Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us Remastered launches October 29. To get ready for Bigby Wolf’s enhanced tale we sat down with Telltale’s Matt Saia, the game director of The Wolf Among Us Remastered, and VP of Creative at Telltale, to talk about returning to Fabletown.

The Wolf Among Us is one of Telltale’s most beloved series. Do you remember the first time you played it? What resonated most and stayed with you since? 

Matt Saia: I came to it as a fan of Telltale having played The Walking Dead and Back to the Future. Wolf had a killer look and a werewolf in it, that was enough to get me in the door. From the first scene, the story, the contrast of these fables characters in the 1980s, and the neon noir style had me hooked. Their stories touched human emotions and stuck with me forever.

What was the goal with remastering The Wolf Among Us? 

We wanted to honor the Telltale legacy. This is a classic title, and it needed a respectful update. We avoided touching the story, the directorial choices, and the overall art style, those are sacred to us. The goal is to introduce new players to Wolf in the best way possible and create a fun experience for returning players by packing it with updated art and behind the scenes features. Ultimately, it was a love letter to fans. We’re all fans and we took time to make sure it is the best version of The Wolf Among Us that stays true to the original.

Telltale added Noir Mode to The Wolf Among Us Remastered. What do you think this brings to the game? 

Coincidentally, I was the person who added Shadows Mode to Telltale’s Batman series. We’ve treated it differently in Remastered. Unlike Batman, where we had highlights of color we’ve kept Wolf with a pure noir film vibe. The tone feels different when it’s black and white. I love the colors of the main game but, in Noir Mode, the shadows feel a little darker.

Let’s talk about some of the technical improvements. How was it working with the original Telltale engine? 

The old Telltale engine is quirky but cool. We started by moving it up to the latest engine used in the Batman series. Next, we created new shaders for things like shiny bottles, and inverted lines on moving objects like the ghost ship.

The biggest challenge was lighting. It wasn’t something we intended to do but we realized anything we changed in any scene required that we redo the lighting. By the end, every scene in the game was relit.One of the biggest testaments to how good we got with the old engine is we built the entire Summer Games Fest trailer in engine.

How about the Character art? 

Our choice was to elevate the game that everybody loved. The remastered characters have amazing detail but when you look at Bigby, he looks like Bigby. I think that’s the balance beam you walk; we wanted people to say “That’s the Bigby I remember”, but if you go back and look at the original, the remastered one is unmistakably more refined. 

Every single character went through concept to high-end model to final in-game model. All the textures and models are new and multiple times more detailed than the original game. If you did a simple up-rez, all you’re really doing is taking the curves and lines that are already there and making them smoother.

Our process provoked more aggressive choices with how you treat the characters without losing who they are because you’re taking them from scratch. It was a big lift, but worth it.

Is there anything from this remastering process that exceeded your expectations?  

The werewolf. I think everybody wanted to change him in a big way, and we did. He is ferocious, so much more feral and powerful than the original but still true to The Wolf Among Us.

Is there anything else you’d like people to know?  

It was amazing to revisit Fabletown. The team was incredible. We love every dusty apartment and lit cigarette and, more importantly, the characters and story they tell. To me, that’s what makes a great remaster; when you know people poured their soul into it.

We want existing fans to show up and know they are in good hands. For new fans, it’s an opportunity to be captivated by a fully-realized version of this amazing universe just as we all were. To everyone out there, thank you for sticking with Telltale and believing in us. 

 The Wolf Among Us Remastered launches October 29 and is available to wishlist now.