The Council Reviews

very gud game

Choice actually matter

This has sat in my library for years. I finally got around to actually playing it and all I can say is "impressive". I dont know of many games set in this time period. Music is fantastic, graphics are great and the story always kept me intrigued. I like how all the choices you make are permanent and very, very consequential. There are a few puzzles that I found frustrating, but I'm retarded so that might be why, but you can look them up if you cannot figure them out. Without giving too much away, I was thoroughly disappointed with my own ending and put my hand on my head when I suddenly realised what was happening. Very fun game, for just over a £1 on sale, its a great ROI for cost per hour of gameplay.

Nice enough, I think. Interesting story, with lots of mysteries! Some good riddles, some only ok. The rpg parts are ok as well, although you can use almost all the abilities, as you find enough consumables for it. You can get vastly different endings with only slight differences during gameplay, which is... life I guess?

Very interesting game. Story is good, fun to be amidst important people from history. Choices really matter. Good RPG system.

Excelent story game. Especially if you like history, theology, mythology and "Illuminati" vibes. Cleverness, exploration, logical thinking are rewarded, if you struggle, use your skills to help you along the way. Characters are strong, plot has twists and turns and every few hours you will be asking yourself "the tension is so high, the resolution must be near, how am I not even half way trough?"

The concept is really cool, a dialogue-heavy mystery with RPG elements, but the execution falls flat. The pacing is slow, the animations are stiff, and the story starts strong but gets weirder and messier the longer you play. The choices feel important at first, but by the end, it doesn’t really pay off. It had potential, but I just couldn’t stay invested.

A really cool mix of adventure game and RPG mechanics! Before anything else, YES, all your choices do matter however big or small the effect is, it always does something that might have repercussions later or give you specific information for use later. A lot of the fun is definitely the RPG mechanics and using them to your advantage. The story is also a very interesting take on historical fiction and with the great atmosphere by the mansion and the characters makes it very immersive. I also love the puzzles and how they are integrated with the RPG mechanics. I thoroughly enjoyed the game right until the end, for me, I found it very satisfying. Now it's not perfect however, the frame rate sometimes stutters, and there are a lot of times where characters clip through hair and clothing which kind of takes you out of it, and I found a handful of typos. Plus I also think episodes 4 and 5 were not paced as well as episodes 1-3. Like jarring cuts and fade outs, and scenes sometimes feeling like someone pressed fast forward and we missed something. It didn't totally ruin the game for me, though I can see why this would frustrate many other players so just go in expecting a not so clean finish to the end. I do still really like the mechanics they did plus how they executed them, with the choices really feeling important by the end and seeing what others experienced also made me enjoy the game more, seeing how vastly different playthroughs can be. I recommend this game as long as you are down for the gripes above, but if you really like the idea of choices actually mattering and the concept of RPG mechanics in an adventure game that actually melds well, then go try this one out!

Interesting premise, but it definitely feels like the team had no idea where the story was going at the start and tried to wing it as they went. The details don't always line up from episode to episode, and major plot elements get tossed out without a second thought. The story in general falls on its face in the 4th episode and doesn't recover. The 5th episode... exists. I can't say much more for it than that. I got it for $1.49 though, so no regrets.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 232: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (8/10) [i]The Council [/i]is one of those games that feels like it shouldn’t work, and yet somehow, it absolutely does. It’s messy, yes. But it’s also daring, weirdly smart, and packed with enough political intrigue, occult mysteries, and branching dialogue trees to make any Telltale fan perk up. Its mechanics are bold and genuinely refreshing, even when the game struggles to keep up with its own ambition. Between the skill-based conversations, occult storytelling, and branching consequences, it earns a place among the most interesting narrative RPGs, even if it’s not the most polished (and has an awful ending). 🔮 [b]Pros:[/b] [list] [*] Bold narrative choices that actually matter. This isn’t one of those “illusion of choice” games. Your background, skills, and dialogue decisions dramatically change how scenes play out—and entire characters or plotlines can vanish based on what you say. It's one of the few games where I truly felt like I was steering the story, not just watching it. [*] The RPG dialogue system is truly one of a kind. Rather than just choosing lines from a list, [i]The Council [/i]lets you build your character’s social and intellectual skill set, and those choices dramatically affect how conversations go. Each dialogue has “confrontation” segments where you’re under time pressure to pick the right responses—and many options are locked behind stats like Psychology, Etiquette, or Science. You don’t just pick what sounds cool; you use your skills to outmaneuver people in real-time. It turns dialogue into actual gameplay. And if you mess up, you live with it. [*] Skills matter more than weapons or inventory. The game leans into the idea of intellect as your power. Want to disarm someone in a debate? Use Conviction. Want to bluff your way past a suspicious noble? Try Subterfuge. You can tailor your entire playthrough around being a charismatic manipulator, a cold logician, or even a religious scholar. Different builds open entirely new scenes, interactions, or solutions. And that’s just so cool. [*] Resource management adds real tension. Every skill check costs Effort Points, a limited resource you have to manage. Use too many, and you're vulnerable. Use items to regain them, but beware of side effects like addiction or penalties. This turns even basic conversations into puzzles: Should I spend my last 3 points to break this guy down? Or save them in case I need to use Science to solve a puzzle later? [*] Twisty, pulpy plot that leans HARD into the occult. What starts as a missing person mystery turns into a Dan Brown fever dream. Secret societies, historical figures (hi, George Washington!), demonic visions, philosophical debates, and full-on supernatural turns. It goes there, and I loved it for that. [*] Period setting with personality. The 1790s French island mansion is lavish and mysterious, filled with rich tapestries, candlelight, and art you can actually analyze. It’s like a murder mystery dinner party with Illuminati. The setting sells it, even when the character animations don't. [*] A bold commitment to consequence. There’s no quicksaving. If you fail a confrontation, misread a clue, or blow your chance to charm someone—you live with it. Major events and even character fates hinge on your success or failure. The stakes feel real, because they are. [*] Janky, but charming. Facial animations can be rough. Voice acting ranges from solid to hilariously stiff. But once you’re in the groove, the jank kind of becomes part of the appeal. It adds this off-kilter vibe that matches the increasingly surreal story. [/list] 🩻 [b]Cons:[/b] [list] [*]Writing can be uneven—and occasionally overwrought. Some dialogue is clever and tense, especially in skill checks, but at other times it becomes stilted or meanders into clunky exposition. Characters occasionally speak like they're reading aloud from a philosophy textbook, and the pacing suffers when conversations drag on without much payoff. [*] Facial animations and body language are stiff at best. Don’t expect mocap magic here—characters emote like wax figures and often don’t match the tone of their dialogue. It’s serviceable, but immersion suffers when dramatic moments are delivered with wide-eyed stares and awkward gestures. [*] Some puzzles are deeply obscure. While some are clever, others feel designed to frustrate. Without hints or intuitive logic, you’ll either brute force your way through or look up a guide. [*] No map, minimal guidance, and too much backtracking. You’ll often be told to "find someone" or "go to the salon" with no help locating them. In a mansion of identical corridors and locked doors, this can get old fast. Especially when you’re walking in circles to trigger the next cutscene. [*] The ending is rushed, incoherent, and deeply unsatisfying. After building up a complex web of characters, lore, and moral decisions, [i]The Council’s[/i] final chapter dumps a truckload of exposition and then ends abruptly. Choices you've made across multiple episodes seem to collapse into a single moment with barely any resolution. It feels like the writers ran out of time—or interest—and it robs the story of emotional closure. [/list]