Exmortis

'Atmospheric' is an understatement

Reviewed by Shawn from afro-ninja.com

Exmortis is an incredibly morbid and scary point and click adventure game that will leave you afraid to use the computer for days afterward. With nearly photorealistic environments you’ll have to stop and assure yourself that you’re not actually inside of a decrepit and haunted house.

The game dumps you off in the middle of the woods outside of a run-down old house, with a standard horror-genre introduction- you just woke up, unaware of what has happened, but your only choice for shelter lies within. After venturing into the house the story slowly unfolds itself, while taking just the right amount of opportunity to scare the hell out of you. Cautiously peeking around the house you’ll find blood stains, dismembered corpses, and documents of long ago. Although the entire backstory is pretty much revealed through three different pieces of documentation, they fit the scenario and don’t seem forced. I’ve played too many games where endless newspaper clippings have been conveniently placed to uncover everything for us. The story and background information are actually pretty deep, and are the focus of the game. When it comes down to it there are really only a few puzzles to solve, but atmosphere of the game definitely makes up for it.

The graphics are dead-on for this game. Although often murky, blurry, or unclear, the photoshopped images present an environment far more immersive than any hand drawn pictures could have produced. It really feels like you’re all alone in the wilderness in these haunted rooms. The soundtrack backs it up perfectly, with plenty of creepy ambience playing, along with warped voices, whispers, wind howls, screams, little children, and anything else you could think of. It’s all so convincing that it even adds to the overall gameplay time, since you’ll be more than likely proceeding through the rooms as slow as possible, unsure if the next room has an apparition waiting for you or not.

As much as you want to close the window and forget about this game, the question “what happened in this house” will bug you until you proceed further. My only complaint is the nature of a couple of the puzzles themselves. The game is a little unclear on how one of the doors is supposed to be unlocked, but chances are if you search everything you’ll end up opening it anyway. And I felt the final puzzle was a little vague compared to the others, but taking everything into account it does actually make sense. The game even gives you two alternate endings, with one providing a nice twist. The game and story come together great as an overall package and, regardless if you scare easy or not, you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you pass this game up.

Click here to play Exmortis






Comments (4) [view all]

  Latest comment left by Cema:

Alright, I thought it was both, the graphics suiting the game and how they faired against others of their kind. I never said that it deserved a 10 for graphics, yet I may have implied it. You need a scaling chart or something to define what deserves what. IGN and most other major review givers have one. Sorry for the mild inconvenience, and don't be angry at me for argueing. You know that if you didn't want arguement, you wouldn't make these reviews public topics. Most people probably agree, I just happend not to. Sorry. :(

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