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The Main Cast, minus resident Big Bad Lord Mortimer.

The Council is a historical Episodic Adventure Game developed by Big Bad Wolf and released by Focus Home Interactive in 2018.

In an alternate 1793, Louis De Richet is a member of a secret society called The Golden Order, which deals with the occult. Louis finds himself searching for his mother on a private island owned by the mysterious philanthropist Lord William Mortimer. She — along with several other luminaries of the period — was invited there to discuss and influence current events, but her sudden disappearance sparked fears of a conspiracy. Now, her son must step up, out of her shadow, and untangle the secrets and clues hidden on the island to find her.

Inspired by Telltale Games' TV-like games, it has a heavy emphasis on dialogue and story above all else. An RPG system of skills, such as linguistics or occult knowledge, helps Louis navigate the social jungle and uncover clues as he searches for his mother.

The game consists of five episodes:

  • Episode 1 - "The Mad Ones" (Released March 13, 2018)
  • Episode 2 - "Hide and Seek" (Released May 15, 2018)
  • Episode 3 - "Ripples" (Released July 24, 2018)
  • Episode 4 - "Burning Bridges" (Released September 25, 2018)
  • Episode 5 - "Checkmate" (Released December 4, 2018)

Not to be confused with The Council of Hanwell.


This video game includes the following tropes:

  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • You can't talk to all of the characters whenever you want because doing so would consume Effort Points needed to follow the actual plot.
    • Louis will magically realize when he's found all the clues hidden at the dock.
    • Consumables found in the world will persist across chapters and episodes, reducing most of the pressure to use them up just to have space for more in your limited five-apiece inventory. This even applies to the various lockboxes strewn about the manor, allowing you to fill up with what you need and simply come back later for the rest - presuming the room you left it in is still accessible when you need it of course.
  • Anyone Can Die: Depending on certain choices picked throughout the game, certain characters will die.
  • Artistic License – History:
    • Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco de Goya won't be painted until sometime between 1819 and 1823, and won't be transferred to a canvas until the 1870s (Goya originally painted it directly on the wall of his own house), way past the time the game takes place. (In fact, if you make a certain conversational choice in episode 1, Sir Gregory claims that Lord Mortimer painted it himself.)
    • The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David is visible on a wall in 20 January 1793—six months before Jean-Paul Marat's real-life death (on 13 July).
    • Although it's not identified by name, Mortimer's trophy room contains a casting of The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, which was first created in 1880.
    • Even more egregiously, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny can be found on a bookshelf. The first book of that series was written in 1970.
    • Washington mentions that Lord Mortimer helped him gain the presidency by financing his campaign. In reality, Washington didn't have much of a political campaign and didn't even have opponents when he ran for president.
  • Author Tract: During the first formal meeting of the Council, Louis — who up to that point has not shown signs of being particularly idealistic — can suddenly start lecturing the others on the rights of indigenous peoples, using anachronistic terms like "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing".
  • Batman Gambit: Lord Mortimer poisons his tea, knowing that Sir Gregory won't be able to resist drinking it. He even says to him immediately afterwards, "I knew you'd be coming along. You're so predictable."
  • Been There, Shaped History: Lord Mortimer seems to have a finger in every political pie of the era, from Washington's presidency to the French Revolution to Napoleon's rise to power. The project he proposes during the game itself is to lay the groundwork for the Louisiana Purchase. And if some signatures found on centuries-old documents are genuine, he's been playing the game for a "long" time.
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: George Washington is the head of the American branch of the secret society that Louis and his mother belong to.
  • Big Eater: Cardinal Piaggi, who sheepishly admits that "gluttony is the most difficult sin." This leads to Louis making a crack as he ends the conversation that "I'll leave you to fight your demons."
  • Big Fancy House: Most of the game takes place in Mortimer's estate, a mansion that can host dozens of people luxuriously and is tastefully ornamented with fountains, paintings, and marble columns.
  • Boring, but Practical: You can do almost nothing cool with Agility (the exceptions being saving Louis from the lock trap and knocking a gun out of Peru's hand) compared to the other skills, especially since kicking down doors will draw negative attention from the other guests... but the extra consumables it allows you to reach are nice.
  • Character Death:
    • Depending on your choices, Elizabeth Adams may be murdered at the end of episode 1.
    • Jacques Peru will commit suicide in episode 2, unless you intervene.
    • In episode 3, one of the Hillsborrow sisters will kill the other.
    • Cardinal Piaggi can die in episode 5 if you fail to dissuade von Wölner from poisoning Louis, as this will lead him to poison Piaggi instead.
  • The Chessmaster: Lord Mortimer, friend of soldiers, scholars, and political figures from all around the world.
  • Choice-and-Consequence System: At the end of each quest, the game tells you what objectives you completed and what you failed. There is a third column called "Alternate paths", where you didn't do something because you did something else. Some choices affect the story itself, while others unlock traits. Some traits simply give you a skill point, while others make it easier or harder to use certain skills.
  • Collective Identity: It turns out Lady Hillsborrow is not one individual but two, compromising of Emily and her identical twin sister Emma. Having constantly been mixed up for one another since they were children, they decided to play along. Effectively erasing Emma, the two share everything from information to lovers as they take turns playing the role of Emily Hillsborrow to do missions and other things.
  • Decadent Court: Although they don't revolve around a monarch, Mortimer's parties are this trope. Guests come from every nation and ideology, and though they're expected to let external conflicts rest for the duration of the party, many can't... so naturally, intrigue flourishes among the ornate backdrop.
  • Dramatic Gun Cock: When Louis enters the crypt for the first time, Sarah points a gun at his head from behind.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Sir Gregory Holm is referred to as "Sir Holm" throughout episode 1, whereas in the rest of the episodes he's more correctly addressed as "Sir Gregory".
  • Earn Your Bad Ending: It's possible to be wrongfully executed for Elizabeth's murder in episode 2, but it requires you to give the most vague, unhelpful answers possible, completely ignore the room investigation, and act suspiciously for no reason.
  • Everyone Is Related: It turns out Mortimer and Holm are not only demonic brothers, but Mortimer is the father of Louis, Sarah (who adopted Louis), Emily and Emma. Holm meanwhile turns out to be the father of Von Wollner.
  • Every Scar Has a Story:
    • The massive scar on Elizabeth's head comes from brain surgery performed on her by Sarah De Richet.
    • In the prologue, if Louis tries to subdue Borchert on his own, he will spend the rest of the game with a nasty cut across his nose.
  • Faceless Mooks: Lord Mortimer's servants all wear blank masks over their faces.
  • Guide Dang It!:
    • Effort Points will refill slightly at points in the story, but if you haven't played the game before you will be unable to predict when these points are. Hope you didn't waste that precious Royal Jelly by consuming it before the big dramatic dinner!
    • Consumables found around the world actually persist across chapters and even episodes, allowing you to strategically leave a few lying around for you to go back for and supplement your limited five-apiece carrying capacity. However, you will have no idea what rooms will be available to you when, making leaving anything behind anywhere but the common rooms a logistical nightmare.
    • Skills are upgraded in rank by pumping a certain amount of points into them, with cross-class skills requiring just as many to acquire as you would need to upgrade one of your existing ones to Rank 2. Skills are everything in this game, and to alleviate the worst of the headaches inherent in trying to spec Louis you can find several skill books lying around the manor which you can 'equip' at the beginning of every quest period for a permanent point towards the relevant skill. The problem? Well, you're forced to allocate and finalise skill point expenditure before you're allowed to equip your books, which will trip you up unless forewarned, but more to the point you will have no idea when or where you will find a new book and what its relevant skill might be. Leaving skills just one or two points away from their next rank while you spend the saved points elsewhere in the hopes you soon find its book is a viable strategy, but one that requires more than a little luck or forewarning.
  • Guile Hero: Louis isn't a fighter, regardless of what class the player chooses, but he is more than capable of navigating the guests' intrigues.
  • Historical Domain Character: Among Lord Mortimer's guests are President George Washington, a young Napoleon Bonaparte, Manuel Godoy, and Johann Christoph von Wöllner.
  • Human Notepad: Elizabeth's body is covered in occult tattoos and writings. Because her disorder is viewed as some sort of supernatural possession, the tattoos are intended to imprison whatever entity is supposedly afflicting her.
  • Injured Player Character Stage: There is one puzzle that if you fail, then Louis loses one of his hands. It gives you a penalty in some skill checks and gives the character a limp for the rest of the game.
  • Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: There are two icons for doors: one indicates that a door can be opened/lockpicked/interacted with, and the other indicates that a door can be opened/lockpicked/interacted with later, when the plot feels like letting you. Doors that can never be opened don't have an icon at all.
  • Interface Spoiler: While it still counts as a genuine use of the game's mechanic, the easiest way to tell Emily and Emma apart during their consfrontation in episode 3 is not by paying attention to what they are saying, but rather what immunities and vulnerabilities you run into and comparing them to the information in your journal.
  • Like Reality, Unless Noted: It's established early on that the Necronomicon/"Al Azif" is real in this world.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: It is revealed that Mortimer is Louis's father, among others. Actually, Mortimer is related to most of the cast.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Emily, who wears a very low-cut dress and can sleep with Louis if he makes the right choices.
  • The Napoleon: Averted with the man himself. Napoleon is actually taller than Louis.
  • Noodle Incident: It's not relevant to the plot, but one wonders why an Emperor of China would beg Mortimer for help.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Of the four French characters (Louis, Sarah, Jacques and Napoleon) Napoleon is the only one who has an appropriate accent.
  • Psychic Nosebleed: Soon after arriving on the island, Louis starts having visions which are accompanied by this.
  • Red Herring: Most skill use opportunities are helpful to the player in some way...most of them. One exception is the fireplace ashes in Episode 1, which Louis will tell you (if you burn a few precious Effort Points on a Science use) are completely useless to what he's trying to do. (Although that information is itself useful, since it may help you avoid making a mistake.)
  • RPG Elements: You use experience points to unlock various skills, and certain actions and dialogue options are only possible if you possess the right skills. The character class you choose at the beginning determines which skills are easier to unlock and which are harder.
  • Shout-Out:
    • On the wharf you can find a letter addressed to a R. Galbraith at 50 Bedford Square, London, which is the real-life location of Bloomsbury publishers.
    • Another of the letters is addressed to "H.B. de la Bath". Hubert Bonnisseur de La Bath is the secret agent protagonist of the book and film series OSS 117.
    • Emily has an origami bird sitting on one of her suitcases.
    • One bookcase in episode 1 has a book by the Miller brothers. Louis says his mother told him to never read it.
  • Shoot the Builder: Implied. In Lord Mortimer's secret study, there's a letter from a "Gustave Montrant, master architect" describing how he designed a new lock for Lord Mortimer.note  Right next to it is a human skeleton on a stand, with the nameplate "Gustave" on its base.
  • Spot the Impostor: At one point Louis meets with Emily and Emma, who try to kill each other, both telling him that they are Emily. You have to guess which one is telling the truth. Whether you succeeded or failed will only be apparent later.
  • Story Branching: Your choices can have consequences such as certain characters dying, or even which ending you can unlock.
  • Surprise Incest: In Episode 4, it turns out that certain individuals are actually related. It's revealed that Louis is actually Mortimer's son. Assuming certain choices were picked, it's then later further revealed by the surviving Hillsborrow twin that the sisters are Mortimer's daughters as well. Since Louis could've slept with either Emily or Emma, with both sisters, or with neither of them, this trope is either played straight, played straight twice, or completely averted depending on what occurred. If Emily survived, the revelation that she and Louis are actually related adds to her distress of having just lost her sister. Completely mortified by all this, she decides to drink her pain away. If Emma survived on the other hand, she's seemingly fine with the revelation and even proposes to continue further with the affair. However, based on her dialogue, she's apparently gone completely mad.
  • Talking Down the Suicidal: Louis can prevent Jacques Peru's suicide attempt.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In the final episode, you're transported to some kind of etheric plane, where you may encounter Emma's spirit. During the conversation with her, you can promise to try to save her, but the game ends before you have any opportunity to make good on that promise.

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