The Council

Honest, detailed and spoiler-free review
The Council is a story-driven adventure game where you shape the story your own way. The game is an experimental mix of different genres that combined, work surprisingly well together. This is a game where choices really matter and the path you choose for the development of your character is gonna have an enormous impact on the upcoming events. I discovered this gem a few years ago. At the time, there was only one episode available which absolutely amazed me and left me craving for more. Years have passed and the game is a finished product now. I am excited to finally discover what it is about and experience all it has to offer.
A wise man once said “First impressions are the most lasting”. I agree with that which is why for me it is important that the game does not disappoint at the beginning and make you wanna keep playing it to discover more. Did it? Yes, it definitely bought me. First episode introduces the story and characters. I really enjoyed talking to people and getting to know them. The game also allowed me to explore this massive mansion a little and I have taken advantage of that by visiting every part that was accessible for me. Playing the episode evoked in me the feelings I had all those years ago. After I was done with the episode, I was absolutely hooked and wanted to keep playing. The time that passed since I first tried it was enough. I did not remember anything which allowed me to approach the game with a clean slate.
I felt like the second episode was a bit worse than the first. It involved much more active gameplay. There will be a lot of walking around the mansion and a lot of interactions with the objects. It starts really nice but the lack of action made it a little boring by the end of the episode. A few puzzles can also be encountered there which turned out pretty difficult to find a solution to but I managed. I didn’t find it relaxing as I did the first episode. All this walking, thinking and figuring things out was very demanding. As for the rest of the episodes, there was much more balance in terms of walking and talking. They are much more interesting because the twists and turns of the story are prioritized. Although I enjoyed all of the episodes, I still found them demanding enough to be in need of a break after completing each one. I couldn’t play this game for long during one session and their length was a little too long for me too.
Let’s talk about the story. It is really interesting and keeps you engaged from the start until the very end. We step into the shoes of Louis, a son of a respected authority figure who has been invited to participate in The Council as a replacement for his mother because she went missing. This is a meeting for the most influential figures in the world where discussions and decisions are made. During this game you will be playing a political game where you build relationships, investigate mysteries, manipulate people and try to sway them to your cause. You won’t really know who your allies and enemies are. You can’t know what their motives are and what they are trying to accomplish as they keep it to themselves. In case your interests don’t align or you trust the wrong person, it may backfire. I honestly had a lot of fun and I would love to see another game from this universe in the future.
When it comes to gameplay, the game continues not to disappoint. There is a trait system which allows you to influence people and objects by approaching them in a different way. An example of this would be that evolving your character with the knowledge of psychology may be useful in the future when you will be in need of a psychological analysis. The amount of possibilities is huge which allows for multiple replays and multiple endings. You discover immunities and weaknesses of people by talking to them, investigating their belongings or their behaviour based on the skills you invested into. This is what makes this game unique and stand out in this genre. You will also be given a lot of freedom when it comes to how you play the episode. At the start of each part of the episode, we are given a quest and it is up to us how we are going to approach it but the result must be the same. There will be quite a lot of puzzles. Most of them are easy but I encountered a few that I was unable to overcome without a walkthrough guide. I don’t like the difficulty of some of the puzzles. I believe that there are a few that are actually too complex to which finding a solution is too time consuming. Still, I think that this is a strong suit of this game.
There are a few characters in this game and each one is unique. I think those are well-written characters because each one stands for something else and adds a special flavour to the story. Their personalities are each other’s opposites. Right off the bat I was able to tell which ones I liked and which ones I didn’t. I believe I was able to relate to every single one of them which made it difficult when choosing sides. After all, those characters are explicit, interesting, charismatic, unforgettable and uniquely important to the story. In terms of voice acting I think that the game is on a high level as well. Only their expressions could have been better. When it comes to emotions, these faces have no life in them. During interactions you feel like you are talking to something that resembles a human but is far from it. Randomly moving lips while they are speaking with no synchronization whatsoever is not helping their case either.
While on the subject of negatives, this game has one big problem which can be considered a deal breaker for a lot of people and it is the fact that the game refuses to run in 60 fps. It doesn’t matter how well you adjust your visual settings, the number of frames doesn’t change. I believe that there are ways to remove the limit. I personally tried a few ways but none solved it for me. I played the whole thing having around 40-50 frames at all times. It was bothering me quite a lot at the start but I decided to keep playing because I was really enjoying the game. I eventually stopped paying attention to it which allowed me to embrace my experience. I find it really hard to believe sometimes that relatively new games like this one, still have this type of problems. It didn’t affect my overall experience much but what wasn’t a problem for me, may turn out to be one for somebody else so this is something to keep in mind.
To sum up, I found a gem that tells a really interesting and extraordinary story. It is a combination of a few of my favourite genres which makes this game unique and stand out among others. In terms of gameplay, the game gives you a lot of freedom and possibilities which only benefit it. It offers multiple replay choices and multiple endings. Unfortunately, this title refuses to run in 60 frames which I would consider to be its biggest disadvantage. What can also be considered a problem is the difficulty level of some of the puzzles. I must say I am proud to have found this game as many people don't seem to know it exists. It is something I feel like I can recommend with a clear conscience. Go ahead and give it a try, the first episode is free. It doesn’t cost anything but time and it will be well worth your time.
You can find more detailed reviews on my curator page Malfour's Choice.

Absolutely loved this game. Should have played it long ago. Many choices and story plot twists. Many different choices and paths to take. Loved from start to finish. Great game. Highly recommend to anyone who loves story driven games with many choices and consequences and branches in the story and how it plays out. The game mechanics are also very unique in that i have never played a game with such mechanics. the game has mostly a detective type game play but also uses many different skills you must build up in order for the choices you make to be available to you. Also has other mechanics i have not seen in other games. truly a Gem of a game. I must say this game is not a combat type game but more choices consequences and story/detective type game. If you love these type games with an excellent story, this game is absolutely for you.

Alternate history, Freemasons, Napoleon, George Washington, mysteries, choices with consequences, even skill upgrades – sounds cool, right?

This game is truly amazing, and I highly recommend playing it. It may seem simple at first and not have a very long story, but it is filled with deep truths and secrets about life. If you are interested in historical symbols, political, historical, and social stories, this game will be incredibly fascinating for you.
The genre is somewhat mysterious and eerie, yet it is also educational and beautifully crafted. I believe that playing such games can contribute to intellectual growth, much like reading a book. You can learn interesting and valuable information within the game, and even get a closer look at the lives of some prominent political figures. Additionally, it introduces you to the mysteries of beliefs, politics, culture, and history.
In my opinion, this game is more than just a game—it offers a short yet meaningful journey and experience for the player. Every gamer should have this title on their list. I truly hope the developers create more versions of this game focusing on different political and historical narratives, expanding on this concept. This game combines learning, entertainment, and exploration all in one, making it a unique and worthwhile experience

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 232:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (8/10)
The Council is one of those games that feels like it shouldn’t work, and yet somehow, it absolutely does. It’s messy, yes. But it’s also daring, weirdly smart, and packed with enough political intrigue, occult mysteries, and branching dialogue trees to make any Telltale fan perk up. Its mechanics are bold and genuinely refreshing, even when the game struggles to keep up with its own ambition. Between the skill-based conversations, occult storytelling, and branching consequences, it earns a place among the most interesting narrative RPGs, even if it’s not the most polished (and has an awful ending).
🔮 Pros:
Bold narrative choices that actually matter. This isn’t one of those “illusion of choice” games. Your background, skills, and dialogue decisions dramatically change how scenes play out—and entire characters or plotlines can vanish based on what you say. It's one of the few games where I truly felt like I was steering the story, not just watching it.
The RPG dialogue system is truly one of a kind. Rather than just choosing lines from a list, The Council lets you build your character’s social and intellectual skill set, and those choices dramatically affect how conversations go. Each dialogue has “confrontation” segments where you’re under time pressure to pick the right responses, and many options are locked behind stats like Psychology, Etiquette, or Science. You use your skills to outmaneuver people in real-time. It turns dialogue into actual gameplay. And if you mess up, you live with it.
Skills matter more than weapons or inventory. The game leans into the idea of intellect as your power. Want to disarm someone in a debate? Use Conviction. Want to bluff your way past a suspicious noble? Try Subterfuge. You can tailor your entire playthrough around being a charismatic manipulator, a cold logician, or even a religious scholar. Different builds open entirely new scenes, interactions, or solutions. And that’s just so cool.
Resource management adds real tension. Every skill check costs Effort Points, a limited resource you have to manage. Use too many, and you're vulnerable. Use items to regain them, but beware of side effects like addiction or penalties. This turns even basic conversations into puzzles: Should I spend my last 3 points to break this guy down? Or save them in case I need to use Science to solve a puzzle later?
Twisty, pulpy plot that leans HARD into the occult. What starts as a missing person mystery turns into a Dan Brown fever dream. Secret societies, historical figures (hi, George Washington!), demonic visions, philosophical debates, and full-on supernatural turns. It goes there, and I loved it for that.
Period setting with personality. The 1790s French island mansion is lavish and mysterious, filled with rich tapestries, candlelight, and art you can actually analyze. It’s like a murder mystery dinner party with Illuminati. The setting sells it, even when the character animations don't.
A bold commitment to consequence. There’s no quicksaving. If you fail a confrontation, misread a clue, or blow your chance to charm someone, you live with it. Major events and even character fates hinge on your success or failure. The stakes feel real, because they are.
Janky, but charming. Facial animations can be rough. Voice acting ranges from solid to hilariously stiff. But once you’re in the groove, the jank kind of becomes part of the appeal. It adds this off-kilter vibe that matches the increasingly surreal story.
🩻 Cons:
Writing can be uneven and occasionally overwrought. Some dialogue is clever and tense, especially in skill checks, but at other times it becomes stilted or meanders into clunky exposition. Characters occasionally speak like they're reading aloud from a philosophy textbook, and the pacing suffers when conversations drag on without much payoff.
Facial animations and body language are stiff at best. Don’t expect mocap magic here—characters emote like wax figures and often don’t match the tone of their dialogue. It’s serviceable, but immersion suffers when dramatic moments are delivered with wide-eyed stares and awkward gestures.
Some puzzles are deeply obscure. While some are clever, others feel designed to frustrate. Without hints or intuitive logic, you’ll either brute force your way through or look up a guide.
No map, minimal guidance, and too much backtracking. You’ll often be told to "find someone" or "go to the salon" with no help locating them. In a mansion of identical corridors and locked doors, this can get old fast. Especially when you’re walking in circles to trigger the next cutscene.
The ending is rushed, incoherent, and deeply unsatisfying. After building up a complex web of characters, lore, and moral decisions, The Council’s final chapter dumps a truckload of exposition and then ends abruptly. Choices you've made across multiple episodes seem to collapse into a single moment with barely any resolution. It feels like the writers ran out of time—or interest—and it robs the story of emotional closure.
If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: Verdict: Play or Pass. Also, please leave a like and visit IndieGems and our YouTube channel for more reviews like this one.

The Council has surprised me in more ways than one. Your choices do matter most of the time, there are clearly different endings. Even though the story is comprehensible based on what I’ve picked, there is also enough to learn more about if I went with different choices. The story was engaging to follow based on the voice actors, writing and wanting to find out what would happen next. However, I’m not sure I’m happy with the direction of the story the further I got and the twists that followed. Although the game is clearly mostly focused on the story/dialogues, there is still more gameplay than expected for this type of game. There are skill points, traits, items, some exploration and puzzles. Most of them are fun and they enhance the game. I enjoyed exploring the mansion and getting more access to areas with every episode.
The game’s strongest point is the choices you make and how you can manipulate others depending on your needs. I gotta say, the game made me feel dirty with how I was trying to convince others and willing to do anything to achieve an objective. The graphics might not be the best I’ve seen, but they’re still very pleasing on the eyes. The voice actors did a great job, they made the story. The achievements were very doable. There are 2-3 you have to keep in mind on your first run, you can play the game blindly aside from those and get the rest through chapter select after completing the game.
I disliked some of the puzzles though. A lot of them require too much effort or you need the right skill or enough points to solve them more easily. Honestly, it felt like some were just in the way, I just wanted to continue with the story. I didn’t hesitate to use online guides. I normally love puzzle games, not sure why these did not feel rewarding. Other than that, no complaints with the rest of the game. I enjoyed playing the Council and figuring the mystery. It took me around 16 hours to get all the achievements (rest was afk). It’s definitely worth playing for fans who enjoy these type of story games. The game is on sale often but even the normal price of €15 for all the 5 episodes is fair.

My Experience
The Council was a wild ride. As many other reviewers have noted, it resembles a Telltale or Life is Strange-type game, but with RPG elements added in. You play a man named Louis who visits the secret island of a rich man named Mortimer. You ostensibly visit to locate your mother, but when you arrive you find that much more is at stake.
When you begin, you'll pick a class (Occultist, Diplomat, Detective). This class gives you proficiency in a certain starting group of skills. You can still take skills from other classes, but you'll have to do that as you progress through the game. I wanted to play as a purely scientific/skeptic Detective and played the first half of the game in this manner. However, certain plot points made this a futile roleplaying exercise.
Due to the way the skill system works (in conversation and in passing), I think I should've simply put one point in every skill, and perhaps get Politics, Occultism, Logic, and Psychology up to a higher level. During my playthrough, however, I neglected certain skills that didn't make sense with the way I wanted to roleplay Louis. You can use your skills to help you with conversations and puzzles. You can use any skill that you have at least one level in; however, if the difficulty of a challenge exceeds your facility with a skill, you'll need to use "effort points" to make up the difference. You start the game with a certain number of effort points already, and you have a maximum you can accumulate. You can regain effort points through consuming "royal jelly" (found scattered around the mansion) or by ending a chapter of the game. You can increase your maximum capacity through locating "pieces of amber" (also scattered about the mansion).
The vast majority of the game, I was teetering between having 0-4 effort points available. I typically used them as soon as I'd accumulated them. The royal jelly consumable is quite plentiful, but consuming too many in a single day gives you some sort of sickness (I never figured out what this does). To cure the sickness, you can use golden elixir (another consumable). Therefore, more difficult challenges in the game would see my Louis just pounding these consumables: royal jelly, royal jelly, golden elixir, royal jelly, royal jelly, golden elixir, etc. This felt as silly as it sounds, but I wanted to do well in the game's skill challenges, and I couldn't really figure out a better way to approach them. There are two other consumables, devil's thorn and Carmelite water. Devil's thorn reveals the immunities and vulnerabilies of whoever you're chatting with, and Carmelite water makes your next skill use cost 0 effort, regardless of difficulty relative to your skill level. Therefore, with Carmelite water, you can succeed at level 8 skill challenges with only 1 level of the associated skill. It's great - I pounded those bad boys too.
Walking around this mansion so much, you'd hope that the audiovisual design would be stellar, and it mostly is. The mansion is incredibly opulent and beautiful, and the creaks of the wood while traversing the halls and taps while walking over tile add a great deal to the player's immersion. Although the environments are gorgeous, I can't really say the same for the character designs. Developer Big Bad Wolf has a talent for making their characters look grotesque, especially Sir Holm (the fella with the white makeup you see in the promotional materials). These guys make old age look like a horror film. Who knows? Perhaps it is. The voice acting is very good, with the exception of Louis (in my opinion). The only people I know who speak English with a strong American accent and then transition to flawless French are unbearably pretentious. I probably would've preferred that Louis just speak English in a French accent - this way I could understand him, but the transition when he spoke French names and titles wouldn't be so jarring. In addition, the voice actress for Louis' mother sounded much younger than the character appeared in-game.
As I mentioned earlier, my decision to be scientific/skeptic Detective wasn't particularly supported by the game's plot. Even so, I would've appreciated more opportunities to deviate from the path laid out before me. You always seem to get an opportunity to turn against a character, but these opportunities are usually more "grand." Therefore, you can choose not to side with a character, but may find yourself completing errands for them beforehand regardless.
I would've appreciated if the game had a bit more relationship-building. More often than not, I found myself engaged with tiresome and exhausting puzzles. The worst offenders were doing bible research (analyzing pictures of apostles and correlating verse and chapter numbers), finding a specific lance (poring through pictures and research to locate the correct one among some 10 or so others), and "organizing the guests" (which takes place in something of a dream sequence). I found myself groaning through the entirety of these sections.
Despite my issues with some audiovisual and gameplay pieces, I did enjoy a good portion of my time with the game. I liked interacting with the different characters and found many of them to be convincing portrayals. The central conflict in the game is an intriguing one, and I found myself invested in the weight of the decisions being made. I've found myself thinking about the game for a number of days after I finished. The key question, as I see it, is whether freedom on a large scale justifies tyranny on a small scale. The game ended quite poorly for my Louis - but looking back, I'm still not sure that I'd do anything differently. It's a strange feeling, but somewhat unique among games I've played. My biggest regret is actually killing Mortimer's bird Waldo (somewhat by accident).
If you enjoy other narrative adventure titles and think it would be interesting for conversations to change based on your character's skills, I think I can recommend The Council. Especially if you generally have more of a tolerance for puzzles than I do.