The Council - Episode 2: Hide and Seek | Xbox One | Review

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Hide and Seek is a slightly disappointing second outing following The Council’s promising pilot, which kickstarted protagonist Louis de Richet’s adventure back in March. Continuing to search for his missing mother whilst hobnobbing with the social elite to keep up appearances, the game’s characters and tangled conspiracies continue to develop with intrigue, whilst a shift in focus away from the defining conversational confrontations towards solving puzzles is a very misguided one.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam

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Developer: Big Bad Wolf
Publisher: Focus Home
Interactive
​Platforms: Xbox One,
​PS4, PC
​Players: 1

Opening with a recap to bring you back up to speed, which is always appreciated, things pick up where they left off. That’s to say you’ll find yourself in one of several possible situations depending on how things wrapped up, in our case, being detained as the lead suspect in a grisly murder case. In this instance the first chapter wrapped up pretty quickly - detracting from an already short episode at just three chapters in length, as opposed to five - though switching to our second save slot saw us cast as the lead investigator in that same homicide and proved much more fulfilling.

Should you find yourself playing detective, the episode sandwiches an engaging stretch of in-depth sleuthing between a majority share of the content you’d otherwise see on the other side of the law. Whilst divergent paths are welcome, encouraged in fact, the way in which they’re implemented here is not. Carving a large chunk out of the episode without substituting any opposing equivalent ensures a lopsided presentation that’s sure to sting the subset of players that miss out.

In terms of the altogether more fixed narrative throughline, elusive host Lord Mortimer finally shows his face and continues to prove an enigma even in person. Some snooping uncovers the depths of his global meddling, explaining away the reluctance to reveal his hand (and the seemingly bottomless pit in his office), though a meeting scheduled for the next episode should finally illuminate players as to why Louis and company find themselves on his private island.

Duke Manuel Godoy, Head of the Spanish Government, makes his debut and further contributes to the volatile political mixpot, whilst we also get some context on Louis’ painful visions this episode. The Council can be a little wordy in conveying its message, but the commitment to an authentic 18th century presentation (setting aside a bizarre conversation with a talking bird) means you’ll undoubtedly learn something interesting about real-world history in the process. Despite lacking subtlety, there’s no doubt that the cast continue to develop in exciting ways, as corpses, along with a list of murder suspects, begin to mount.

With that being said, things do fall a bit flat here by comparison to the first episode. Its meandering pace makes Hide and Seek a bit of a slog at times, often failing to either propel things forward or satisfyingly tie up loose ends, with the latter perhaps making the cliffhanger finish more cause for concern than suspense.

Few new areas to explore and a focus on slightly awkward puzzle solving are culprit to the episode’s pacing issues, placing bog-standard adventure fare over the thoughtful character interactions that made the pilot stand out. Acquiring a desired target can be cumbersome in the absence of a cursor, while spending Effort Points to utilise skills often leads to puzzle solutions being spelled out a little too plainly in blatant monologues. Conversely, not making use of Effort Points in select situations can leave you scratching your head until bordering on frustration.

What verbal confrontations remain generally prove more staunch brain teasers than the accompanying puzzles. Now that you’re an episode deep and should have the hang of them, some interactions no longer offer multiple chances and will instead have the brakes applied with one out-of-place utterance, which works in conjunction with the timer to ensure they’re more exciting than ever.

While not quite plummeting the series into the doldrums, Hide and Seek does disappoint at a stage where The Council should’ve been doubling down on its strengths to satisfy those making a return trip to Mortimer’s affluent estate. With the central narrative on a downturn it’s also harder to forgive the game its technical issues, making Hide and Seek an episode we wouldn’t recommend in itself, but would suggest you stick with as it’s not time to give up hope on The Council yet.

Pros

• Engaging verbal confrontations
• Get to know the intriguing cast of characters a little better
• Role-playing & item management systems add a tactical wrinkle
• Almost certain to teach you something about 18th century culture
• Divergent scenes based on past choices...

Cons

• … Which can be poorly implemented
• Nothing particularly exciting happens during the brief runtime
• Places a misguided focus on puzzles
• Script, VO & animation can be dodgy
• Choppy performance despite largely pedestrian graphics

6/10