The Council turns its conversations into tactical duels, with every guest carrying vulnerabilities that refund effort points and immunities that punish careless questions. The skill-based dialogue system is the game’s defining strength, making each interrogation a risk-reward gamble.
The story opens with French diplomat Louis de Richet arriving on Lord Mortimer’s island in 1793 to find his missing mother. What seems like a standard whodunit around the murder of Elizabeth Adams slowly becomes a far stranger conspiracy.
Demons and possession reshape the mystery, with the game revealing that Mortimer and his ally are ancient parasitic spirits and that Louie himself is a demon. The reveal that Sarah is his sister rather than his mother lands as the emotional core of the campaign.
The historical cast is a delight, with George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte and Cardinal Pia scheming around the conference table. Each guest carries their nation’s interests and their own secrets, and the epilogue narrating their eventual fates is a satisfying payoff.
Progression carries real weight, with diplomat, occultist and detective classes, chapter-end skill points and manuscripts that grant bonus skills. The vulnerabilities and immunities system rewards careful reading of each personality, though failed checks can exhaust the effort pool.
The pacing is heavily conversational, with long stretches that play like watching a movie. A couple of sequences drag, including the memory-reconstruction puzzle and the hunt for the holy lance, and one major choice barely registers in later scenes.
Overall, the tactical dialogue, surprising story and memorable cast outweigh the passive pacing, and the result is an easy recommendation. It is a fresh, genuinely twisty take on the episodic adventure.