The Council - Episode 4: Burning Bridges Reviews
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.
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.
A bizarre twist in Burning Bridges undoes everything you've achieved so far and reduces both the plot and your investment in The Council to ashes.
The Council Episode 4: Burning Bridges is a very weird penultimate episode that doesn't make a whole lot of sense while being all over the place.
I'm just looking forward to The Council being over and done with.
Burning Bridges manages to keep The Council's plot going and introduces an interesting new mechanic. However, it is also glitchy and fails to deliver the puzzling fun of the past few episodes.
Among all the episodes released so far, Burning Bridges is the most engaging of all. The plot takes giant steps forward and lift the veil on the mysteries surronding Lord Mortimer. Alas, the technical issues are still there and the scenography lacks rhythm. Let's hope that the last episode will fix this.
Review in French | Read full review
Picking up steam and adding new story and gameplay elements to the mix, Burning Bridges leaves us barreling towards The Council's concluding part, but unfortunately the added haste means the excitement is marred by annoyances.
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
Though the glitches are still present, along with the Bible puzzles, Episode 4 of The Council focuses more on what works: narrative twists and tense conversations between the characters where everything is at stake.
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.
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.
Episode 4 of The Council, titled Burning Bridges, gets the game back into its stride, even if the conversations are a bit disappointing. The RPG progression is starting to pay off, though.
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
The Council: Episode 4:- Burning Bridges is the most important episode in the series to date, yet the least interactive. This time around, the story is very linear and almost identical – regardless of your choices in the previous episode. Sure, you’ll have a few alternative scenes depending on who is still alive, but the episode doesn’t really change as much as previous ones did. However, with both of my playthroughs, I can feel something major will/should be different in the final episode as you make a few big choices this time around. With only two puzzles whose consequences won’t come to fruition until next time, this episode can seem more narrative-focused than interactive within it’s shorter playtime.
The Council: Episode 4 - Burning Bridges is the penultimate episode of the game, and it does a good job of making things interesting again, but it does so with quite a number of flaws intact. The unrealistic reactions to big events are the episode's biggest flaw, as all of those shocking things lose their impact when everyone else fails to make a big deal out of it. At the same time, those new revelations open up things just enough to make the final episode more intriguing. Here's hoping that the finale makes the journey worthwhile.
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.
The Council – Episode 4: Burning Bridges brings back the confrontation and delivers a narrative with some surprises that catch the player's attention. Sadly, the technical problems remain and end up once more ruining the game experience as a whole. The episode can rise the hype for the end of Louis de Richet's story.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.