Tormented Souls – Review
Survival horror is, of course, a very popular subgenre. With only a torch and your ability to run and hide, you are dropped into an abandoned building or spooky area and left to explore the surroundings. Resident Evil and Silent Hill, the original survival horror forefathers, are now household names that have etched themselves into our gaming memories. A fixed camera, tight locations, and a sense that you’re going to die at any moment make Tormented Souls feel like a throwback to those types of games. Is it worth it to suffer?
Caroline Walker is the character you portray. Her first encounter with twin girls is depicted in a letter she receives at the beginning. Her curiosity is piqued by the image, and she sets out for Winterlake Hospital to learn what has become of them. In the blink of an eye, Caroline is knocked unconscious and the screen goes dark. Your eye has been amputated and you find yourself in a bathtub, completely naked. Now it’s up to you to go out and figure out what’s going on.
The story is old-school and the writing is full of cheese and on-the-nose dialogue, making it feel like it was written in the 1990s. That said, I became addicted to it and relished the experiences it offered. Some may find the story a little old-fashioned, but you can see that the developers grew up with this type of game and tried to incorporate it here. However, the real stories are found in the locations themselves, particularly in the darkened rooms and strong sense of place they evoke. An abundance of health-themed artwork, dark paintings, and vibrant interiors make this place an enjoyable place to spend time.
Tormented Souls is a third-person shooter like the old Resident Evil games, with a fixed camera perspective. If you aren’t used to it, this can cause you a lot of stress, especially if you’re trying to flee an enemy or navigate a room or area. I got used to it faster than I expected, but it does give the game a claustrophobic feel.
By jogging around the area with your character, you can get yourself out of trouble. During the first twenty to thirty minutes of the museum’s opening, you’ll be able to walk around the rooms and admire the settings. As in any other game, you can explore the world and interact with its various elements to help the plot move forward. Maps of the area are also available, but I found them to be a little confusing at times because they didn’t seem to tell me where I was on the map or what I hadn’t yet seen.
The puzzles, on the other hand, are top-notch. In Tormented Souls, you have to think fast and hard about how things work, especially when it comes to combining items. The clues scattered around will give you a general idea of what you need to do, but it’s highly likely that you’ll need to go online to find the odd solution. Tape machines can be found in certain rooms around the locations, and they’re well-spaced out. Tapes are required for use with these machines, and you should be aware that they are sometimes difficult to come by. You’ll either love or hate that one mechanic, especially when you’re forced to retrace your footsteps for the hundredth time.
Tormented Souls features combat, which is one of the most difficult aspects of the game to master. To begin, you obtain a nail gun and begin firing it at fast-moving monsters with long range attacks. It’s possible to dodge, but the fixed camera angles make it easy to get stuck in the wrong perspective. As soon as that occurs, it’s all but game over for the team. Honestly, I ended up running more than I did fighting, which gives you an idea of how well I nailed the combat skills.
Despite the bleak and desolate settings, Tormented Souls is visually appealing. I had a great time wandering around the world thanks to the fantastic level design and beautiful interiors. When it’s done right, the creature design can be beautiful, but on occasion it looks like something straight out of the 1980s. Even the cutscenes look like something straight out of a 90’s video game, but they’ve been given a modern update while retaining their original feel.
Additionally, the soundtrack has enough ups and downs in tension and scares to keep things interesting. At times, it can be evocative of a bygone era. It’s like 1997 all over again when we start working on the voice acting. Even if the developer’s intention was to make the dialogue sound cheesy and weird, they succeeded in recreating a historically accurate depiction of those times.
Tormented Souls is a survival horror game that will appeal to fans of the genre. In some ways, it’s an homage to them, with a fun story and some excellent puzzles. How long you can put up with the game’s clunky combat, fixed camera, and limited saves will determine how long you can play.
