- Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
- Release Date: Mar 13, 2018
- Also On: PC, Xbox One
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Mar 30, 2018The skill system, leveling up, confrontations and the immunity/weakness system are all fantastic game design choices that really get you invested in the game. Pair those with superb writing and a beautiful location to explore, and this is one fantastic start to this episodic series. If you're a mystery hound like me that can appreciate these twists to the genre, I think you'll agree that Episode 2 can't come fast enough...
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Mar 19, 2018The Council: Episode 1, The Mad Ones is a treasure thanks to a great story that’s well-told, some of the highest Interactive Movie production values I’ve seen, and a skill and experience system that serves to make it even deeper and more replayable than it already was. And the cliffhanger ending? It’s so compelling that I can’t wait for the next chapter to arrive.
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Mar 13, 2018The Council does away with a lot of the superficial feeling that modern adventure games have, and with its skill system, invests you in the personal development of the main character. I was able to get into this game in a way I've been unable to with adventure games for the last few years. It was a treat to play, and I can't wait for the remaining four episodes.
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Mar 13, 2018The Council Episode One is a thunderously promising start for this fresh, sophisticated and intelligent take on the narrative adventure.
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Mar 13, 2018While missing some of the polish other games might have, The Council feels like it could be the next step in the genre thanks to branching narratives that feel much weightier than before and a mystery you can't help but be drawn into.
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Apr 13, 2018The Council isn’t a perfect start, but it is quite a wonderful foundation to build upon.
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Mar 27, 2018It’s disappointing that some notable flaws, from dialogue and voice acting to performance issues, hold back The Mad Ones’ full potential. While the negatives can — and should — be addressed going forward, it’s not enough to take the shine off The Council. The Mad Ones captures the ethos of episodic gaming and brings a unique signature style that will have an immediate, lasting impression on players.
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Mar 20, 2018Aside from the stilted voice acting and ugly visuals, The Council gets off to an excellent start with The Mad Ones. The over-arching plot is sufficiently intriguing, while the light RPG mechanics gives the narrative adventure genre the kick in the pants it has needed.
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Mar 19, 2018The Mad Ones is really a good start for this new series of adventures. We're looking forward to see where the developer wants to bring us.
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Mar 13, 2018A promising start. The Mad Ones builds the framework for what can be a wild narrative ride, but it’s not clear yet how far this game will go in terms of its branching paths, or if the narrative will remain interesting throughout. I’m excited to learn more about the deceptive world of The Council and what Louis will uncover in upcoming episodes.
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Mar 13, 2018A different kind of narrative adventure that mixes historical and fictional characters in an interesting story. The Mad Ones is a promising start for the total of five chapters that The Council will have, having a good duration and introducing the new RPG based mechanics that can make the game unique.
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Mar 30, 2018The first episode of The Council is a pleasant surprise. Big Bad Wolf has succeeded in inserting a snappy roleplaying system into a historical investigative-style narrative adventure, and the implications are surprisingly original, brilliant and ambitious. There are minor flows in the script and technical-wise it's quite clumsy, but it’s a good opening episode indeed.
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Mar 13, 2018The Council tries to do something new with the narrative adventure genre and it succeeds. An very interesting mix of narrative and RPG, with a promising cast and premise.
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Apr 22, 2018The Council is a good attempt to refresh the narrative adventure genre, that starts to feel a little bit too repetitive these days. Although it's not based on a popular intellectual property, it does offer a story full of mystery and some interesting characters.
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Mar 25, 2018The first episode of The Council gives hope for the rest of the series: an intriguing mystery with superb RPG elements in a new episodic jacket. Let's hope Big Bad Wolf fixes some of the animations.
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Mar 17, 2018The story is intriguing and genuinely surprising. The skill trees and RPG elements add a personal touch that other similar games simply do not emulate.
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Mar 14, 2018If you can get past the slow start and some of the glaring technical problems of The Mad Ones, then you will find the most innovative episodic adventure game to come from a studio other than Telltale.
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Mar 14, 2018It's tough to provide a definitive review on a chapter-based game, but The Council is off to a good start with its gameplay based on social interactions and a very nice artistic touch. A good spin on the Telltale recipe.
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Playstation Official Magazine UKMay 9, 2018This mysterious mish-mash doesn't always work but nonetheless has my interest piqued and keeps my ears pricked up for the next bit of juicy gossip. [May 2018, p.94]
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Apr 11, 2018The first episode of The Council sets the basis for an interesting adventure game, which cleverly uses some of the classic gameplay elements of RPGs. If in the next few episodes the narrative structure becomes more malleable, we will have to deal with a small masterpiece of the genre.
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Mar 22, 2018An impressively realised branching adventure game where your choices carry genuine weight. The first episode of The Council is well worth playing and we look forward to subsequent episodes.
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Mar 20, 2018Despite my frustrations with its shortcomings, I want to see where The Council leads me, and if it manages to deliver a narrative payoff in spite of itself.
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Mar 15, 2018The Council: The Mad Ones is a good start. Adding RPG elements in a classic adventure game is a very good idea, but there's something wrong in the reactions. Also, the graphics are outdated.
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Mar 13, 2018This first episode takes its time to introduce the plot of the Council as well as the RPG mechanics. They suit the narrative genre very well, allowing the player to follow its own path through the choices of the game.
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Mar 13, 2018The opening episode isn’t exactly the most gripping of affairs, as this slow burning, political drama takes a while to get going and isn’t helped by poor presentation and dull puzzles. But there is potential here for an interesting story to be told in future episodes.
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Mar 13, 2018Despite its promising new mechanics that make conversation a game of strategy, the interaction between its characters lets The Council episode one down.
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Mar 13, 2018The Council has impressive ambitions – even if its execution is not up to scratch. You’ll already know whether its alternate history backdrop appeals to you, but it’s the RPG elements that threaten to disrupt the narrative genre. We already like what this series is doing, but the writing and voice acting leaves a little to be desired. That said, this is a solid start, even if it is a bit too early to come to any conclusions about the overall story just yet.
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Mar 13, 2018The Mad Ones’ episode lays the foundation of a potentially intriguing mystery narrative, part An Inspector Calls, part Murder on the Orient Express. The Social Influence system, if implemented well through the rest of the episodes, really could be a game changer for narrative adventures, evolving a genre that has needed fresh ideas for a while.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 48
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Mixed: 7 out of 48
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Negative: 7 out of 48
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Jan 25, 2019
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Mar 13, 2018
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Apr 29, 2023This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.