It’s been a long wait for comic book fans looking forward to playing through Telltale Games’ adaptation of Bill Willingham’s “Fables” series, but the release seems to be getting closer. The adaptation - now titled simply The Wolf Among Us - has finally received its very first trailer.

Although the trailer doesn’t provide a specific date that the episodic game’s first installment will be launching, past announcements from the studio imply that the date may be sooner rather than later. For now, fans can enjoy this brief tease of the action and characters set to appear.

Centering on the character of Bigby Wolf - the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ from the classic fable of ‘Red Riding Hood’ - The Wolf Among Us will follow the now-reformed Sheriff of Fabletown in his efforts to keep non-magical beings from uncovering the true nature of the town’s residents. Joining him is his perennial accomplice from the comics, Snow White (seen in the trailer), but previous screenshots and artwork have shown plenty of other characters will be cropping up throughout.

Although delays are usually a sign of trouble or internal conflicts, in the case of The Wolf Among Us, Telltale’s reasons are a bit easier to deduce. After the runaway success of the studio’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” series, it seemed only a matter of time until Telltale announced how their mainstream success - and numerous Game of the Year awards - would be altering their strategy going forward.

While many had assumed that Telltale’s re-invigoration of the point-and-click adventure game genre (to mass audiences, at least) would result in imitators, it seems that The Wolf Among Us may be the first to capitalize on The Walking Dead’s success. And the studio’s highest executives have been quite clear that whatever their original plan may have been, their “Fables” adaptation will now be evolving several of TWD’s gameplay mechanics.

The trailer drives the point home, describing The Wolf Among Us as “a new series of choice and consequences”; one such choice being whether the player will allow Bigby to to resist his lupine tendencies, or succumb to them in anger.

It’s worth mentioning that while Telltale will promote this game as “from the makers of The Walking Dead,” the writing - the most strongly lauded aspect of TWD - won’t be coming from the same individuals. While lead writer Sean Vanaman provided a bulk of the script for The Walking Dead (and has since left the studio), the writing duties for The Wolf Among Us are being handed off to Pierre Shorette.

Some might claim that’s cause for concern, but given the strength of Willingham’s source material and the stakes riding on this project, we’re not concerned. If anything, diehard fans of the comic series are likely to note that the visual style of The Wolf Among Us is undeniably closer to Telltale’s than Willingham’s - but if this adaptation is as faithful as the studio’s most recent, complaints will be hard to find.

What impression do you take from this first trailer? Are you hungry for more of Telltale’s signature brand of storytelling, a game version of “Fables,” or neither? Sound off in the comments.

The Wolf Among Us ’s first episode, Faith, is expected to release in the coming months for PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

Source: IGN