The Council from the Big Bad Wolf Studios presents itself as a promising title with a very peculiar story set in the 19th century. It combines some elements of adventure games, such as dialogue and exploration, and RPG, as it presents a skill tree with progression from the character itself.
I confess that this was a guilty pleasure of mine, since this title was released in March 2018 and there are tons of games being released every day.
Set in 1793, the player takes the role of Loius de Richet, a young Frenchman who with his mother are members of an Illuminati-like organization known as The Golden Order. While on business at one of Lord Mortimer’s parties, Sarah de Richet has disappeared without a trace, setting the stage for a series of 5 episodes that mostly revolves around where she’s gone. Was she murdered?
Although all the characters present on the island have tried to find Sarah, only a few traces of life have been found, or so they say.
Determined to unravel the mystery of his mother’s sudden disappearance, Loius accepts the invitation to the next big party, made by the aristocrat Lord Mortimer on his own island, where he comes across several illustrious figures of the time.
From the beginning of the game, you’re introduced to an intriguing series of characters and a setup wholly unlike what the rest of the genre has offered over the past few years. Throughout the adventure, Loius spends most of his time collecting information and clues from the other characters on the island to decipher what happened to his mother.
In this title, all actions have a consequence, which leads to different directions and finals with several hypotheses. Let’s say it is a kind of telltale game within an RPG.
As in an RPG game where the player evolved the character, in this case, it is possible to gain new skills when making conversation decisions. It is possible to choose between three quite distinct fields, although it is possible to place points in several subclasses within the main classes. It is thus possible to choose the field of Politics, Detective, and Occultist.
This mechanic ensures that you must put thought into each response rather than trying one out and just hoping that things work out. Unlike in many other adventure games, The Council makes it feel like something is truly on the line. If you really like a particular character but make potentially problematic decisions, you could actually end up losing them.
These actions may not take effect right after the dialogue, but in the long run, some less positive situations may appear with this character.
Graphically The Council is a game that is a little confusing. Although the mansion and all its surroundings look good, with all the remarkable works of art of several famous painters, classy furniture and exuberant decorations appropriate to the time, some characters are a little strange, to say the least. Your Eminence Cardinal Giuseppe Piaggi says so! It often seems to have a turtle neck where all its textures are super off.
The Council is a fantastic example of what adventure games are capable of, with tons of content, choices, and striking characters that caught me completely off guard.
