is quite different from Faith, but it’s a change that seems necessary for Bigby to do his job. Familiar camera angle issues and an oddly placed fight aside, The Wolf Among Us continues to deliver. The game is still a great bridge for new fans to familiarize themselves with the Fables lore and old fans to connect the dots only they know exist.

Episode two puts The Wolf Among Us in an awkward place. Telltale shows enough of its hand to interest players in the rest of the story, but the unevenness of this second episode deflates the enthusiasm that first worked so hard to earn. It's difficult to tell how strong the series will become, but right now, it's tough to accept good when you're used to great.

Smoke and Mirrors feels like a necessary bridge spanning the impactful first episode and the events portrayed in the episode three preview that concludes this episode. It smolders more than it burns, though in some sense, that's an appropriate trajectory for Bigby's ongoing investigation.

Do you know how much time passes in Episode 2 before the game finally decides to ask you for input? 9 minutes. For whole 9 minutes, Smoke and Mirrors plays itself. This number is more telling than any review.

After many delays Smoke and Mirrors was finally released, that visibly shows that it suffered under the haste of the developers. Besides from sitting back and watching an interesting story, there isn’t much to do in this episode, that has been shortened and has quite a few nasty bugs.

A great world and an interesting story, but this short second entry lacks the tense decision-making of the first.

Four months of waiting for an hour of gameplay? That's hardly a case for celebration, even though the compelling narrative standards remained intact. [Issue #239]

The adrenaline-laced interactive sequences of Smoke & Mirrors are fun to play, but in between the gameplay is far too sparse and linear, and its story loses some story momentum in the process.

Yet even with another cliffhanger to keep you on tenterhooks until Episode Three, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see audience interest starting to wane, particularly if Telltale continues to treat us more as viewers than as players.