Expelled!

Overview

Expelled! is a single-player visual novel from Inkle, set at Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls in 1922. You play Verity Amersham, a scholarship student accused of trying to murder a school prefect who was pushed out of a window. The immediate problem is avoiding expulsion; solving the mystery is one possible way to do that, but the premise also leaves room to pin the blame on someone else.

The school day is the game’s central constraint. You have until it ends to navigate the accusation, and the clock continues to move while you choose where to go and whom to approach. Students and teachers act independently, and they remember what they see and hear. That makes information consequential: conversations, secrets and other characters’ observations can shape the choices available to Verity.

Inkle describes the story as highly replayable, with different runs bringing new leads and opportunities. Your conduct matters too: gossip, lies, theft and manipulation are all part of the stated play, and a morality system opens more choices as Verity becomes more evil. The game stars Amelia Tyler as Verity.

Expelled! was released on March 12, 2025. It is developed by Inkle and published by inkle Ltd.

Key features

• A ticking school-day clock: You have one day to respond to the accusation, so choices take place under a fixed time limit.
• A reactive story world: Other characters move and act independently, and remember what they witness and hear.
• Social maneuvering: Talk to people, gather knowledge, and use gossip, lies, theft or manipulation without getting caught.
• Several routes through the mystery: You can try to find the culprit or arrange for someone else to take the fall.
• Morality-linked choices: The game says that becoming more evil makes additional choices available.
• Replayable runs: Later attempts can surface different leads and opportunities.

On Steam, the listed features include Steam Achievements, full controller support, Steam Cloud and Family Sharing, alongside single-player play.

Platforms

Expelled! is available for Microsoft Windows and macOS. Its Steam feature list includes full controller support and Steam Cloud, as well as Steam Achievements and Family Sharing.

Who it's for

Expelled! is suited to players who want a character-driven mystery where timing, information and social choices intersect. Its school setting and accusations provide the central detective problem, while the option to lie, manipulate or redirect blame gives the player more than one stated approach to it.

It may also appeal to visual novel players who value replaying a story to find new leads and outcomes. The ticking clock and characters who remember what they observe make the school day a system to navigate, not just a sequence of conversations. The game is single-player, so it is a story for individual play rather than a shared server or multiplayer experience.

Pros and cons

Alternatives

For another Inkle game with a school-day mystery premise, see Overboard!. If you want to explore more work from the developer, Games by Inkle collects its titles.

• A Highland Song
• Heaven’s Vault
• 80 Days
• The Crown of Kings

Verdict

Expelled! brings its mystery and its social systems together around a clear deadline: resolve the accusation before the school day ends. Its remembered actions and evolving choices give the player reasons to consider not only what to learn, but what others might learn about Verity. The choice between uncovering the culprit and making someone else take the fall gives the premise a sharp moral edge. Players looking for a single-player visual novel built around a reactive cast, time pressure and replayable investigations have a clear basis for considering it.