The Complete Season of The Council grants you access to all 5 episodes.
The Council is an episodic game like no other. Delivering a fresh new take on the Narrative Adventure, your choices and character growth truly matter. Make hard-hitting decisions, but also develop an array of skills to dir...
The Complete Season of The Council grants you access to all 5 episodes.
The Council is an episodic game like no other. Delivering a fresh new take on the Narrative Adventure, your choices and character growth truly matter. Make hard-hitting decisions, but also develop an array of skills to directly impact how the story unfolds. With permanent, long-lasting consequences, there is no going back. Plunge into a tale of intrigue and manipulation in the style of a classic murder mystery, living with a cast of alluring characters each hiding their own dark secrets. Trust no one while uncovering dire truths – no matter the cost to mind and body.
The Council begins in 1793, with players taking the role of secret society member Louis de Richet after his invitation to a private island off the shores of England by the enigmatic Lord Mortimer. Joining him are a number of high profile guests, including Napoleon Bonaparte and President of the newly-formed United States of America, George Washington. The strange nature of this private reception goes beyond just the prestigious guests –Richet’s own mother has recently gone missing on the island, while each and every one of the colorful cast seems to have their own hidden agendas.
In a new twist for the genre, the core of The Council’s gameplay comes from manipulating and maneuvering through character encounters using the unique Social Influence system. During confrontations, skills and limited resources can be used to gain the upper hand and achieve the desired outcome. Players will be rewarded for their knowledge of each character’s psychological vulnerabilities and immunities, as well as their preparations made during prior exploration and investigation. Failing an encounter does not mean ‘game over’, and no action can be taken back. The consequences are permanent, and may result in persistent physical disfigurements or mental traits that help or hinder the rest of the player’s adventure.
Richet’s numerous skills can be developed to align with your chosen approach to the adventure. Solve issues with diplomacy, delve into occultism to expand your historical and scientific knowledge, or play detective and see what others do not perceive. Your skills will have uses that extend far beyond your conversations with fellow guests. With 15 diverse skills to use and invest in, players are free to uncover The Council’s mysteries how they see fit, with wildly varying consequences depending on their methods. The results will forever alter the life of Louis de Richet, of those around him, and shape history as we know it.
The game has a nice atmosphere and good graphics. However in 5th act occurs a CRITICAL BUG that makes it impossible to progress any further. The player is left in the middle of the story. The bug is discussed in:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/287630/discussions/1/1742227898985572533/
Even though the game developers know about at least it since 2018, they still did not fix it. I can hardly imagine the gaming company that treats players in such a rude and nasty way.
PRO:
- Good RPG skill system. In the beginning, while you aren't that skilled, it really makes you feel the weight of your choices. But, it allows you to use the narrative clues to balance out your weaknesses or shoot yourself in the foot if you ignore the storytelling. All in all, a solid skill system that ties in with the narrative very well.
- The setting. 18th century Europe is a refreshing setting, and the occult elements gives it a very Gothic novel vibe.
- The first part of the story. It is a nice detective/mystery with memorable characters and lots of questions that you feel good about answering. You feel as the many threads of the story gradually come together - very satisfying. The choices you don't make are intriguing too - you can't NOT wonder what you missed out on.
- The detective part. You actually have to pay attention to the narrative and the visual design. In-game comments will help you, but you need to rely on your own memory and wit. Clicking randomly will not be enough. The best part of the game, IMO.
CON:
- All the PROs mentioned before start crumbling with time:
The plot becomes rushed, unnecessarily complex in some places, redundant and unimportant in others. The big plot twist is really bad, and it makes prev. choices feel meaningless.
Your build becomes less relevant. The choices less impactful. There is less choice in general. The game starts to make mistakes in calculating what were your previous choices.
The finale is shameful, both as a narrative and mechanically. As a story, it comes out of nowhere, and the characters involved feel so randomly chosen. As a game, it is tied to very specific skills. Less than a perfect build? Sucks to be you. I actually felt weaker by the end with all of my builds.
CONCLUSION:
Good game overall, starts to go downhill near the 2/3 of the game, awful ending. Do recommend playing it, good fun to be had, but buy it at a discount and be prepared to say "WTF?!" and "Well that sucks" in the second half.
First of all I really dig the setting, I think the 18th century style is rarely explored in video games, especially in adventure type games, and the developers Big Bad Wolf have overdone themselves with the lavish exterior and interior style of the manor and it's surroundings.
As for the character designs, some are solid while the others are on the brink of uncanny valley and are quite unpleasant to look at. (for example Gregory Holms, this face can make you see the geezer in your nightmares!)
They should also used a little bit of polish on their movements and emotional responses, except for a slew characters they mostly look stiff and wooden and even comedic when there is a attempt to make a exagerated expression while a dramatic scene is happening.
Voice acting, ugh, this is also a mixed bag for me, the main character Louis is offputting, they should have found a actor which would put more conviction and interest in the character because in some crucial plot revealing moments he sounds like he only reads the text he was given.
Now for the gameplay itself, it's almost like a classical point and click adventure games, you click on the shinny things, get information or collect what you can, speak with other characters etc.
It's a interesting thing to see the dialogue as a possible battle system (but I do think that Disco Elysium surpassed that in every sense) where you utilize the skills which you are assigned at the start of the game and then gradually upgrade through skill points or if you collect books and manuscripts. If they attempt to make another adventure game like this they should strive to upgrade the system further.
And lastly the story is totally bonkers and over the top, but I do like the moxie to make something like this in day and age when video games are mostly served to certain type of audiences and there is no imagination...
This is a good game, with visible flaws but I do hope the developer will rise to the occasion for the next game.
I'm normally not a fan of "narrative" games, since they're often extremely linear, very light on gameplay, and don't do anything that any other genre can't.
The Council is very different. While still fairly linear, its reliance on RPG mechanics and depth of consequence make the dialogue system feel much more intense than its contemporaries. You can easily screw things up for good, and end up horribly maimed, or lose vital items and allies that you'll need later on.
It's a long chain of intrigue and esoterica connected by clever writing and engaging characters, and punctuated by some of the most clever puzzles I've ever seen.
This game appeared to be a nice adventure game with some puzzles and a dark illuminati-like theme. It delivered on this and went beyond. It delivered a solid story with a solid number of options. Dialogue choices did matter and having a time crunch for some was nice, added to the tension appropriately.
I play games like this for the story far more than the gameplay because I'm not the greatest lover of puzzles. But the game provided enough aids and skills to complete them that I rarely felt like I was doing something I couldn't achieve.
Going deeper into the world one step at a time was most certainly enjoyable and I believe this will be worth a replay in full to make some early choices differently. I didn't have to go back terribly far to see the endings I was most interested in so that was a pleasant surprise with its limiting save system. I definitely rate this as worth buying when on sale.
This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!
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