Expelled! Review - Aproaching Branching Narrative Infinity
If there exists a more unhinged branching narrative experience, I could not tell you what it is. (And, I stroked the tentacle of a certain unexpectedly romanceable character in Baldur’s Gate 3, squeamishly, regrettably, I was curious.) In Expelled, the question, ‘surely the game won’t let me …’ is always answered with ‘yes, actually it will’.
Can you use chloroform on your classmates? Yes. Can you use chloroform on yourself? Yes. Can you do so again, several hours later, upon waking from a chloroform-induced stupor? Yes. Why would anyone be motivated to do so? I have no idea, but I tried. Can you put a wine bottle in the hand of a pregnant nun statue? Yes. Can you try to frame this (probably drunk) nun for assault? I think so. If you’re not actively experimenting with everything from mild impertinence to flat-out blasphemy, you will not be able to complete this game.
I ‘completed’ Expelled after 6 runs; saw the credits, had a lot of laughs, and entirely enjoyed the mechanical, and narrative, connections to Inkle’s prior ‘time loop’ game, Overboard. Essentially, someone breaks a (very holy) stained glass window (by pushing a prefect out of it), and the Head is determined to expel you, the scholarship girl, with no regard for the (extremely convoluted) ‘truth’. You must replay the game many times, in order to manipulate events favourably, as a host of colourful characters go about their day, and as time marches on.
Next, I will tell you a cautionary tale about my engagement with the game after ‘completion’, which is not a criticism of the game, so much as a criticism of me. The absolute spaghetti of choice/consequence dependency is surely too vast for any one human brain to grasp, so excessive curiosity will become a lot less rewarding, over time. It’s hard to explain, but I played to expulsion more than 30 times, while also constantly resetting the day as soon as something was misaligned, in search of those red herrings that were ultimately only masquerading as more story (but for explainable reasons). For example, I found a fascinating, new item by cleverly figuring out where to be, at the right moment of the day, but after thoroughly investigating it, I actually already knew the rest of the item’s story. I hadn’t noticed because of the order I’d encountered these puzzle pieces in. Part of the ‘spinning my wheels’ (stuck) feeling was also caused by playing pre-release, because it would have been satisfying enough to just go and sate these little corners of my curiosity with spoilers online, and a lot faster.
Like Overboard, the game does allow for fast-forwarding of the narrative paths you’ve seen before, or rewinding a scene if you make an accidentally wrong choice. But, consider a more classic point-and-click adventure game, in which you can become stuck, have an idea for how to become unstuck, and immediately test your solution. Expelled requires a restart, then a lot of potentially complex framing, until (for example) gym class starts at 1 pm and the hockey stick is hidden in the bushes before you can test if your theory is correct.
Occasional mismatches between what the designer expects me to do, versus what I’m actually doing, are a normal Inkle idiosyncrasy, but there are many ways that the formula shines. Under the hood, the scope is ambitious, while remaining neat and meaningful, on execution. Every new twist is hilarious and validating, as you discover it.
I also enjoyed being forced to be everything from saccharinely sweet, to pure evil. On one run, I cared deeply for my sleepy, confused roommate, and on the next, I clobbered her over the head with a hockey stick and framed a nun for it. Again, consider Baldur’s Gate 3. It took me more than a year to complete, so I was firmly locked in to my ‘good’ experience (questionable ‘chaotic bad’ romance decisions notwithstanding). Expelled’s ‘rapid roleplaying’ dynamic creates a lot of humour, alongside how tolerant your father is, as you (Verity) unreliably tell variations of the same story over and over again. I also appreciated how the game handles the player’s knowledge of what hasn’t happened yet on a new day. “I had a feeling this [item] would be here,” Verity says, despite not possibly being able to feel such a thing.
Expelled is a great game. I played it for longer than I should have. I’m going to now wait until after release and let you tell me what the deal with the chalk is, OK?
Expelled! was reviewed on PC with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
