The Council - Episode 4: Burning Bridges Reviews
When players are able to reach the intriguing finale Burning Bridges poses, the final decision shows that the battle lines have been well and truly drawn.
Burning Bridges is an important piece to the plot of The Council. All the knots are now coming to the comb and the whole episode is structured to make us wait impatiently for the conclusion of the game. Louis de Richet has many choices to make and this time we do not know what the effects of our actions are, which are at the same time accompanied by puzzles to be solved that leave us in doubt even about how correct our decisions are.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While there's one more chapter left to play, Episode 4: Burning Bridges puts the final nail in The Council's coffin by bringing along the same mistakes, plus some new ones, and with the quality of the storytelling taking a big, sad plunge.
Being the penultimate episode in The Council, Burning Bridges has set the stage for what should be a stunning conclusion. The newly added ability, which I won't spoil, combines both a new gameplay mechanic and helps fill in some missing gaps in the narrative. It also opens up all new questions and hopefully things can be solved in the final episode without feeling rushed. If it weren't for the continued technical failings, Burning Bridges would be scored higher. It was a shame that some of the most pivotal choices in the game don't alter how all the other guests react to you.
All in all the series has been great so far. With plenty of choices leading you to events in which you’re not quite certain how they could have been avoided, you sometimes realize that in order to do something it would have needed to be done way in advance and by the time it came calling, it was already too late. Adding in the new gameplay mechanics and revelations was honestly the cherry on top of an epic frosting which just makes me hope that the final episode will be able to at least keep pace, much less surpass, what the fourth has done.
The Council continues to be unabashedly unpredictable in its twists and turns, but Episode Four's character developments leave much to be desired. Its Social Influence system remains a fun mechanic, but an "overpowered" Louis renders the skill tree mostly moot.
I sort of went into this one with thoughts of "Hey, maybe it's not so bad again?" since the previous episode was decent, but nope. Episode 4 feels like we're back to square zero. One big story moment, a puzzle that leads into a cliffhanger, and more backtracking. I guess Episode 3 was just lightning (albeit a small baby bolt) in a bottle because this is crap in a can.
The fourth episode of the Council has some challenging puzzles and an interesting story to follow. There are unfortunately some graphical issues and some confrontations are too easy with some new abilities.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
The Council has been an absolute treat up to this point, and the penultimate episode's new revelations takes the final part to a whole new playing field.