The Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 - Smoke & Mirrors was the proverbial lift hill on the roller coaster, once again leaving it to the final shot to let us know that things were about to get really serious. The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile completely follows through on this promise, delivering by far the most thrilling chapter in Telltale's newest master class in adventure gaming. It's moody, engaging, and absolutely packed with suspense and dread. To watch these shocking events unfold is a real treat that anyone with a strong stomach should indulge themselves in.

Most of the people who played The Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 - Smoke & Mirrors could have easily called the game out for showing its cards a bit too early, and by extension, providing a whopper of a red herring. The same was true for Episode 1 - Faith, admittedly, and its major fake-out was revealed rather quickly. Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile is different, and lets the player know, in its own brutal way, that this murder mystery is deeper and far more involved than series hero Bigby thinks.

The end of Smoke & Mirrors delivered a shocking revelation that definitively booted Bigby out of "investigation mode" into "take-no-sh*t mode." He means business in A Crooked Mile, and it's time for answers... and where answers don't appear, it's time for action. Brutal, face-crushing action. A Crooked Mile begins with a bang and ends with an even bigger bang. But it's satisfying to finally see some of the answers start rolling in. And watching this world's creative expansion in this particular form is a delight that is unmatched by most games that focus on storytelling to this degree. One endgame scene features a real squirmer of a moral choice, and it has me excited to see the repercussions of the decision I made in the end.

At this point, I honestly think that Telltale has outdone themselves, and yes, I'm taking into account that they're responsible for bringing us the master class in licensed world expansion that is The Walking Dead. This is simply a more attractive, seductive world to inhabit, and its characters are complicated, tragic survivors. But along with all the bleakness and violence is some really deep insight into human nature and behavior. Combine all of this with a script that is on a level of its own, and we have a series that is poised to become perhaps the absolute best in the genre. Play this game.