Episode One : The Mad Ones

TL;DR Feel free to add me to talk! I'll do my best to help out however I can.

This is a story game that focuses and revolves completely around player choice and the character you create. The Characters and story are extremely well written and graphics are great to look at; thematically. You are Louis, an investigator sent to solve a case of your own mother's disappearance . Filled with political intrigue, personal strife and characters that feel human; the story is by far the strongest point of the game.

That being said, The Council does struggle from some problems in terms of the controls, camera movement and the facial animations. Controls are also acceptable, but a tad too unresponsive for my liking. Most annoying of all I'd say is the INABILITY TO SKIP CUTSCENES .

In conclusion, if you can tolerate the technical faults and slightly annoying facial animations and still enjoy the strong plot which is carried by some of the most human characters in games I've played, The Council is definitely the right choice for you. I can't wait for the next episode to be released.


Full Review
If you're looking for an action adventure game where you play as a badass detective in Revolutionary France, bursting through windows, playing bad cop/good cop or pulling some crazy wild west shootouts; This isn't the game for you. Just making it clear.

Gameplay and techincal bits This is a story-driven, cinematic heavy and exposition based game. You play as Louis de Richet, an investigator of sorts, taking on a case to discover what happened to your mother; whom you're apprenticed under during her visit to a mystery island. The game features a great amount of refreshing player choice right from the get go that I personally feel gives Telltale Games a serious run for their money. That being said, this is still a vastly different game where your decisions and what options are open to you are determined by what character you create through a class system. When the game shines is during confrontations and conversations, whereby the element of player choice is driven home. One wrong move can literally have game changing implications, and I LOVE that feeling of high stakes. Being kept on your toes to make sure you note every person's details is a truly refreshing experience. However, the game does suffer in terms of camera nad movement controls being a little unresponsive and uncooperative especially during exploration and interacting with items and other characters.

Camera controls are a little wonky when the character walks through or into tight spaces and corners, which makes the camera go into your character's viewmodel, making it difficult to collect items that you require. Controls are also acceptable, but a tad too unresponsive for my liking. Most annoying of all I'd say is the INABILITY TO SKIP CUTSCENES .


Story and Atmosphere The game itself is a fantastic cinematic and interactive experience, however it does come with it's own host of problems. The game has extremely breathtaking graphics for the surroundings and environment, that look absolutely gorgeous in ultra settings. BASED OFF THE FIRST EPISODE I feel that the writing is superb and caught my interest once the 5 minute prologue/tutorial was over. All the supporting and secondary characters feel real and have genuine motivations and behaviours that reflect these motivations. As a huge fan of story-driven games, I feel that this is absolutely the strongest point of this game; The Story and Plot.

Facial animations and especially lip-syncing are obviously a little janky but nothing that can't be ignored( not Mass Effect; Andromeda level bad ), while the voice acting is satisfactory. And that's what holds it back from a maximum score is its sub-par facial animations and voice acting(for some characters), which if fixed easily earns The Council a perfect score for Story.


Sound Design There have been games where the soundtrack was absolutely unforgettable, but unfortunately the Council is not one of those games. The musical score for the most part was felt the same throughout the episode; no tension fueled notes when a climactic event was happening, nor was there any sombere tones during a more quiet human moment. There's nothing much to say for this particular aspect of the game in my personal experience because there's nothing that truly stands out from an auditory aspect.

* I'll be updating this whenever a new episode comes out so, do check back if you're thinking of picking up the game in the future

The council is a great cinematic experience for anyone that's looking for a dark, grity story with a heavy, heavy emphasis on player choice. An unpolished game, that's brought down by it's annoying controls and satisfactory voice acting and facial animations. If you can look past these non game-breaking flaws and enjoy the game for its strongest point; it's plot and story, you're sure to have as fantastic a experience with The Council as I had. I heartily recommend this game to those story buffs out there like myself.

I write reviews and have my own professional site so do feel free to contact me here via steam or drop me an email at hey@jeraldoon.com for anything you've got in mind.

[h1] The Council Review [/h1] [b] Episode One : The Mad Ones [/b] [i] TL;DR [/i] Feel free to add me to talk! I'll do my best to help out however I can. This is a story game that focuses and revolves completely around player choice and the character you create. The Characters and story are extremely well written and graphics are great to look at; thematically. You are Louis, an investigator sent to solve a case of [spoiler] your own mother's disappearance [/spoiler]. Filled with political intrigue, personal strife and characters that feel human; the story is by far the strongest point of the game. That being said, The Council does struggle from some problems in terms of the controls, camera movement and the facial animations. Controls are also acceptable, but a tad too unresponsive for my liking. Most annoying of all I'd say is the [b] INABILITY TO SKIP CUTSCENES [/b]. [b] In conclusion, if you can tolerate the technical faults and slightly annoying facial animations and still enjoy the strong plot which is carried by some of the most human characters in games I've played, The Council is definitely the right choice for you. I can't wait for the next episode to be released. [/b] [h1] A flawed, innovative and interactive movie [/h1] [i] Full Review [/i] If you're looking for an action adventure game where you play as a badass detective in Revolutionary France, bursting through windows, playing bad cop/good cop or pulling some crazy wild west shootouts; [u] This isn't the game for you. [/u] Just making it clear. [b] Gameplay and techincal bits [/b] [h1] Decent 7.5/10 [/h1] This is a story-driven, cinematic heavy and exposition based game. You play as Louis de Richet, an investigator of sorts, taking on a case to discover what happened to your mother; whom you're apprenticed under during her visit to a mystery island. The game features a great amount of refreshing player choice right from the get go that I personally feel gives Telltale Games a serious run for their money. That being said, this is still a vastly different game where your decisions and what options are open to you are determined by what character [b] you create [/b] through a class system. When the game shines is during confrontations and conversations, whereby the element of player choice is driven home. One wrong move can literally have game changing implications, and I [b] LOVE [/b] that feeling of high stakes. Being kept on your toes to make sure you note every person's details is a truly refreshing experience. However, the game does suffer in terms of camera nad movement controls being a little unresponsive and uncooperative especially during exploration and interacting with items and other characters. Camera controls are a little wonky when the character walks through or into tight spaces and corners, which makes the camera go into your character's viewmodel, making it difficult to collect items that you require. Controls are also acceptable, but a tad too unresponsive for my liking. Most annoying of all I'd say is the [b] INABILITY TO SKIP CUTSCENES [/b]. [b] Story and Atmosphere [/b] [h1] Solid 9/10 [/h1] The game itself is a fantastic cinematic and interactive experience, however it does come with it's own host of problems. The game has extremely breathtaking graphics for the surroundings and environment, that look absolutely gorgeous in ultra settings. [b] BASED OFF THE FIRST EPISODE [/b] I feel that the writing is superb and caught my interest once the 5 minute prologue/tutorial was over. All the supporting and secondary characters feel real and have genuine motivations and behaviours that reflect these motivations. As a huge fan of story-driven games, I feel that this is absolutely the strongest point of this game; The Story and Plot. Facial animations and especially lip-syncing are obviously a little janky but nothing that can't be ignored([i] not Mass Effect; Andromeda level bad [/i]), while the voice acting is satisfactory. And that's what holds it back from a maximum score is its sub-par facial animations and voice acting(for some characters), which if fixed easily earns The Council a perfect score for Story. [b] Sound Design [/b] [h1] Nothing Special 6/10 [/h1] There have been games where the soundtrack was absolutely unforgettable, but unfortunately the Council is not one of those games. The musical score for the most part was felt the same throughout the episode; no tension fueled notes when a climactic event was happening, nor was there any sombere tones during a more quiet human moment. There's nothing much to say for this particular aspect of the game in my personal experience because there's nothing that truly stands out from an auditory aspect. [h1] Overall 7.5/10 [/h1] *[i] I'll be updating this whenever a new episode comes out so, do check back if you're thinking of picking up the game in the future [/i] The council is a great cinematic experience for anyone that's looking for a dark, grity story with a heavy, heavy emphasis on player choice. An unpolished game, that's brought down by it's annoying controls and satisfactory voice acting and facial animations. If you can look past these non game-breaking flaws and enjoy the game for its strongest point; it's plot and story, you're sure to have as fantastic a experience with The Council as I had. I heartily recommend this game to those story buffs out there like myself. I write reviews and have my own professional site so do feel free to contact me here via steam or drop me an email at hey@jeraldoon.com for anything you've got in mind.