The Council

The Council is rated M for Mature 17+ by the ESRB with Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, and Violence. This is an adventure game in which players assume the role of a member of a secret society meeting on an English island. As players progress through the story, they can interact with characters, use various skills/traits (e.g., logic, linguistic, occultism) to generate outcomes, and view scenes depicting violence based on these interactions: a character shooting himself in the head; a character strangling a woman; characters shot and killed with a pistol. A handful of scenes depict bodies lying in large pools of blood. In one sequence, players can examine a victim's body close-up, surveying wounds and bloody cuts for clues/evidence. The game also contains sequences involving sexuality: a character kissing a woman and joining her in bed—the scene fades to black; players are given the option to “Ogle” a sleeping woman in lingerie, unlocking the trait "Voyeur." Some sequences depict drug use, as a character is seen drinking laudanum; dialogue may also reference the drug (e.g., “You are addicted to laudanum. We both know that this is a powerful opiate that you take on a daily basis to excess”). The words “f**k” and “sh*t” are heard in the game.