Expelled! Review (PC)

I’m torn between two very different schools of thought—the first one being a slightly dramatic and somewhat sadistic affair, and the other being a simpler, albeit more disastrous one. I’m on the fence, because on one hand, I have the opportunity to take the fall for a crime I didn’t commit, but on the other hand, I have the subtle power to pin it on another student here at this prestigious boarding school for “gifted” girls. If I opt to take the former route, then I’ll likely find myself expelled before the next semester; if I take the latter, then I’ll no doubt have to deal with another issue—the fact that the morality slider hovering over my head will more than likely deplete and force me to consider alternate options for my future descents into the world of academia. I’ll be honest — I’m at a loss.

I won’t lie to you, Expelled! has put me in a corner. Here I am, hopping between classes and building bridges with potential classmates who I may or may not stab in the back at a later time, wondering if the evidence I have gathered so far is enough to launch a viable argument against the notion that I, for some reason unknown to me, ejected a student out of the window. For the record, I’m innocent — but that doesn’t mean I’m out of the spotlight; the student body of the boarding school think that there’s an ulterior motive behind this tragedy. I guess, when it all boils down to it, my issue is that I have little choice but to prove them wrong. It’s either that, or I accept the fate that has been pre-written for me. Either way, this journey of mine won’t be a simple one.

Class Dismissed

Expelled! puts you in the shoes of a girl named Verity—an acting student at Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls, a seemingly harmless educational institution set in the heart of England. The game, in a true crime drama fashion, begins with a tragedy: one of the school prefects is thrown from the window of the school, while the student body—another unruly force to be reckoned with—decides to pin the blame on you. From this opening chapter, you have a choice: prove your innocence by embarking on a phishing expedition to unravel the truth, or simply go out of your way to find another poor soul to take the fall. However, with each decision that you make comes a stint on the morality system—a separate slider that, if used correctly, can provide you with additional tools, dialogue options, or pathways to explore.

In a typical visual novel-like fashion, Expelled! invites you to engage in a multitude of activities; you can entwine with various conversations with both students and teachers; collect items of utmost interest to aid your investigation; make crucial decisions that often shape future encounters; and interact with certain set pieces to unlock additional areas, secrets, and other clues to further enhance your research. At key moments in this journey, players are tasked with formulating strategies—turning points that allow you to progress through the story in a Sherlock Holmes-like manner. There are several endings to unlock, too, so while you might knuckle in on one conclusion in the first attempt, there’s nothing to say that the second dive won’t sprout alternate scenarios. And that’s great; the more replay value, the better.

Extracurricular Activities Aplenty

The gameplay aspects aren’t quite as plentiful as you might imagine, but that isn’t to say that Expelled! is without its inclusion of interactive features and vital choice-based anchor moments. Granted, the breadth of the game is mostly text, but with so many things to do, it’s almost impossible to experience the game in its entirety in the first run. Aside from the fact that you have the monumental task of clearing your name, you also have the option to rise to the position of Head Girl, establish unique friendships, unlock hidden quarters, and chronicle the patterns of each student who freely roams the campus. And while all of these things are more or less enveloped in a thirty-minute experience, the fact that you can switch between play styles in each session and still find something new to discover in each passing turn makes it all the more intriguing.

In regards to the art style that Expelled! adopts, eh — I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s crammed to the brim with all the colors in the rainbow; on the contrary, it’s mostly made up of murky browns and yellows. But it’s fitting, I suppose, as the game does take place in the early 1900s, and it is, of course, a tale that carries some relatively woeful-looking baggage. But even with a lack of graphical polish, the game itself does manage to project a lot of captivating backdrops and some genuinely interesting set pieces. There is also some great voiceover work to appreciate here too, with the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3’s Amelia Tyler providing the dialogue for the game’s leading protagonist, Verity. It’s also a structurally sound game, too, with little to no technical flaws dulling the core gameplay experience or interfering with the UI.

Verdict

Expelled! blends a compelling narrative with multiple moldable arcs and consequential actions with a hand-drawn art style that’s highly reminiscent of formidable visual novels of a bygone era of Flash fiction. With thanks to the in-depth nature of the multi-archway plot and the ingenious inclusion of a versatile morality system, Expelled! provides more than enough content to keep you returning for another class of investigative work. Its dialogue and vast range of personalities, too, aren’t half bad, with a lot of interesting conversations, twists, turns, and plausible scenarios to unfold over a relatively sizable campaign of betrayal, malevolence, and redemption.

At its core, Expelled! is a good interactive visual novel with a lot of fantastic qualities and opportunities for players to explore its themes and interweaving story segments. And for that reason alone, it’s an easy one to recommend, as it does have all of the appropriate trimmings and features to comprise a striking, and more importantly, memorable journey with a significant and impactful custom structure. If that’s the sort of thing that tickles your fancy, then I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll find more than enough to keep you emotionally invested in this particular periodic time piece. It isn’t likely to steal your entire weekend, but it’s definitely something that will keep your undivided attention from the moment its first bell rings to the split second the final class ends.