THE COUNCIL – COMPLETE SEASON
This narrative adventure threatens to make devil’s advocates of us all
Nine months after the first episode released, and Louis de Richet arrived on an island to learn what had happened to his mother, I’ve still got my ear pressed up to that door. The conclusion of this season has long since been played but I’m still here, straining for just one more whisper. The game uses artistic licence in its approach to history, and has a tabletop sensibility, with conversational choices being gated by skill checks. Even if you go for a Jack-of-All-Tradesbuild when creating your Louis, you still have to contend with your conversational partner’s vulnerabilities and immunities, plus the fact you have a finite number of points to expend on skill checks. These barriers to picking the right thing to say make confrontations tense.
Your social successes can unlock unique traits that give you perks, mechanical milestones that reflect how your version of Louis develops. It’s all in aid of a familiar illusion, that of freedom, but these wrinkles make the casting of it feel fresh and will have genre fans eager to return to the island manor.
CROWN JEWELS
A similarly thoughtful approach is reflected in the puzzles, some of which are impressively involved. However, the quality of these is not sustained, with the high point coming several episodes before the season’s finale. But the road to that ending is worth taking.
While the supernatural is alluded to from the beginning, the story takes a hard left turn into it with a quick succession of revelations – which also adds another power to your persuasive repertoire. Without spoiling anything, I will say it gives you an edge when gathering information, and you’ll wish you’d gained it earlier and had more opportunity to use it.
As the season wraps it’s hard not to feel like there’s a lack of closure of several loose threads that were enjoyable to pull at over time. For one, a number of characters’ true natures were revealed, but the ending to their stories betrayed little of any soul-searching that may have followed. The final confrontation also felt like an anticlimax, especially compared to the one preceding it.
Speaking of climaxes, before that showdown you’re treated to dream-like environments and the visual direction at its best. Sadly, the character models’ stiff animations never fully convince, proving to be the main sticking point for the presentation. But even though the guests visiting Lord Mortimer’s estate are a little awkward, it should take more than that to keep you away.
“YOUR SOCIAL SUCCESSES CAN UNLOCK UNIQUE TRAITS, THAT GIVE YOU PERKS.”