Scares me to death but love it. Great game
Reviews for "Exmortis 2"
Morbin
Another classic that I would say is an improvement over the first game in many ways. Not to say that the first was bad, of course, but this one felt much more in-depth. The story and mythology is a lot more elaborate. If I recall correctly, I remember you saying somewhere that you never really intended to give the first game much of a plot, which I honestly don't see, because it did clearly have one. What it lacked was a clear goal. If it weren't for the mythology and the very last part of the game, it would have just been another "search the haunted house for clues" story. That's one such improvement here. Almost right off the bat, it's clear what exactly you're supposed to do. The setting is also better. While I love me a nice haunted house game, I found the post-apocalyptic wasteland overrun by demons to be more interesting.
The diary is easily the highlight of this entry in the trilogy. It's almost a story within a story and provides another level of horror that even the rest of the game can't compare to. The diary in the first game, while still creepy, was a little TOO quick to get to the point and spent a disproportionate amount of time showing the writer's spiral into insanity and torment by the Exmortis. In this game, the diary was a nice slow burn somewhat akin to The Shining (a movie I personally don't like, but I can respect the influence it's had on the horror genre) that gave the writer a clear personality that just made his increasing instability and his life falling apart that much more frightening and tragic. It's even inspired me to write a screenplay based on it. Hope you'll be okay with that; I don't really see why not, since this game isn't copyrighted. Might try to get in touch with you to talk about it, just in case.
While I loved the unsettling darkness of the first game, I found that the sepia tones fit this one quite well. You're not in a haunted house in the woods anymore, you're living in a world almost completely devoid of life. The contrast in colors was also a nice touch. It's as though the Exmortis turned the world into their own desolate canvas to paint with blood.
I also loved all the callbacks to the first game, particularly revisiting the tunnels where the Exmortis' temple could be found. The hallway where you face the Hand of Exmortis gives the impression that perhaps the Cult of Exmortis alluded to in the first game may have gathered again and performed a mass sacrifice — or even a mass suicide — prior to the events of this entry. Same for revisiting the tunnels you run through in the alternate ending of the first game. That was also kind of a clever touch, even if unintentional. Spoilers: in the first game, when you escape the tunnels and find the pathway back to civilization, you're attacked and knocked unconscious and get trapped in a loop until you submit to Vlaew's will. In the second game, you reach the exit that the protagonist of the first game manages to get through, but you're stopped there and then killed, just when you think you're on your way back to the comforts of the world before the invasion of the Exmortis.
The corpses were better and more realistically posed, and the appearance of the Hand of Exmortis and the demons he summons are pretty neat. Great voice acting again, too. Voice acting has never been much of a problem for your games. When you first interact with the creature in the confessional, it sounds like it genuinely has Mr. Hannay's best interests at heart. The only real complaints that I have for this entry are the appearances of the first Exmortis you encounter at the beginning if you die (I get that they have telekinesis, but c'mon, is that guy REALLY supposed to be scary when he's lacking a lower jaw and arms?) and Vlaew, who is literally just a $2500 vampire costume with an overcoat and a hat. Vlaew is a cool villain, but I just have a lot of difficulty taking him seriously because of his appearance in the first two and... well, I'll get to the third game later. Also, that jumpscare in the vent isn't very convincing and it feels like it was just thrown in there as filler, because who the hell even WAS that? Doesn't seem plot-relevant in the slightest.
So anyway, that about wraps up my thoughts on this entry, at least for now. Thank you for making these games. They were definitely one of the better parts of my otherwise mostly shitty teenage years.
this game game me the creeps but i love it 10/10 for not getting bored
I think it's better than the first one, I liked the sudoku part, and I really liked the plot!