The Return of Vlaew

                After creating Exmortis in 2004, Ben Leffler (the creator) promised to release another as soon as he could.  There was a lot of waiting involved but in 2006 he released Exmortis 2.  I’m still not going to spoil the end of Exmortis, but the sequel takes place years after the first.  Humanity has been shattered by the cult of the Exmortis and the world’s best attempts have been futile at stopping them.  The world event went so far as to drop a nuke on the Exmortis in order to stop them, but even this was unsuccessful.  The Exmortis have killed most everyone in the world, but the few left fight with an unwavering resistance.  This is where the protagonist of Exmortis 2 comes in.

The opening church in Exmortis 2.

                The protagonist of Exmortis 2 is named Joshua Hannay.  He was a family man before the cult of Exmortis killed his wife and daughter.  Now all he wishes to do is rid the world of this unending evil.  As the second game opens, Joshua is found standing outside of a church.  This is where the revolutionaries were supposed to rendezvous after the final battle with the Exmortis.  Upon entering the church, Joshua finds it completely unoccupied and looking as though no one has entered the premises in a long time.  Even here just at the start I got a first good creepy scare.

Bloody footprints appear on the ground.

                As I entered the church, bloody foot prints began walking down the middle aisle.  These foot prints proceed to the front of the church and veer off to the right.  Watching bloody footsteps appear while attached to no body is unsettling, especially when they finally stop and enter a confessional.  I had to lead Joshua to a confessional in order to have a conversation with a foul entity.  Being a Catholic, this was one hell of a creepy start to the game.  The church is supposed to be a place of safety, but the Exmortis starts off with one clear intention in mind: nowhere is safe; no hope left.

Even the bathroom isn't safe from death.

                After talking to the presence with no body, Joshua goes to a ranch the presence spoke of.  It is here that things set back into the way of the original game by exploring a desolate house ridden with gruesome dead bodies and evil spirits.  I would actually say that the appearances of the corpses in this game are more unsettling than the one before.  Each corpse is dead in a different way and the vibrant red of the blood stands out against the muted colors of the world around it.

A mutilated corpse hangs from the rafters.

                The first corpse I ran across was in a downstairs room off to the right.  Found strung up from the rafters is a mutilated corpse.  The corpse was first hung and then had its appendages and heart ripped from the body.  It was left dangling from the rafters so now blood is pooling beneath it as it slowly swings from side to side.  The creaking of the rope is a nice touch that makes the room all the more ominous.

Some malevolent spirit located at the end of the hallway.

                Traveling upstairs in the house causes a spirit at the end of the hallway to yell “GET OUT,” and slam a door shut, causing all doors in the hallway to slam shut.  I have politely designated this hallway was the hallway of death.  Located in each of the four unlocked rooms of the hallway of death is a different dead body.  The first is a woman who is laying face down dead in a bed with blood spatters on the wall behind the bed.  She is described as having a gaping hole in her chest, most likely from a gunshot wound.  The death found in this room is substantial, but it is nothing compared to the room across the hall.

The corpses of four children found in a bed.

                This room contains possibly the saddest body count of the game.  Located on the bed is the bloody remains of four dead children.  They’ve been neatly covered with an old bed sheet, but blood is slowly seeping through.  Joshua remarks on how he’s gotten used to death, but the corpses of children are still unsettling.  I could not agree more.  The next rooms with a bathtub full of blood and a blood spattered window can’t hold a candle to the depressing picture of four children’s corpses.  Mr. Leffler quickly makes it obvious that the world of Exmortis 2 is far worse than it was in the first game.

Mr. Lochear's final resting place.

                What I eventually found in the kitchen explains the horrors of the house.  The head of the house, Mr. Lochear, had learned the horrors of the Exmortis were approaching, so refusing to let his family suffer horrible deaths at the hand of the Exmortis, he murders his wife and children.  After killing them all, he barricades himself in the kitchen and shoots himself in the head.

                This is the greatest picture of a world gone mad.  What Exmortis 2 brings to the table is world terrified, desperate, and broken.  This game is another wonderful point and click flash game that can be found for free at Newgrounds.com.  I recommend playing it for a good, unsettling scare.  Ben Leffler is a master flash designer and he knows how to weave a terrifyingly apocalyptic story.  The half an hour spent exploring this free flash game is well worth it.    

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/303832