As gamers, we all understand frustration, and yet we love it. We love when a game is so gloriously tricky that we need to work at understanding it, perfecting it, and then, of course, crushing it. But what happens when the source of your frustration is actually.... you?
Extreme Exorcism isn’t the kind of game that allows you to blame cheap AI for your many inevitable deaths, or even the kind of game that you can blame sloppy controls. It plays just fine- it’s you that’s the problem. And the better you get at the game, the harder it will be for you.
In Extreme Exorcism you control exorcist Mae Barrons, a professional ghostbuster who is called into a haunted house in order to remove the spirits inhabiting it. You’ll do so with everything from swords to rocket launchers- these ghosts don’t seem to need any specific equipment to be killed.
But there's just one problem: every time you kill a ghost you'll start over again and an additional ghost will appear, perfectly mimicking the moves you just made. Any attacks you took against the last ghost, the new ghost will, and they will now be lethal to you. As you kill each successive ghost more and more ghosts from your previous playthroughs will appear on screen until you're dodging and weaving through countless ghosts from your past..
It’s like Super Meat Boy, if every one of your past attempts was trying to kill you.
This also means that the longer you survive, the harder it is, as you try to rack your brain in order to remember what you did the last few kills in order to not become a victim of your own actions. Wrap your head around that one.
The local multiplayer will clearly keep you playing but the campaign is no slouch either, as it will offer 10 areas (library, cemetery, attic, etc.) with multiple levels along with a final boss, as well as a challenge mode that offers 50 unique challenges. He showed me one where you were handed a machine gun and had to kill a ghost every 12 seconds. A countdown clock started as soon as he began the level and the pressure was on.
When asked if any updates were in the works post-release, Christatos states that they’d love to include new characters, weapons and modes, but it all depends on how strong sales are.
Extreme Exorcism will be out sometime later this year via Ripstone Publishing on Xbox One, PS4, and PC via Steam. They are is looking for as close to a simultaneous release as possible. It's clear that this game will be a treat for anyone looking for the next great challenge, even if the challenge turns out to be yourself.
