Average Playtime: 4 hours

The Council

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About

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.

Metascore
76
Release date
Developer
Big Bad Wolf
Publisher
Focus Home Interactive
Age rating
17+ Mature
Website
http://thecouncil-game.com/

System requirements for Xbox One

System requirements for PlayStation 4

System requirements for PC

Minimum:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
  • Processor: Intel Core i3-2125 (3.3 GHz)/AMD FX-4100 (3.6 GHz)
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 1 GB, GeForce GTX 750/Radeon R7 360
  • Storage: 15 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR GAME ACTIVATION
Recommended:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
  • Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 (3.4 GHz)/AMD FX-8370 (4.0 GHz)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 4 GB, GeForce GTX 960/Radeon R9 380
  • Storage: 15 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED FOR GAME ACTIVATION
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Last Modified: Nov 12, 2024

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1,000,000 items
7.71%
Knight of the Golden Order
Collect all the trophies
15.68%
Veteran
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18.27%
Novice diplomat
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18.84%
Apprentice diplomat
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The Council reviews and comments

Storytelling masterpiece with gorgeous character designs like The Dutchess and Emily Hillsburrow both of those characters I loved those character designs are fantastic and example of what we need more of cultured and beautiful woman characters not uglified nerfed hideous designs we get in current radfem destroyed western gaming since about 2019,this game also has three dimensional characters and superb masterful writing,worldbuilding and storytelling. It's entertaining and fun and has great choice and consequence mechanics and amazing storytelling with many branching paths.
10/10 highly recommend it if you enjoy telltale games or Detroit Become Human there is a high chance you will love this.
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«Boooring»
If you want a story-driven game where choices matter, this feels like a solid choice. I picked it up on sale for $5 and it kept me guessing to the end. And it made me live with my mistakes, which was rough! I'm so used to being a bit reckless in games, only to have them roll things back for me to try again, but not this game.  At the end of each chapter, it lists all the ways you failed and what opportunities you missed. That might sound awful, but really it just makes you want to play it all over again. 

I just finished my first playthrough. I did not get a good ending at all, but I'm going to wait a bit to forget some of the details before I start over and see if I can do better with my choices and my skill points.
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
The Council-Review You belong to an Order and are on the Lookout for your Mother, who is also a member of the same Order. She was invited to an Island she hasn't come back from. Basically, this is where your Adventure begins. The Council has quite a lot of In-game sequences where you can intervene from time to time, but more on that. It's set in the Past and it's about an Order and the missing Mother as I said. Each Character in the Game has their own Personality and Secrets. You have to look behind the Façade and find out what happened to find your Mother again. You can choose from 3 Character classes at the Beginning. The Agony of Choice Then you actually sit there and think to yourself, "Okay ... 3 Character Classes. So What can they do? " So you first read through the Description and notice that the Game becomes huge in terms of the solutions. There are character Classes--The Diplomats--He can negotiate well and does well what a Diplomat is good at. Also possibly looking behind the Façade of the Characters--The Detective--This Detects around and can question people and secretly take things and examine Them. Since I've only played with--the Occultist--so far, I can say a little more about this one. The Occultist can manipulate People and use words to get the Other person to tell you more and thus to sphy out his Secrets. Also, the Occultist Is loading and is very good at sciences, which can be an Advantage with some Puzzles Yes-I price the Occultists here, but I'm sure that the Developers have given each Character the Opportunity to solve Puzzles neatly. An Example is a Piece of Paper where something was written with Secret Ink. The Scientifically gifted person will probably know how to make this Font visible again, while other Character classes probably have a different Solution ... So far I have not even dealt with the other Character Classes. But what everyone has In Common are probably the Talent Points. Anyone can distribute Talent points and thus in the respective Professions (in The Occultist Science, Beauty, Manipulation) in others probably more other Skills that one can increase. Watch out where you use something!!! Using skills is limited. They cost Points. One has Initially I think I have 6-7 in mind, which can be multiplied later. After any Benefit of a Skill, be it to manipulate someone or what scientific Or remember where to have read what, the Points drop. Enteagainst can be used by Distributing Talent points between the respective Ability or by Potions that give these Points back or Even expand them by a Point Or cancel negative Effects. Conversations are first Class The Sequences are basically the Conversations as well. In many Conversations you have a certain Time to Answer, for some you don't. Every Conversation, every Path you choose to do, changes the Story sustainably, even in the following Episodes, where the Impact is likely to be greatest here than in telltale games. There are Confrontations in Conversations, among other Things. Here it is important for The Other things to do something to convince Each other or to tell you something specific, basically to chat up Secrets. You then have a Confrontation Bar at the top. You have a certain Number of False Attempts, if you have not managed to continue the Conversation to the last Point, but is considered a Failure. Important Things could be missed here. But even in the Confrontations, you can use your Talents like Manipulation and the like-with point costs, of course. Story is captivating Comparing the Game with other Games of this Kind you can already see things here. For Example, I wanted to know what happens if I had gone with Emily instead of Elisabeth. While with me the End of the Story was a completely different one than with another Livestreamer/Lets Player, I was convinced ... I want to start the Game after I have the game through definitely another Try, maybe as a Detective to see how the Game develops so then. So It has tremendous Replay value ... Unfortunately, the first Episode is currently only available and I am Eagerly awaiting The 2nd. Hope she's coming soon ... Because I'm hyped. Update: Now there are already 3 Episodes and these Episodes keep the Quality. The Adventure remains exciting and exciting.
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Favorite Thing: The story took a little too long to get going but once it did I enjoyed it.
Least Favorite Thing: If you want to keep a good stock of items and not miss any conversations the game forces you into this boring loop of thread the same paths over and over each time things reset for a new episode/quest.

Date Completed: 2019-03-17
Playtime: ~ 16h
Enjoyment: 7/10
Recommendation: The story is interesting enough to be worth your time.
The game seems to be not ready for the release. Now it’s full of bugs, typos and other mistakes. There are “such bad that even funny” things like dialogues and the voice acting, but some mechanics are simply frustrating. You can’t skip the scenes you’ve already seen, the cursor speed is too slow even maximized and the camera is always too close to the characters. Why didn’t they make a first-person view? The world will never know. There is a lot of work with the game to do - and maybe one day it’ll become playable.
Despite a bug with servants everything is very nice here. The bug is quite funny though: the servants confuse the floors in the Manor. They are sure that the first floor is the second and the second is the third. However, this little confusing moment doesn’t ruin the story which is really involving and exciting. If the developers let to use the keys 1-4 to consume items, the gameplay will become perfect too!
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