The Council

Started out fairly strong, but the whole plotline went into a sadly predictable direction. In addition to that, by the 4th episode the gameplay (wandering back and forth through the halls) becomes very tedious. Great graphics a good music, however, as well as the overall character design. The team (partially funded by the European Union, interestingly enough) blew a chance to do something truly unique, rather than the whole antireligion trope that was delivered at the end (and boy did it end abruptly - we're talking about five minutes to wrap up a 12 hour game). Some sloppy continuity errors/gaffs in the later episodes as well. Would not recommend.

The game takes place at the island mansion of a secretive power broker, shortly before the rise of Napoleon. It's an unusual and fresh setting for intrigue, where grandeur and sophistication seem in sharp contrast to cruelty and violence. Some things about "The Council" will feel very familiar to those familiar with the now defunct (kinda-sorta-mostly) Telltale Games and offerings like "TWD" or "Wolf Among Us". Control your character from a mostly third-person view, walk around, talk to people (shifting into a more cinematic style of back-and-forth, sometimes with a time limit between choices), collect things to put into your inventory, solve puzzles. The most significant difference is that there's a sort of light RPG element cast over things, one geared towards social conflict, not combat. You are encouraged to learn other characters' weaknesses and immunities, maybe learning that your skill in Etiquette can be used to fluster those unused to high society but that a statesman will run circles around you in Politics. You have a limited stock of energy to wield the skills, which can often lead to more favorable outcomes. There seem to be a significant number of story branches. Many may not have long-term significance, but help to flesh out the story, giving the player a sense of success and failure (echoed in a "you succeeded in- you failed in- you could have-" summation at the end of each chapter, complete with XP allocation and new skills). "The Council" falls prey to two big criticisms. The energy to use your skills is mostly renewed by discovering consumable items, and their availability is erratic. The game also gets visibly rougher in later chapters, mostly ceases to provide new settings or characters, and over-relies on recycling its assets. It feels rushed and anti-climactic. Still, it's a strong game from a relatively small team, and will ease the pain of those missing Telltale. Its problems merely drop it to the level of "good", instead of "great."

Story, structure, voice acting are all pretty good and grab your attention. The graphics are kinda ugly and characters move very uncannily. But if you can get past some of the jank and looks theres a pretty cool story. I enjoyed the RPG elements and upgrades, and different branching story choices. It just gives it some extra replay value.

Is overall a good game, has some headaches at the start where things can get confusing with the game mechanics, but for $2 this game is an easy buy

Wish there were more games like these. Sure it might be clunky, but it's so fun and enthralling.