The Council: Episode 1- The Mad Ones Review

Intrigue and Mystery with People from History
THE COUNCIL - EPISODE 1 - THE MAD ONES REVIEW

When I was a kid there was a board game called Clue, where you had to solve a murder mystery to when the game. The Council is a little like that boardgame. A bunch of high profile people from all over the world is invited to an island mansion for discussions by the mysterious Lord Mortimer, but of course each with their own agenda. As Louis De Richet you are there to figure out what happened to your mother. You will need to take advantage of your skills, traits, and items in order to solve the mystery that is afoot. Come let us rewind time to 1793 and discover the mystery that this island and it’s guests have in store for us. This is our The Council review.

Council Review 1

In “The Council” you play Louis De Richet, who has been invited to a prestigious and secretive meeting in order to find his mother. On this island, there are many high societal members taking part, such as Napoleon Bonaparte and George Washington. Through interacting with the characters and the environment you will uncover clues of the plot taking place on the island as well as the other characters secret agenda. Using skills in conversations is sure to be helpful as they can help you uncover more about the people you run into. 

As Louis De Richet you have a colorful background to choose from at the beginning that will give you 1 level in a set of skills. The background is pretty much your class; Diplomat, Occultist, and Detective. You are not beholden to stick with just one class, you can spend your skill points into the others truly customizing the way you find clues and interact with the NPC’s on the island. It should be noted that not every skill will have the desired effect. Each character has their own vulnerabilities and immunities. Figuring these immunities out is part of playing so that you can navigate conversations to get the information you need to piece together the story. If you choose an option an NPC is immune to during a Confrontation you will lose effort points.

Council Review 2

Confrontations are the social encounters you have with the other characters during the specific scene. In a way, they are like boss battles just through conversation. You will know when you are in one because it will say right before the confrontation, in big red letters. Also to be noted, sometimes when in a confrontation choosing an answer can be time sensitive. Do know that no matter what whether you win or lose, the story will still continue.
If you run out of effort points you are able to restore them with items or through figuring out an NPC’s vulnerability when confronting them. As to what happens when you have no effort points, I would not know as in my playthrough of Chapter 1 I have not run out of effort points yet or have not been able to restore them before the Confrontation. There are many other helpful items as well. There is an Carmelite water where the next skill you use is free, it won’t cost any effort points. The main reason why I have not been without effort points for too long. To make it easy to find the weaknesses and immunities of characters when conversing you can use the Devil’s Thorn. When low on effort points use some Royal Jelly to restore 2 of them. Drinking too many in succession can lead to negative statuses but that is ok because if you have a Golden Elixir you can get rid of that status effect.

Council Review 3

The Good and Bad

A lot is good about this game. The story premise is great, it really pulls you in with the mystery and intrigue. The graphics are great, they really nailed the atmosphere with the lighting and character design. Having to find clues during the mission before confronting a character is really fun. It gives you a chance to explore a bit and not only learn more about the NPC’s but also in a way more about Mr. Mysterious himself, Lord Mortimer.

As far as bad goes it’s only the first chapter so there isn’t much to go off of. I do find one thing strange and that is the way Louis De Richet speaks sometimes. Whereas it does go to show he is a very intricate and smart man, but I feel the way he speaks sometimes feels a bit off. There are times when his speech is very cut and dry, straight to the point, that is not bad. Good in fact as a person who is there to find his mother, I would definitely get straight to the point. There are also times when it seems full of fluff. By fluff I mean it’s like Louis takes the 10-mile walk in words to reach a point that could’ve been reached just by making a right a corner 9 miles back. Now it is not the games fault really, everything fits for the time, era, and situation. He is a person not used to being around these high societal people so he has to do some posturing in order to gain the respect of these people that hold his mother in such high regard. I would say it just because I was born in modern times and we are able to now shorten sentences to a direct point without posturing. Now, this is also what I got from the choices I made so your play experience may not be the same. You may not experience any of what I’m talking about, thus it is not a bad thing, it just takes some getting used to.

Overall The Council’s first chapter has been great and fun. I have played through it twice so far just to see other options and endings to the first chapter. If you enjoy mystery and intrigue in a murder mystery sort of fashion you will love this game. I’m looking forward to the future chapters because I need to know what happens next as I arrived at a bit of a cliffhanger ending for my first playthrough of chapter 1. I feel like the story is going to ramp up by chapter 3 and 4.

Note: Our copy was reviewed on (platform) with a code provided by PR.

SCORE:  8.5/10

Pros

  • Great Atmosphere
  • Intriguing story
  • Great design

Cons 

  • One chapter so far
  • Roundabout way of speaking

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