The Council is an episodic game full of intrigue and grotesque characters

The Council invites you to the most grotesque-looking dinner party in gaming history.

It is a new episodic adventure game that boasts a “fresh new take” on the genre. In this game, you “make hard-hitting decisions, develop an array of skills, and directly impact how the story unfolds.” Doesn’t sound so fresh, now that I think of it.

Cynicism aside, The Council does offer something we haven’t quite seen in those narrative adventure games before – skills. Your character has 15 different skills you can hone and enhance to fit your play style. You can use diplomacy, the occult or science to navigate through this tale of intrigue and manipulation.

What exactly will you be navigating? The Council is a murder mystery set in 1793. You are Louis de Richet, a member of a secret society attending a secret meeting on a private island. Joining you at this meeting is your host, Lord Mortimer, as well as a few prominent historical figures like Napoleon Bonaparte and George Washington.

You’ll have to confront these distinguished guests in an attempt to solve the island dark mysteries and find your mother who has gone missing. Since this game is a murder mystery, we can already assume what happened to your mother.

Each character hides their own hidden agendas and dark secrets. Learn their psychological vulnerabilities and immunities, and apply your skills to get to the truth.

You only get to play through each such encounter once, and the results are permanent. You might find a useful piece of information, or suffer a physical disfigurement and mental trait that will influence the rest of your adventure, for good or bad.

The game calls it the Social Influence system, but talking isn’t the only thing you’ll be doing in The Council. Between conversations, you can investigate the island to learn more about the guests, and make preparations that can help you along the way.

The narrative will supposedly change depending on the method you’ll use, which is something many games promised us before. Hopefully, The Council will deliver.

It all sounds very interesting. I love a good murder mystery, and testing your wits against some of history’s finest tacticians can be really challenging. This is the first game by French developer Big Bad Wolf, but its members did work on some high-profile titles in the past.

The Council’s first episode, The Mad Ones, arrives on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in February 2018. There will be a total of 5 episodes throughout 2018.