The Council - Episode 5: Checkmate

Although not lacking in some weaknesses, principally due to sluggish editing and acting, Checkmate is a decent conclusion to the journey of Louis de Richet on the ominous island of Lord Mortimer. More fast-paced than the previous episodes, these last chapters are also more fascinating since the demonic realm is involved.

Here at the end, as The Council reveals all of its cards, it becomes clear that the developers clearly and fundamentally understood the importance of player impact on interactive movies. While the skeleton of the game is rigid – certain characters will always make it to the final chapter, and others are clearly less vital to the proceedings – the interactions with them are satisfying and consequential. Whatever ending players end up earning, The Council always makes it easy for players to feel like part of the story, and more importantly, it had a good story to tell them.

The Council began strong, but for whatever reason has become weaker with more or less each episode. This finale feels like the death rattle of an interesting, albeit failed experiment.

The final episode of The Council differs from the other episodes in tone and length and is kind of a let down. It is too short and there are too many abrupt changes in Checkmate to conclude it in a satisfying way.

The daemonic theme took over far too much of the story’s focus. When coupled with technical issues, it has reinforced that The Council has lost potential written all over it. Despite the many negatives, there are positives to take away from the experience. Gameplay is engaging from start to finish, with its RPG mechanics reinventing an episodic experience. Big Bad’s multiple endings offer plenty of reason to revisit not only Checkmate, but also the first four episodes and see the different outcome from making a major choice. Once the finale is all done and dusted, either the player or Big Bad will utter one simple word depending on the final outcome of the story. That word is none other than checkmate.