The Council - Episode 1: The Mad Ones

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. TheSixthAxis
    Mar 13, 2018
    The 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 Reviews

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User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 48 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 48
  3. Negative: 7 out of 48
  1. gavin786
    Jan 25, 2019
    10
    Great Game-I hope the publisher makes a lot more, much better than Telltale Games' offerings. Fantastic game, intriguing, fantasticGreat Game-I hope the publisher makes a lot more, much better than Telltale Games' offerings. Fantastic game, intriguing, fantastic mechanics, great plot!… Full Review »
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Mar 13, 2018
    6
    The Council
    off the a rough Start
    The council is a narrative focused episodic adventure game, this game will eventually have 5 episodes, but    The Council
    off the a rough Start
    The council is a narrative focused episodic adventure game, this game will eventually have 5 episodes, but at the time of this review there is only one.
    Episode 1 the mad ones took me around 2 and a half hours to complete and is a very slow start.
    The game starts in the year 1793, you play a Louis de Richet, a member of a secret society...
    You’re invited to a private island off of the shores of England, but your mother is nowhere to be found...
    You spend the game trying to get information and find her.
    In hindsight, this is a pretty intriguing story being set up...
    There’s a secret society… historical figures like my homie George Washington are around, you have these crazy that’s so raven visions where you’re looking through the eyes of different characters that will randomly hit you..
    There’s tons of mystery and historical artifacts and paintings... creepy and intriguing characters…
    it’s just the delivery of this game is so slow, that instead of feeling like you’re immersed in history...
    You feel as though you’re immersed in a history lecture...
    The game doesn’t start to get exciting until its final chapter in this episode...
    The other chapters are so sluggish and boring.
    The gameplay features pretty light adventure aspects, I enjoyed these short breaks to solve a puzzle, theyre not hard enough to make you look up a guide, but enough to make you stop and think... and stopping to think is important as every action made in this game has consequences...
    For example I was trying to decipher a code and by trying everything I could, I ruined half of a clue, so I had to do a later puzzle in the game the hard way, with logic and trial and error…
    There’s also an effort system in this game...
    Effort depletes by mental and physical choices within the game
    There’s a high focus here on psychology, it’s all about manipulation, deceit, and attention to detail…
    You’ll get points based off of actions you complete during a chapter and at that chapters end you can dump your skill points in different skills to unlock more dialog choices during a confrontation, our youll have the ability to unlock doors and boxes, or level up your skills so that your choices consume less effort,
    You have to choose carefully when to go for a statement or question that consumes a lot of your effort as it is limited in each chapter.. Though there are consumables to partially refill it…
    But some situations and confrontations might not be as important to you as others...
    so you’ll choose to let information go and save your refills for later if you need them…
    Characters also remember your choices from earlier, so you’ll have a penalty while speaking to them, making it hard to squeeze info out of them.. But things can be made easier by making observations during dialog scenes or conversations... as you can find a psychological weakness or immunity... the dutchess for example like most women is immune to logic. And the butler characters has a weakness when it comes to being questioned.
    The system here sounds pretty complicated, and it kind of is...
    it almost takes you out of the moment as you’re trying to shift conversations but thinking of consumables and how much effort you have left...
    It makes it hard to pay attention to a story that by itself is so slow at the start that it’s hard to pay attention to on its own..
    But by the end the characters started to pull me in and I’m decently excited to see where this story goes... though I’m not dying for the next episode.
    Though depending on your choices, other characters might be.
    I give the council Episode 1 the mad ones a 6/10    … Full Review »
  3. Saeed9020
    Apr 29, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. The game is nice but there is more than one challenges so difficult it's not difficult sometimes be impossible like skills development system if u r developing wrong skill then no way open door or box so u have to repeat chapter which be disappointing.
    Ingenral i recommended it for just patient players.    … Full Review »
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