The Council - Episode 5: Checkmate

While The Council's meager finale is indicative of its inability to meet the lofty expectations it set for itself early on, there's still a lot to like for fans of the genre. Your acceptance and enjoyment of the story's twists and shoddy lore will determine just how much you like it, though.

Quotation forthcoming.

When looking at the episode alone, The Council: Episode 5 - Checkmate is fairly weak. Its brevity feels rather unfulfilling, and that feeling is only reinforced by some of the abruptness of the decisions made here. When looking at this episode as the conclusion of the season, the abrupt changes aren't enough to cancel out the intriguing story that has developed over the course of the season. Despite the low score given to this episode, the game as a whole lives up to the promise of being different and interesting, and there is hope for the development team's next effort (whatever it may be).

The gameplay of the last episode is disappointing, but The Council is still a great game as a whole.

This final chapter of The Council shines in its art design and provides a great way to take sides in the final intrigue. Unfortunately, the ending is expeditive and a bit disappointing. Moreover, the game still having some problems with animations, lips sync and framerate.

In many ways, it's not Checkmate's fault that it's not that enjoyable. The blame certainly goes to the previous chapters of The Council, which failed in being engrossing enough for anyone to care for what happens next. That being said, this doesn't get a free pass, as it doesn't fix any of its problems.