Exilium | PC Demo Review
I immediately think of Myst when somebody says “Point-and-Click games.” I expect passive events with puzzles that make little to no sense until you’ve solved them. If you’ve read my previous reviews, you will know that I have a hankerin’ for horror games. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play and review Exilium despite my inaccurate assumption of the Point-and-Click stereotype. Wow! I am thrilled that I proved my assumptions are incorrect.
Exilium is currently only a demo but it packs a punch to whet your appetite for more. I was able to play through the first chapter of this upcoming gem and I am counting down the days until I can play the rest.
A Comic Panel of Possession
Exilium presents the story and level setup in a comic book form. Each panel is beautifully crafted to help the player understand who you are and what you’re capable of doing. The player controls Adam, a priest/exorcist who has clearly been doing this job for a long time. While Adam is known to be quite capable of relieving the afflicted of their literal demons, he has also taken some damage; a massive wound across his throat has been healed for a long time. Adam is brought to a home where a young girl has been possessed. We get to know his abilities as he quickly handles the situation and exorcises the demon. After this successful outcome, he is given a new case. Once this story is properly set up, the first level of Chapter One begins as a tutorial.
This game is a standard point-and-click: Click on the drawer to search for items, pick up the jar, combine the items to build a weapon, drag and drop the weapon onto an object to use the weapon on it, click on a door to hide or move around, and so on. No, we aren’t breaking new ground in that department.
If you’re in the same room as the possessed person, they will attack and you will die. You have to plan your steps and then time it very well to succeed. I enjoyed going from room to room, finding objects, and the trial and error of “do I use this item on the object?” Perhaps a point-and-click demon possession game has been made before, but it’s a first for me. I found myself remarking, “This is the perfect style for this kind of possession/horror game!”
Sounds Like Variety
The demo chapter had five connected levels. A doctor who has a wife and young son is possessed. While you work to rid the doctor of the demons, the comic-style interludes between levels explain how his life is falling apart. A patient died, he has been suspended/fired, and his wife is leaving although this is not told all in one interlude. It is clear that his hardships are caused by the possession and that we should want to help him. Each level in this chapter is within the same house. However, the rooms available in each level change. Your paths between rooms might also change as some doors become locked. Items which you know will be needed for a specific target are not where you found them the last time. The demon roams the house from room to room retaining power through visiting items which are evil: a record player playing devil music, a devil bible, a burning skull shrine among other potential targets which need to be cleansed or destroyed all while avoiding proximity to the possessed doctor. Destroy or cleanse all of the target items and you have defeated the level AND helped the doctor get his life back in order.
The music is exactly what you would expect from a horror style game and it is great! The sound effects added to the fun and offered a couple of goosebump moments. When I didn’t time a movement right and the possessed doctor wound up in the room with Adam The Exorcist, it transitioned to a cutscene set of comic panels showing the doctor attacking and killing Adam. The growls, angry screams, and attack noises were chillingly fun. They did a great job making the environment more immersive through their sound choices.
My lone downfall was the mouse controls. The game uses the left and right clicks, the scroll wheel to zoom in or out, and you can look around the house by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen in the direction desired. This one item, the “look around” functionality, was too touchy and fast. Several times, I overshot the area that I was trying to look at, had to correct it, and by the time I regained my bearings the demon was in the room with me. There is a camera motion sensitivity setting that I recommend playing around with early on in the tutorial level. Save yourself from my minor frustration.
Final Thoughts
For the hour of gameplay that the demo offered, Exilium reached out to my horror love and offered a gaming style that I wish I wouldn’t have overlooked in the past based on one game. Like Roguelites in previous years, I am shaming myself for avoiding another game genre because of a misconception. Point-And-Click adventures like this deserve to be enjoyed. There is a fair amount of fright and gore which means that this one is not for kids.
Exilium is a fantastic entry for someone who would like to play a game but only has a short amount of time to do so since each level can be completed in five or 10 minutes. It is scary, fun, well animated, and immersive while making the player plan out a strategy but not feel overwhelmed. At least, not in the first chapter. Once the full version is available, I will definitely put this game in my shopping cart because I really want to see what comes next for Adam The Exorcist.
To hear me talk more about Exilium, be sure to listen to the January 17 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast.
This review is based on a PC demo copy of Exilium provided by Keymailer for coverage purposes. It is exclusive to this platform.
