While glancing through some upcoming games on Steam, my eyes caught on the dark, occult comic-style artwork of Exilium and I had to give the demo a try. Planned for release by Lonch.me later this year, the game is described as an "atmospheric point & click project" in which you will "face demons and occult rituals." I love a good point & click adventure, so I started the game with enthusiasm.

It soon became clear that the game wasn't quite what I was expecting from the description. It does use a point & click interface (along with some camera side-scrolling that you need to do in order to explore each part of the house), but it's less about casual exploration and discovery and more goal-oriented.

Quickly Escaping Death as You Go About Your Job

As an exorcist, you have arrived at a boarded-up mansion with the job of irradicating the evil possessing it. Unfortunately, you seem to have forgotten to bring any tools with you, so you need to search through the mansion for anything that can be used to disrupt the evil forces occupying it. As you go about your business, you need to avoid the possessed individual wandering about the place—if you end up in the same room as the possessed, it's game over for you. Fortunately, he has a set route he takes, so the game ends up being about learning his route for each level, discovering which items he interacts with (each of which will require different rituals to deal with), and finding the right timing to dash into each room to collect supplies and carry out the purification rites.

This gameplay of memorizing your opponent's movements and repeating the same stage multiple times in different levels had me reminiscing about old dedicated gaming consoles with a single built-in game. This game has a bit more interaction (and much better graphics) than those ever did, but it gives me that same relaxed feeling of repeating a process multiple times as it becomes increasingly complex.

Melancholic Atmosphere and Hints of an Intriguing Character

At the start of each level, there is a short comic giving some background on both the exorcist and the possessed man. The comic only gives a few short scenes, and the English is a little strange in places, but it sets a tense mood as it leads into each level, supported by the melancholic music that starts by the end of the comic and continues throughout the stage. With the subtle sound and the graphic-novel-quality stylized artwork, the game does a good job of setting some decent atmosphere, adding to the intrigue each level as the story progresses from the recent past into the current situation.

Though the demo is short, I did find myself wondering about the characters involved, such as how things will turn out for the man being saved and what the story is behind the exorcist himself—the guy has a huge scar on his neck and has obviously been through some trying experiences. There are a few brief hints scattered throughout the first chapter, and I'm sure there will be plenty more as the story progresses.

I can't say how the final product will be, but the demo leaves me optimistic for the outcome. The level selection screen indicates that at least two more chapters are currently planned. If the continuing chapters add new cases and more complex rituals to learn and discover while keeping the same level of quality, this should be a decent way to kill a few hours. For the time being, the demo is available to play on Steam and you can spend a few dozen minutes running around the manor performing rituals while enjoying the aesthetic.