The Council - Episode 1: The Mad Ones Reviews
The illusion of choice is something games often struggle with, and The Council’s first episode is no different. Rather than relying solely on its narrative and mechanics to create an “atmosphere”, it pressures the player into thinking that every decision is extremely important. Thus, creating often unnecessarily stressful situations. Let’s hope the next episodes can fix that.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
There are five acts of this game. While I'm sure some of my concerns like janky animations and a lack of interesting exploration options can be addressed, I think that most of the game's issues will plague each and every episode. They can't shake the bad voice acting. Maybe they can increase the quality of the writing. There is a great blend of RPG and narrative mechanics here, it just isn't worth muddling through everything else to experience.
In many ways The Council is a brave step forward for narrative adventures; offering a multitude of ways to mold your character; more so than any effort in the genre before it.
If you can ride out the clunky voice overs, The Mad Ones is a decent introduction into the world of The Council. The novel mechanics and engaging plot are ripe for further exploration over the other upcoming four episodes.
The 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.
The 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.
Despite its promising new mechanics that make conversation a game of strategy, the interaction between its characters lets The Council episode one down.
The first episode of The Council is very promising and offers plenty of great and innovative gameplay mechanics. There are some technical issues and story is a little slow, but overall, it's a good start.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Episode One: The Mad Ones of The Council launches a riveting, dark, and twisted story of secret societies, engulfed with key historical figures such as George Washington and Napoleon.
The Council is off to a really good start with Episode 1: The Mad Ones, with an occultism/conspiracy-heavy story that is as mysterious as it is engrossing, and a RPG skill system that works well in unison with the more "traditional" elements of narrative-driven gameplay. It's a rough diamond, for sure, but at least it is one that provides a fresh look on the genre, making it easy to get hungry for the next chapter.
The Council features a compelling mix of iterative mechanics and narrative-driven gameplay to create a truly unique experience. Its first episode, The Mad Ones, has its shining moments, but something feels missing from the final product.
The 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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
More than enough new ideas have been thrown at The Council to make it stand out from the crowd, and, while flaws are clearly evident in the three hours that you will spend with this first episode, it makes for a promising start for what is left to come.
The Council provides some much needed zing to a stale genre. It has many issues, but there is plenty here to keep you intrigued about the next episode.
Despite 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.
This first episode takes its time to introduce the plot of the Council as well as the RPG mechanics. They suit very well to the narrative genre, allowing the player to follow its own path through the choices of the game.
Review in French | Read full review
The first episode of The Council shows some interesting ideas that could change the way future adventures will entertain fan of this particular genre. We hope that the guys at Big Bad Wolf could keep the freshness of these ideas during the whole season, and we can't wait to try the second chapter in the coming weeks.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The 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 intelectual property, it does offer a story full of mystery and some interesting characters.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If 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 games to come from a studio other than Telltale. I can see The Council becoming a standout title within its genre when it's finished, but as it stands The Mad Ones has enough problems to where everyone may not be on board just yet.
If Cyanide Studios can smooth out the creases and keep delivering the narrative goods, I could see The Council becoming the next big narrative-driven franchise. It's up to Episode Two to keep the momentum going.