The Council Episode 4:Burning Bridges Burns Bridges

By GeekyGamerGirl87

It was back on July 29th, 2018, when I first started my review of the episodic game The Council. I was really in love with episodes 1 and 2. I was so much in love with the game that I ended up binge playing the game. However,  Episode 3 left me a little bit on the fence, and so I waited patiently for Episode 4 to come out. I mainly wanted to see if Episode 4 could bring the series back around and bring back what I felt Episode 3 had been lacking. Episode 3 left you on a cliffhanger, but the way that the cliffhanger was executed didn’t impress me much. None the less as I am dedicated to finishing the game, I was still optimistic that Episode 4 was going to be the turning point and make me get back into the game again. This episode was going to be the episode that would make me forget about the lackluster of Episode 3, and I would learn to love the game I had once loved before. When I say loved the game, I mean that I connected with the story and the characters of the game. Sadly, Episode 4 did not live up to my expectations. I could get over the cliché storyline that ended up unfolding because that did play a huge role. However, what did a number on me was the bugs that were in Episode 4 (at least for the PC side of things.) Before I begin my review, If you are not familiar with the game and would like to know what I thought of episodes 1-3. I would highly recommend that you read the first article that I have written about episodes 1-3. To save you the time of going back to look for the article I will post the link here Does Mother Know Best? The Council Begs to Differ.  I would also like to thank the developer Big Bad Wolf and the Publisher Focus Home Interactive for providing me with a free copy of The Council for PC. Again, it is because of their generosity that I can write this review for you all to enjoy.

As to not ruin the story for those who have not played I will try to keep the story vague. Although the story is one of the things that bothered me about Episode 4. I will not spoil it. Episode 4 begins its story where Episode 3 left off. So, depending on how you faired so far into the game this is what you will encounter when the game starts. In my playthrough, I was able to track down and find Sarah. So, my game started with Sarah and Louis (or Louie which is what the voice actors call him)  will be in what appears to be some crypt area. Louis is then instructed to go on another fetch quest and to meet with Sarah once he has the item so that they can get off the island. Louis does what he needs to do to obtain the item. As he is heading to meet Sarah things take a “big” turn. In my opinion, the game’s story takes a cliché turn, and at first, it was exciting.

Although, I thought the revelation was a bit lackluster. The first reason is that I had figured it out before the revelation is revealed. The second was how the big revelation is revealed. One of the biggest revelations of the game is revealed in a random casual conversation. I must admit that something this big I don’t think would be revealed in just an everyday conversation style. The characters involved in the revelation made it unbelievable too which left me a little put-off and began to make me disconnect with the characters.  While this is happening, another event is taking place, and if you spend too much time on the event of the revelation, you will miss this event which also has a big revelation that is like the one you encounter and a little more. However, don’t feel sad because the game does a great job of spoiling what that revelation is from the other event. Which also upset me because I was so drawn to playing the game again to see what the revelation was, just for the game to blurt it out in the very next scene. The only reason I went back to play it, is to see what was said in this exchange. So, going back to play it and find out that this same revelation is added to this character as well and it left me saying “Hm, Well Okay then.” The game then proceeded to add this same idea to another character. However, using this idea for this character (depending on how you played the story) left me feeling a bit uneasy. After a while, it made me feel like the writers did not have a good storyline and so they thought this idea would fly for every aspect of the story.

Another big thing that left me uneasy with the story is that there was a big event that occurred at the beginning of Episode 1. However, in Episode 3 that event is made to seem like it never happened and that this same event happened differently in Episode 3. I bring up this event only because in Episode 4 this said event comes up again and goes back to what happened in Episode 1 as being the way that the event occurred. I know what you as the reader may be thinking “That sounds confusing.” And I would tell you it’s okay I found it all to be very confusing as well.

As someone who enjoyed the story, it broke my heart for the story to go in this direction. It truly felt like the writers were either rushed or couldn’t think of something to write and so they use the cliché idea as a cop out. I don’t even think that it’s the cliché idea that broke my heart. I think what broke my heart was that they first overused the idea. Second the delivery of this idea. The third was adding this idea to a character who I felt didn’t need it. I also felt that the writers had forgotten their own story or perhaps they were going for a shock factor, that again depending on how you play left me feeling uneasy as oppose to being shocked. Not to mention the back and forth of who was involved in another big event of the story. As I stated before I could live with the cliché storyline (minus it being used for the one character. I think that’s one I am never going to be able to get over.) I could also work around the confusion around the event of “who done it,” but there was something bigger that stopped me from really enjoying the episode.

The biggest problem I had (at least with the PC version of the game) was it was way too buggy. Fifteen minutes into the fetch quest the game’s speaking audio dropped out, and then the game crashed. I started the game back up a little fearful that all my progress might have been lost, and luckily it had not been lost. So, I would say I tip my hat off to that, because after the story revelation if I had to start over from the beginning of the episode that would have been enough for me to turn off the game. Sadly, this wasn’t the only time the game had crashed. In my playthrough alone, the episode crashed at least three times. Once as I said fifteen minutes into my fetch quest. Another when I was speaking to one of the servants. The third time was right after a very story intense part of the game. Each of the times the audio would cut out, and that’s how I knew it was going to crash. Other times the game also lost audio, but luckily these times the game did not crash. I found that when this happened, going into the menu and coming back out of the menu would correct these issues. The constant bugs interrupted the gameplay, and soon I found myself holding my breath because I was more fearful that I would not be able to finish the game without hitting any more bugs.

Another thing about The Council Episode 4 that left me feeling a little sad is that I felt that this episode was short. I believe this might have been one of the shortest episodes I played for this game. Minus the bugs I think the episode took me approximately two hours to complete (I am putting an estimate only because I did forget to start my timer when I played.) This episode also leaves you on another cliffhanger. Although again, I think that the cliffhanger that it leaves on could have been done differently to build up excitement. The developers had the chance to make a very grand outro and buildup for the next episode. Instead like the episode before it, it just suddenly ended and faded to black.

The new episodes bring no new achievements to the game. Therefore, the number of achievements you can gather are still forty-two achievements. Also, you can still collect eleven trading cards for the game. There is only one more episode left to The Council and although I am a little let down by the way the story has progressed and the bugs that were in the PC version, I still ultimately want to finish the game. I wish it would have turned out completely different than the way it did. I want to say that I hope episode 5 can bring the game to a mind-blowing ending. One that could make up for the last two episodes, but I am a little afraid to say that as it might end up not delivering.

I know in my previous article I did recommend the game. However, now I am a little on the fence when it comes to The Council. It started as a strong, solid game, but after the last two episodes, it left me feeling empty. With Episode 5 supposedly coming out at the end of this year, I am going to hold out before I give my overall recommendation.  I hope that this Episode does redeem the game for me. If you would like to try The Council for yourself, you can obtain the game on Steam, Humble Bundle, Fanatical, PS4, XBONE for USD 29.99.