MORBIN
Reviews for "Exmortis"
i liked it but i cant get past the cellar door still and i did everything that was required to get past it. otherwise, it isn't bad at all
a classic......2004?! wow i am old.
Ah, now here's a classic that I, unfortunately, haven't played in ages, and right now, it doesn't look like I'll ever get to play again anytime soon. Doesn't mean I can't watch playthroughs on YouTube. I was probably around 14 when I first played it, and kept playing it over and over again, back to back with the second game. I actually reviewed it a long time ago on my original Newgrounds account, but I feel like it's time for a retrospective seeing how I am not 15 anymore and actually have more of a grasp on how to write a review.
This still remains one of the most impressive point-n-click horror games of its type (which is to say, made with computer software like Photoshop) and of its era. One thing I really liked was how each screen, though taken from different locations, convincingly looked like they were all in the same place. If I didn't know any better, I'd have just assumed they were.
The voice acting, while minimal, was good for its time. I particularly liked those creepy voices when you click the cellar door, as well as all of Vlaew's lines, especially when he recites the incantation and when he's angry if the main character decides to make a run for it. The animations, like Gwen's jaw unhinging, the thing in the hallway appearing, twitching its head, then vanishing, and the player character being dragged to his death by the Exmortis, are all amazing, especially for someone self-taught in Flash.
The jumpscares at the beginning, I'm kinda in the middle about. I tend to think of jumpscares as gimmicky and more annoying than scary, and usually most everyone in this day and age who uses them, does so seemingly when they're unable to really build any tension or atmosphere, so they often end up being lackluster. Of course my 14-year-old self was constantly nervous getting through the intro, despite knowing the jumpscares were coming, and I still gotta give props for building up to them with the heartbeat sounds and the wind blowing. Whenever I played it, the background world would fade away. Even today, watching playthroughs on YouTube, it's still kinda nerve-wracking. Which leads me to another point.
Most of the game doesn't rely on overly loud and scary things jumping out at you, and instead, just your own sense of dread while you wander through the darkness of the house. In that respect, it certainly succeeded. Hell, I remember being scared to click on the door to the basement, or to open the door to Gwen's bedroom when her sobs could be heard. Those are some rare occasions where the buildup itself ends up being stronger and scarier than the delivery.
The mythology, while perhaps not unique, definitely made the game more interesting than many of the games that followed in the footsteps of Exmortis (or at least tried to). I love me a nice creation myth. It almost feels like a story within a story. Same with the diary and Xavier's account of his daughter's possession and death. Really gives it a great foundation/backstory.
My only real grievances are first, that there's a bit of an error in the diary. You're probably not gonna read this since you haven't posted anything to Newgrounds in close to 12 years, and you might already be aware now, but May/early June is late spring here in the States (and it sounds like a majority of your horror games take place in the States). I know it's more like late fall/early winter in Australia, but that kinda bugs me. It would have made more sense to set it late November or in December if you were to have the diary's writer be concerned about freezing to death.
Second — and I can't really fault you for this, since you weren't a complete pro when you made it — some of the things like the animation of the guy running towards you at the end and Vlaew's appearance were a little off-putting. Most of the animations ranged from great to amazing, as said above, but that was just kinda... not exactly convincing for a guy who's pissed that his friends were all murdered and took me out of the moment. And Vlaew just looked like Death from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey which kinda makes it difficult for me to take him seriously, at least in this game (though I also have difficulty taking him seriously in the third game, which I'll address whenever I review it).
I'll stop writing this before it gets any longer and just sum up the review. While some parts of it have become dated and somewhat comical, it still remains a timeless classic with good scares. I know you haven't made flash games in a long time, let alone horror games, but I hope you can, at some point, return to your roots, even if only briefly.
very cool- reminds me of "Ghostscape"