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 Counicl is a Character driven adventure game. The characters are great, and especially hit the spot for a history buff. The dialogue choices have real consequences, and it is important to get to know each character. The 19th century scenery is spectacular.
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.