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

Episode 1 of The Council set up the 5-part adventure on a high note. The entire adventure offered multiple branching paths not only based on the choices you make but on what perks you invest into. Certain choices, options, and even answers are only provided based on the skills you’ve invested into allowing for extensive replayability. Episode 2 Hide and Seek places less focus on confrontations and decision making and instead places the spotlight on puzzles and context. It doesn’t provide the same intense conversations that made the first episode such memorable experience but Hide and Seek pushes the story forward, adding new mysteries and context to characters I thought I knew.

Hide and Seek begins based on your previous episodes ending. Whether you were caught red-handed or as a witness Louis will finally meet Lord Mortimer. Depending on how you tackle the situation at hand Mortimer will either see you as a potential ally or a difficult guest. Jacques Peru comes out a much more noteworthy character here. In the first episode, he was shown as a one-dimensional brute who was out of his element but in Hide and Seek the developers show him in a different light.

Many of the other cast of characters remain in the background, only appearing for a short period before bleeding into the back again. The focus here is the puzzles, with players having to use the clues at hand to answer each one. The issue of this being that certain elements are kept hidden unless you have the right skills selected. During my 3 playthroughs, I found certain problems much harder since I didn’t have the right skills unlocked. For example, towards the end, you must put a sword through a statue but found out without the skill to unlock the context with each statue I had to use trial and error to find the solution.

The episode still offers the same branching paths as the first episode. Actions and choices made in the previous episode are made apparent here but Hide and Seek doesn’t offer the same level of variation as the previous episode. Branching choices are not as abundant here and in one instance was completely unnecessary. During the latter half I was given the choice to spy or head to the objective but leaving for the objective just meant I got to it faster whereas the choosing to spy provided more information on the characters I was eavesdropping on. In the previous episode consequences of my decision was made immediately with Louis providing context to my choice but here it’s not.

As with the previous episodes, there are some technical issues still present. While I never experienced any crashing, the lip-syncing is notably off, and character expressions can often look dull and lifeless. It’s strange seeing Louis recite things with passion in his mind but look completely stoic. However, the voice-acting remains outstanding and the musical score complements each situation.

Like the previous episode, each section will provide your experience, a list of optional paths, successes, and failures. Using that experience you can invest in skills either inside or out of your chosen specialty, which skills in other trees costing more. You can further upgrade Louis by reading books earned throughout your adventure, encouraging exploration. Items are provided to heal Louis’ finite pool of skill points which can be used to unlock locks, use specific skills when talking, or heal himself. All these mechanics are still actively used throughout Hide and Seek, encouraging players to ration their items and talents.

Hide and Seek pushes the story forward and ends on an interesting cliffhanger that raises a lot of questions. The heavy focus on puzzles over decisions and optional choices provide less variety than episode 1. What Hide and Seek accomplishes is providing a variety of puzzles that take advantage of your skill set.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
Twitter | YouTube | Facebook