There’s been a murder – or an attempted one, at least. At sunrise someone shoved Louisa Hardcastle, soon to be crowned head girl of Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls, through the school’s stained-glass window. Your character, Verity Amersham, stands accused, and must present an account of her day that proves her innocence. This is achieved via a Groundhog Day structure: you repeatedly play through the hours leading up to Verity’s expulsion as an interactive flashback, from the moment she woke, through to attending chapel and classes, and the accusation on which the story pivots. There’s no magic involved: you’re simply recounting the day’s events to your concerned father as you construct your alibi, establish whether Verity committed the crime – or if not, by whom she has been framed.
Developed by British studio Inkle, Expelled! has many of the hallmarks of the developer’s magnificent previous title, Overboard! There’s a witty script, memorable Agatha Christie-esque characters (Verity’s roommate, the conflict-scarred Russian expat Nattie, provides a standout turn) and a lightness of touch that offsets the grisly act upon which the story rests. There are hefty themes behind the cartoonish presentation too. Set in 1922 after the first world war and a global pandemic, the setting trembles with interwar trauma and the sense that the world might again collapse at any moment into chaos.
At the same time there are frivolities and teenage rivalries – a social web that hums with loyalty and envy. Your task, as you repeatedly play through Verity’s day, is to make different choices and thereby expose new threads that, when gathered together, provide the true picture of what has occurred. Along the way you meet various school archetypes: the sadistic prefect, the hand-waggling swot, the cruel matron, the bepearled headmistress, each of whom has their motives and secrets – as does the school itself. The result is a kind of narrative escape room from which you must flee a predestined conclusion. It’s an ingenious contraption, unique to its chosen medium, delicious in execution.
