Exeunt Omnes

Exeunt Omnes is a difficult game to describe. It's a visual novel, since the gameplay consists mostly of dialogue options and text. It's a strategy game, since the player must make decisions that will lead to either success or failure. I guess the creator's tag of "Strategy Visual Novel" is quite appropriate! But is it any good?

The story of this game is fairly simple. You play as the "Villain", a smooth-talking, philosophy spouting evildoer who has been cornered by an old friend, the "Hero". With death soon upon you, your only arsenal is your words. You must use them to sway the Hero in some way to let you go. It's a really cool concept for a game, and is executed fairly well. The dialogue is very well written, adding to the overall experience. Almost nothing is revealed about our two characters at the start, but over time it becomes more apparent who they are and what they believe in, just from what they say.

The game is very short, but to get all of the different endings and to explore all of the various dialogue trees it must be played many times. It's fun to just explore all the various options, even if you don't quite make it to a good ending, so this wasn't much of a problem for me. However, it can be a pain to get any of the good endings. Planning out a route is very difficult, since most of your options are hidden until you make your next move, or until the Hero responds at the end of a turn. You can also run out of options for your current argument partway through, sending you back to the start and probably to your doom. Basically, a lot of trial and error is involved. Still, it's definitely satisfying when you finally do succeed.

The presentation in this game is really good! The music selection, while limited, was very serene and looping was virtually unnoticeable for me. The custom art is also great, and really sets a very melancholy tone. The only thing I didn't care for was the UI, which, according to the game page for this game was intentionally ambiguous. That doesn't mean it didn't still give me problems, though! My first run through this game was me mostly trying to figure out what the heck I was doing. I got the hang of it eventually, though, but be aware that there is a slight learning curve.

Overall, Exeunt Omnes is a short yet deep game revolving around choosing the right things to say. It's hard to get the hang of it enough to get a good ending, let alone all of them, but it's definitely worth experiencing just for the writing and the art assets.

Score:
4/5