The Council: Episode 5 - Checkmate

Critic reviews

• DDestructoid

  Patrick Hancock · Jul 20, 2019

  3.0

  If you wanted any real form of closure, it's not happening here. I was honestly shocked when the game ended. Not because of some amazing revelation that blew my mind, but just because The Council simply... ends. This is easily the shortest episode, yet it still feels like it drags at times. Now that is what I call an accomplishment.

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• HGHardcore Gamer

  Adnan Riaz · Jan 01, 2019

  6.0

  Big Bad’s multiple endings offer plenty of reason to revisit not only Checkmate, but also the first four episodes and see the different outcome from making a major choice. Once the finale is all done and dusted, either the player or Big Bad will utter one simple word depending on the final outcome of the story. That word is none other than checkmate.

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• TTechRaptor

  Samuel Guglielmo · Dec 31, 2018

  5.0

  Gregory is an interesting character, but trying to make him the focus in the last episode dampens the impact. The puzzles are good ideas, but require knowledge of this character that hasn’t really been available. I enjoyed a lot of the ideas The Council put forward in its first episode, but they’re not enough to carry the whole game. Sadly, this series isn’t ending on much of a bright note.

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• WWccftech.com

  Rosh Kelly · Dec 14, 2018

  6.0

  This final episode had few confrontations, little relation to the characters and settings you’ve discovered and the plot has taken so many different turns it’s difficult to see where you started. Perhaps The Council would have achieved more as a complete game, with a more definitive beginning, middle and end for the developers to work with, and a stable budget to allocate. But as it is, The Council was an ambitious experiment that has sadly failed to deliver the results.

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• GGameSpew

  Kim Snaith · Dec 06, 2018

  6.0

  Checkmate wasn’t a bad episode. It was interesting enough and well-paced enough to keep my interest for its short running time. There were some very well-delivered scenes, and it finally threw itself headfirst into the occultist themes that The Council has so far only teased. But to only fully arrive there at such a late stage in the game makes it feel almost pointless.

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• NNoobFeed

  Grayshadow · Dec 06, 2018

  8.5

  The Council Episode 5: Checkmate is an excellent conclusion to this 5-part narrative. It brings all the choices you've made until the light and has direct results to the events of the finale. The technical problems do get in the way and having to run large distances constantly is frustrating. Despite these many issues Big Bad Wolf has delivered an outstanding narrative that will leave you satisfied. The Council Episode 5: Checkmate not only provides a pleasant ending but encourages the player to play again and make new selections.

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