The Wolf Among Us Episode 3, titled A Crooked Mile, zooms the camera out and provides some of the most meaty, memorable moments of the series to date. Nearly every scene succeeds at introducing new characters I wanted to know more about, or fleshing out those who've only skirted the edges of the story in the past two episodes. And by providing enough tough decisions with legitimate consequences, A Crooked Mile has made Wolf Among Us feel more like my own authored story than ever before.

My main gripe with Episode 2 was that it didn't feel like Telltale moved the major plot forward all that much. Well, I'm happy to report that A Crooked Mile makes every second of Bigby's 90-minute story count. Entering the apartment of an ancient witch and meeting the one person in Fabletown who still clings to the old world brought a really powerful sense of magic to the story. Loading

Equally affecting was watching over a funeral attended by a large portion of the previous episodes' cast. While finding out how everyone from Snow to Grendel deals with death was touching, being able to dictate how Bigby dealt with it was even better. And then there was the slow reveal of just what kind of a man, mayor, and boss Crane really is. All of these scenes built towards fleshing out the citizens of Fabeltown in some really great, surprising ways.

Without going into spoilers, this episode culminates with one of the strongest scenes Telltale's ever created. Watching Bigby finally bare his fangs against a new adversary dwarfs anything we've seen before I love that I was given incredible power, only to have it stripped away moments later, and it makes the wait for Episode 4 that much longer.

Of course, you're still roleplaying as Bigby throughout all of this, and in my version of the story, his sadness and frustration is really starting to take center stage. I love that even though I keep trying to do what I consider to be "the right" thing, I can't help but push those I care about farther and farther away. Even Snow, the one person I hoped would stick by me through thick and thin, seems to be repulsed at the sight of me, and it feels like I’m the one who made that happen. Seeing the prompt that a character "will remember that" lingers with me now more than ever.

Time is limited in A Crooked Mile, and always moving forward, so you can't see everything or meet everyone. Conversely, one big change from episodes 1 and 2 is that Telltale seems to give you more time to react to a conversation, which is great because there are some brutally tough decisions to be made. The narrative crossroads throughout Episode 3 are more important than ever thanks to the fact that you can, and will, completely miss certain areas and scenes if you only play through once. Loading

That all being said, one gripe I have with Episode 3 is that two different scenes ended before I had a chance to fully explore their settings. Both had rooms full of items to discover, but the moment I hit that one trigger, I was whisked away to the next scene. It's a testament to Wolf's writing and world-building that not being able to explore every nook and cranny in a single playthrough was a legitimate disappointment.