The action takes place in the late XVIII century, offering a beautiful window into the period, from the paintings hanging on almost every wall to each room and corridor that's decorated in the Rococo style, I can guarantee that you will be spending most of your time in this game staring at art pieces.
You play as Louis de Richet a somewhat Sherlock Holmes stereotype investigating a mystery while being surrounded by conspicuous characters both real and fictional, offering an atmosphere of intrigue, never knowing who you can trust and who you can't.
Gameplay wise it is similar to games like the ones we've seen from Telltale or from the Life Is Strange series where you investigate areas and talk with people, but in the case of The Council this is spiced up a bit with the addition of perks and skills that you learn throughout the game. This offers a high replayability since you can't have every skill in one single playthrough. You will have to decide what kind of detective you are, a logical one that notices small details or a learned individual that uses his knowledge of politics and history to reach a conclusion.
The length of the first episode is what you normally expect from these sort of episodic games, in my first playthrough I finished the game in about 4-5 hours, and in my second one i managed to finish it in 2 hours by rushing though it. A drawback of this episodic method specific to this game is the fact that you don't get to fully use your skills, some feeling almost pointless, hopefully they will be more useful in future episodes.
In the end I would strongly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys Telltale games and the Life Is Strange series being one of the better ones out there, especially if you enjoy a good mystery, the occult and conspiracy theories.