Grew tired of all the backtracking.
Underrated survival horror game that is an easy recommend to anyone who likes classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Capture the classic survival horror vibe perfectly, and between the gameplay, graphics, and even the cheesy voice acting, feels exactly like a forgotten, obscure PS2 game, and that's a complement. Great monster design, and excellent puzzles and mechanics. My only criticisms are that the 'stalker' enemy the game introduces later on is pretty lame and underwhelming, and the lack of unlockables and extra difficulties give it pretty limited replay value.
Acho muito legal conseguir ver exatamente quais aspectos de resident evil e silent hill influenciaram esse jogo ao mesmo tempo que conseguiram criar uma identidade bem própria
It has a depressing atmosphere, the level designs and puzzle designs are very enjoyable. So it has more or less everything you'd expect from an old-school horror survival game but of average quality. Where it falls behind is that it has an overly clichéd storyline and the in-game mechanics don't have anything to do with the story.
This review contains spoilers
Replete with scenes of explicit violence and gore, Tormented Souls has enough harrowing horror and brain-busting puzzles to satisfy any survival-horror fan. With fantastic level design, a well-written story, and an overwhelming amount of love for its predecessors, Tormented Souls displays intelligence and competence in it's design.
It's far from perfect, though. I thought an old, gothic Hospital was a fantastic location for a survival-horror game (as proven by RE and Silent Hill). All of the backgrounds and scenery were spot-on and creeping around the dark, decaying halls was immersive and genuinely scary. Though I'd say the sublevels got a bit tiresome. Labyrinthian sewers and winding halls of pipes and concrete got confusing and disorienting. I'm sure it was meant to be somewhat, but it wasn't as fun or interesting.
Not a huge fan of the combat. For reference, it is very similar to what you would expect from late-90s/early-00's horror games. Auto-aim, shoot, and finish off with a melee weapon to conserve ammo. However, while it's contemporaries allow you the option of intelligent maneuvering to dodge enemies altogether, I soon discovered that applying the same tactics here were far more costly. Even the most basic of enemies are quick-steppers with wide hitboxes (and possess annoying projectiles with ridiculous range), but that wasn't the problem. The input delay and cooldown on all player commands takes SO long. You could plug an enemy with the nail gun a healthy three times and during the time it takes to strike with the melee weapon, end the animation, and begin again, the enemy has already gotten up and swiped you. There is some stun with each shot, but not so it really counts. You can't get a stunning head shot and then quickly dodge around the enemy to the next area. The enemy stun animation has finished before you even get the next shot off, so enemies are constantly gaining ground on you. Due to this, the wisest course of action was always to bite the bullet and put down an enemy whenever I came across them, which I found less thrilling than clever dodges. I just wish I had the option. Most annoying of all, on the rare occasions that you DO manage to get by an enemy, God forbid you have to go back in the room because they camp the doorways you just came through. And, once again, animation start-up is so slow that you are going to take a hit before you get your weapon up or you can utilize the backstep move.
The puzzles are frustrating mix of brilliance and completely obtuse, left-field bullshit. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I had to consult an online guide multiple times to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. There were times I caved out of impatience when I should of persisted, but there were also occasions where I would have never have figured out what they wanted. This was due to some serious backtracking to barely-memorable areas or noticing subtle or esoteric details in the environment. Like walking around a table counter-clockwise multiple times with the lights off or examining an item closely for what felt like unnecessary and trivial modifications. One puzzle was straight up broken. You had to turn a safe lock clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, as always, right? But if you didn't have the cursor in the exact, right spot on the teeny edge of the button, it would go clockwise despite the icon changing to indicate the opposite. Very frustrating. I'd say this was about 30% of the puzzles, but I absolutely loved the rest. The developers really seem to trust in your intelligence and observation skills and there is very little handholding here. It made figuring out a tough one supremely satisfying.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed the story. I won't spoil anything, but they definitely utilized familiar dark-light world mechanics in a really smart way. I thought the "twist" of the story was really obvious in the first eight seconds of the game, but the devil is in the details. Sure, you might be able to see the ending coming, but the journey there is absolutely worth it. You won't fall in love with the characters, but you will experience satisfying plant-and-payoff and you are able to make decisions to affect the ending in a meaningful way.
All-in-all, Tormented Souls is a mostly-successful tribute to it's macabre progenitors. As a huge fan of the genre, I wasn't disappointed.
It's far from perfect, though. I thought an old, gothic Hospital was a fantastic location for a survival-horror game (as proven by RE and Silent Hill). All of the backgrounds and scenery were spot-on and creeping around the dark, decaying halls was immersive and genuinely scary. Though I'd say the sublevels got a bit tiresome. Labyrinthian sewers and winding halls of pipes and concrete got confusing and disorienting. I'm sure it was meant to be somewhat, but it wasn't as fun or interesting.
Not a huge fan of the combat. For reference, it is very similar to what you would expect from late-90s/early-00's horror games. Auto-aim, shoot, and finish off with a melee weapon to conserve ammo. However, while it's contemporaries allow you the option of intelligent maneuvering to dodge enemies altogether, I soon discovered that applying the same tactics here were far more costly. Even the most basic of enemies are quick-steppers with wide hitboxes (and possess annoying projectiles with ridiculous range), but that wasn't the problem. The input delay and cooldown on all player commands takes SO long. You could plug an enemy with the nail gun a healthy three times and during the time it takes to strike with the melee weapon, end the animation, and begin again, the enemy has already gotten up and swiped you. There is some stun with each shot, but not so it really counts. You can't get a stunning head shot and then quickly dodge around the enemy to the next area. The enemy stun animation has finished before you even get the next shot off, so enemies are constantly gaining ground on you. Due to this, the wisest course of action was always to bite the bullet and put down an enemy whenever I came across them, which I found less thrilling than clever dodges. I just wish I had the option. Most annoying of all, on the rare occasions that you DO manage to get by an enemy, God forbid you have to go back in the room because they camp the doorways you just came through. And, once again, animation start-up is so slow that you are going to take a hit before you get your weapon up or you can utilize the backstep move.
The puzzles are frustrating mix of brilliance and completely obtuse, left-field bullshit. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I had to consult an online guide multiple times to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. There were times I caved out of impatience when I should of persisted, but there were also occasions where I would have never have figured out what they wanted. This was due to some serious backtracking to barely-memorable areas or noticing subtle or esoteric details in the environment. Like walking around a table counter-clockwise multiple times with the lights off or examining an item closely for what felt like unnecessary and trivial modifications. One puzzle was straight up broken. You had to turn a safe lock clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, as always, right? But if you didn't have the cursor in the exact, right spot on the teeny edge of the button, it would go clockwise despite the icon changing to indicate the opposite. Very frustrating. I'd say this was about 30% of the puzzles, but I absolutely loved the rest. The developers really seem to trust in your intelligence and observation skills and there is very little handholding here. It made figuring out a tough one supremely satisfying.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed the story. I won't spoil anything, but they definitely utilized familiar dark-light world mechanics in a really smart way. I thought the "twist" of the story was really obvious in the first eight seconds of the game, but the devil is in the details. Sure, you might be able to see the ending coming, but the journey there is absolutely worth it. You won't fall in love with the characters, but you will experience satisfying plant-and-payoff and you are able to make decisions to affect the ending in a meaningful way.
All-in-all, Tormented Souls is a mostly-successful tribute to it's macabre progenitors. As a huge fan of the genre, I wasn't disappointed.
(about 5-6 hours in)
Dropping this game because it's just unfortunately not what I thought... It's clunky, jank and at times just not fun. I see what they were going for with this game and the execution can make due but it lacked for me. I had no issue with the limited saves but the combat, movement and enemy designs, etc. weren't really doing it for me. You can run from enemies but if you leave them at a door and then go back through said door you get stuck and the enemy is able to hit you and it happens every single time. It's like it takes a second for the character to be able to move after going through a door and it makes it troublesome for wanting to just avoid enemies and go on to your current objective. It's atmosphere is decent and the music is also okay at best so I'll give it that but that's pretty much all I liked. The UI was also a little weird but I kinda vibed with it. God... and the map.. don't even get me started. I seen a review that described this game as playing Resident Evil but on hard mode but I think I'd have a more enjoyable time dealing with that than with this game. It did scratch that classic survival horror itch and it's great to see new ones being made but... Hopefully a sequel improves upon some things it struggled with but for now I think I'll stick to just watching playthroughs with this one.
*Maybe in the future I'll actually finish it but I don't see myself doing that anytime soon.
Dropping this game because it's just unfortunately not what I thought... It's clunky, jank and at times just not fun. I see what they were going for with this game and the execution can make due but it lacked for me. I had no issue with the limited saves but the combat, movement and enemy designs, etc. weren't really doing it for me. You can run from enemies but if you leave them at a door and then go back through said door you get stuck and the enemy is able to hit you and it happens every single time. It's like it takes a second for the character to be able to move after going through a door and it makes it troublesome for wanting to just avoid enemies and go on to your current objective. It's atmosphere is decent and the music is also okay at best so I'll give it that but that's pretty much all I liked. The UI was also a little weird but I kinda vibed with it. God... and the map.. don't even get me started. I seen a review that described this game as playing Resident Evil but on hard mode but I think I'd have a more enjoyable time dealing with that than with this game. It did scratch that classic survival horror itch and it's great to see new ones being made but... Hopefully a sequel improves upon some things it struggled with but for now I think I'll stick to just watching playthroughs with this one.
*Maybe in the future I'll actually finish it but I don't see myself doing that anytime soon.
Incredible modern survival horror game. For me, it sits right next to giants like resident evil and silent hill
If you miss the old Resident Evil days, where fixed camera angles were the standard, you should really give this one a shot.
The combat doesn’t reach the heights of RE1 Remake and the Silent Hill inspired story is a bit confusing.
Nevertheless the game has cool ideas regarding puzzles and storytelling.
If you like old school horror, check it out!
The combat doesn’t reach the heights of RE1 Remake and the Silent Hill inspired story is a bit confusing.
Nevertheless the game has cool ideas regarding puzzles and storytelling.
If you like old school horror, check it out!
Playtime: 10 Hours
Score: 9/10
A nice surprise of a survival horror game! So I didn't know much about this game until I heard rumblings of it and then played the demo last year. And now I finally play it and I can confidently say, that its my new GOTY of 2021!
To start off with the visuals. The game reminded me a lot of the Resident Evil 1 remake in its lighting and visual design of the environments. The fact that the game takes place mostly in a mansion definitely adds to that and I quite enjoyed it. The only thing that isn't the best are the character models that look a little too uncanny valley, but it is a AA title so I'm not going to knock it too much. While the game makes you think it will be like Resident Evil it actually quickly turns more into Silent Hill as you unlock the later areas with blood soaked walls and an excessive amount of gore in the environment. You always just feel uneasy as you're moving through the rooms, like something is going to pop out at you and with the fixed camera angle, it adds to the uncertainty as you don't know what will be waiting for you in a room when you first enter it. While I tend to prefer the over the shoulder, third person or first person camera styles in horror games generally, I do admire how they used the fixed camera angles here and some of the angles they chose when in certain rooms added to that uneasy feel. Kind of like the bathroom scene at the beginning of Silent Hill 2.
The atmosphere has this oppressive feel as you feel trapped in this large mansion with no one to really help you. You will find plenty of dead bodies lying on the floor or on operating tables throughout the mansion/hospital as well as blood and guts in various corners. You can clearly see the bodies have been butchered and messed with, making you wander about who or what exactly did this. The game also features a couple of jump scares throughout the game and while I am usually not a fan of jump scares personally, but they were pretty well done here, happening when you least expect them. One of them in particular definitely gave me a jolt when it happened.
Next we have the music and sound design which is really well done overall. The OST has a lot of beautiful piano melodies while also having a lot of screeching intense tracks that really build up the games atmosphere and make you feel like you're in a hostile environment. The sounds the monsters make are disturbing and the loud moans they scream out when you kill them really sends a shiver down you're spine. The voice acting though isn't the best with their only being a few characters with dialogue, including your main character. While I would have preferred better voice acting, it added to the nostalgia a little as these types of games never had the best voice acting to begin with. The sound design overall is very well done.
Moving onto gameplay, it plays very much like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, with its gameplay loop of exploration, combat and puzzles. I enjoyed exploring the mansion with all of its nooks and cranny's, finding secret passages and plenty of things in the environment. The puzzles were enjoyable too with some pretty brain buster ones to solve. While it does get a bit much towards the end, I found the puzzles to be another great aspect of the game. The combat plays very much like I said before, akin to Resident Evil and Silent Hill in that you ready your weapons before attacking. The weapons you find feel very makeshift and unconventional because there are no traditional weapons lying around. You a get a nail gun in place of a pistol, a shotgun which is literally just some pipes duck taped together, an electric lance that can be used to shock enemies from close range and a good old fashioned crowbar. Unlike Silent Hill, you can't really get through the game with just the crowbar as most of the enemies are melee based in their attacks, and your character can only take a few hits before dying. The best strategy is to often shoot the enemies and when their down, hit them with your crowbar to finish them off. The weapons overall felt good to use, especially the shogun which has a nice punch to it whenever you fire. Your inventory is also thankfully unlimited and with clear categories of key items, resources and files. I also like how the map of the mansion is an actual physical map you have to select in your inventory and rotated around to read. While the map does mark some key items, I feel like it could have also marked things like ammo or health items you missed which is a QOL feature that many modern horror games use.
The enemy design is another thing I want to talk about before the story section. The enemies all look like Frankenstein like monsters with various blades and spikes stuck to their arms and bodies. At the same time their torsos and faces all look butchered and mangled like their barely holding together physically. While the various enemy types look samey after a while, towards the end they do introduce some new ones that look very different which I appreciated. Some enemy types feel redundant though like the wall enemies who have such giant blades for arms that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you shouldn't go passed them. Dealing with them is as simple as walking up next to them and just hitting them with you're crowbar until they die, and they can't fight back from that angle, so their inclusion in the game feels very pointless. About halfway through the game they introduce a stalker enemy. The design just looks really lame and I didn't find it intimidating at all. You do find out later the story reason, why the stalker enemy is there which I won't spoil, but overall it just felt redundant from a gameplay perspective. The best thing to do is when you enter a room and hear the stalker enemies theme is to just go out and come back in again, as they usually will disappear. It just a waste of resources fighting it.
Finally we can talk about the story. Caroline receives a weird photograph of two twin girls, addressed to her. She travels to the mansion from where it was sent only for her to be knocked out and then wakes up in a bath tub naked and hooked up to a machine. She must now find the missing girls and escape! As you explore the mansion you will find dairy entries and files from the family members that used to live in this mansion. The story they tell is very sad and disturbing and it adds context to much of what is going on. The notes are short and don't feel long winded to read, so I recommend reading all of them as it enhances the story overall. It gave me a lot of Silent Hill 3 vibes as you learn about a cult that controlled this family and their intentions that are evil in nature. Overall, I really loved the story as it took elements from many horror games but did its own thing with it. It makes me excited for the sequel they announced and how that game could play out.
In conclusion, I fully recommend this game to anyone who likes survival horror games and wants to play something new! As I said at the top of this review, its my new GOTY of 2021 beating out RE8!
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
My GOTY for Every Year I have been alive - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/my-favorite-games-for-every-year-i-have-been-alive/
Score: 9/10
A nice surprise of a survival horror game! So I didn't know much about this game until I heard rumblings of it and then played the demo last year. And now I finally play it and I can confidently say, that its my new GOTY of 2021!
To start off with the visuals. The game reminded me a lot of the Resident Evil 1 remake in its lighting and visual design of the environments. The fact that the game takes place mostly in a mansion definitely adds to that and I quite enjoyed it. The only thing that isn't the best are the character models that look a little too uncanny valley, but it is a AA title so I'm not going to knock it too much. While the game makes you think it will be like Resident Evil it actually quickly turns more into Silent Hill as you unlock the later areas with blood soaked walls and an excessive amount of gore in the environment. You always just feel uneasy as you're moving through the rooms, like something is going to pop out at you and with the fixed camera angle, it adds to the uncertainty as you don't know what will be waiting for you in a room when you first enter it. While I tend to prefer the over the shoulder, third person or first person camera styles in horror games generally, I do admire how they used the fixed camera angles here and some of the angles they chose when in certain rooms added to that uneasy feel. Kind of like the bathroom scene at the beginning of Silent Hill 2.
The atmosphere has this oppressive feel as you feel trapped in this large mansion with no one to really help you. You will find plenty of dead bodies lying on the floor or on operating tables throughout the mansion/hospital as well as blood and guts in various corners. You can clearly see the bodies have been butchered and messed with, making you wander about who or what exactly did this. The game also features a couple of jump scares throughout the game and while I am usually not a fan of jump scares personally, but they were pretty well done here, happening when you least expect them. One of them in particular definitely gave me a jolt when it happened.
Next we have the music and sound design which is really well done overall. The OST has a lot of beautiful piano melodies while also having a lot of screeching intense tracks that really build up the games atmosphere and make you feel like you're in a hostile environment. The sounds the monsters make are disturbing and the loud moans they scream out when you kill them really sends a shiver down you're spine. The voice acting though isn't the best with their only being a few characters with dialogue, including your main character. While I would have preferred better voice acting, it added to the nostalgia a little as these types of games never had the best voice acting to begin with. The sound design overall is very well done.
Moving onto gameplay, it plays very much like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, with its gameplay loop of exploration, combat and puzzles. I enjoyed exploring the mansion with all of its nooks and cranny's, finding secret passages and plenty of things in the environment. The puzzles were enjoyable too with some pretty brain buster ones to solve. While it does get a bit much towards the end, I found the puzzles to be another great aspect of the game. The combat plays very much like I said before, akin to Resident Evil and Silent Hill in that you ready your weapons before attacking. The weapons you find feel very makeshift and unconventional because there are no traditional weapons lying around. You a get a nail gun in place of a pistol, a shotgun which is literally just some pipes duck taped together, an electric lance that can be used to shock enemies from close range and a good old fashioned crowbar. Unlike Silent Hill, you can't really get through the game with just the crowbar as most of the enemies are melee based in their attacks, and your character can only take a few hits before dying. The best strategy is to often shoot the enemies and when their down, hit them with your crowbar to finish them off. The weapons overall felt good to use, especially the shogun which has a nice punch to it whenever you fire. Your inventory is also thankfully unlimited and with clear categories of key items, resources and files. I also like how the map of the mansion is an actual physical map you have to select in your inventory and rotated around to read. While the map does mark some key items, I feel like it could have also marked things like ammo or health items you missed which is a QOL feature that many modern horror games use.
The enemy design is another thing I want to talk about before the story section. The enemies all look like Frankenstein like monsters with various blades and spikes stuck to their arms and bodies. At the same time their torsos and faces all look butchered and mangled like their barely holding together physically. While the various enemy types look samey after a while, towards the end they do introduce some new ones that look very different which I appreciated. Some enemy types feel redundant though like the wall enemies who have such giant blades for arms that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you shouldn't go passed them. Dealing with them is as simple as walking up next to them and just hitting them with you're crowbar until they die, and they can't fight back from that angle, so their inclusion in the game feels very pointless. About halfway through the game they introduce a stalker enemy. The design just looks really lame and I didn't find it intimidating at all. You do find out later the story reason, why the stalker enemy is there which I won't spoil, but overall it just felt redundant from a gameplay perspective. The best thing to do is when you enter a room and hear the stalker enemies theme is to just go out and come back in again, as they usually will disappear. It just a waste of resources fighting it.
Finally we can talk about the story. Caroline receives a weird photograph of two twin girls, addressed to her. She travels to the mansion from where it was sent only for her to be knocked out and then wakes up in a bath tub naked and hooked up to a machine. She must now find the missing girls and escape! As you explore the mansion you will find dairy entries and files from the family members that used to live in this mansion. The story they tell is very sad and disturbing and it adds context to much of what is going on. The notes are short and don't feel long winded to read, so I recommend reading all of them as it enhances the story overall. It gave me a lot of Silent Hill 3 vibes as you learn about a cult that controlled this family and their intentions that are evil in nature. Overall, I really loved the story as it took elements from many horror games but did its own thing with it. It makes me excited for the sequel they announced and how that game could play out.
In conclusion, I fully recommend this game to anyone who likes survival horror games and wants to play something new! As I said at the top of this review, its my new GOTY of 2021 beating out RE8!
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
My GOTY for Every Year I have been alive - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/my-favorite-games-for-every-year-i-have-been-alive/
The 'plot twist' is evident roughly 30 seconds into the game and the underlying narrative feels extremely derivative of the works it clearly takes inspiration from. That being said, its a pretty well made survival horror game with some incredibly detailed environments and some nice puzzles. Hoping the sequel has a bit more originality.
Hermoso homenaje al survival horror.
A very good game, if you like puzzle games and horror. It is a good tribute to old RE games. It is more puzzle game than horror, because of the big ammount of different puzzles it has.
Cons: The puzzles can be annoying some times, and both the combat and the plot could be much more polished. But I believe despite this flaws, is a worthwhile game which I would recommend.
Cons: The puzzles can be annoying some times, and both the combat and the plot could be much more polished. But I believe despite this flaws, is a worthwhile game which I would recommend.
Tormented Souls is a heavily oldschool Resident Evil and Silent Hill inspired game. With its level designs, complicated puzzles, transition mechanics between two different worlds and many features, it brings the old survival-horror genre to the present day. The production, which does not look like the old Resident Evil games in terms of atmosphere and music, manages to scare the player from time to time with a lack of resources, a reactionary atmosphere and a few small jumpscares. It also has a predictable plot as a story, but it's not too bad. The reason why I gave the game a low score is yes it carries the old survival horror to today's time, but it doesn't give the player any choice. It would be a better option if it offers features like difficulty option or auto save/unlimited save. It can be quite boring and frustrating to play the levels you have played over and over again at the slightest mistake. In addition, some puzzles are unnecessarily complicated and difficult, although some puzzles are cleverly designed, some puzzles seem impossible to solve without searching the internet. Apart from these, Tormented Souls is one of the rare productions that successfully brings back the old tank-controlled classic survival horror genre to the present day. If you like the genre, you should definitely try it.
I REALLY liked this game. I'm not sure why it clicked with me, but it did.
A fine game that's a bit clunky from the few hours i've played that sadly just made me want to play one of the like 7 old style resident evil games.
This was so good! I'm really stuck between giving it a 4 or a 4.5... it's so hard to choose... I may change it in the future...
Tormented Souls completely nailed the RE1 vibes. All of it. The feel of the mansion, the puzzles, the areas, the music, the storytelling, even the colours.
At the start of the game, I was actually freaking scared bro. I was pooping my pants because the tension was so high. It wore off as the game went on, but at the start of the game, I was actually scared! Which I can't say for any of the classic, fixed-camera RE games.
One thing about the camera I liked was that it wasn't always fixed to the corner of a ceiling. Sometimes it would be like a third-person camera that you can't control. It would follow you and make it feel like you're in control, but you still can't look around that corner without walking around it - no matter how much you want to. This, paired with the minuscule amount of Saving Items in the first half of the game made me feel so tense exploring every new room. The Healing Item scarcity was really good, I never had a stockpile throughout the entire game. The ammo scarcity could've been a bit harsher, I killed most enemies I came across and didn't really run out.
This game does a lot of the classic survival horror mechanics really well and even improves on them in some cases.
The music is really great and memorable, although it could sometimes feel a little bit too similar to Resident Evil.
I actually enjoyed the story quite a bit and the way it was told! All of the notes told the same overarching story but from different perspectives and they were interesting, I never wanted to skip over any.
You don't have to worry about sorting your inventory in this game which makes the gameplay much more streamlined.
But at the same time, there was still a bit of clunkyness with certain things. Like changing weapons, you have to navigate through two menus to do that which feels quite interruptive. Now, I'm not asking for a Doom Eternal weapon wheel, that would be stupid. But this wasn't it. And some puzzles have point-and-click aspects with things that are easy to miss. I looked up a solution for a puzzle, but it turns out I was doing the right thing all along, I just hadn't clicked on the exact correct part of the screen. The "plot twist" is also completely obvious after playing the game for less than a minute. Literally. That's not a massive deal, it's just kinda funny.
Overall, Tormented Souls is awesome! I'm super excited for the sequel to come out. If they can improve on this game, the sequel is going to be amazing.
Tormented Souls completely nailed the RE1 vibes. All of it. The feel of the mansion, the puzzles, the areas, the music, the storytelling, even the colours.
At the start of the game, I was actually freaking scared bro. I was pooping my pants because the tension was so high. It wore off as the game went on, but at the start of the game, I was actually scared! Which I can't say for any of the classic, fixed-camera RE games.
One thing about the camera I liked was that it wasn't always fixed to the corner of a ceiling. Sometimes it would be like a third-person camera that you can't control. It would follow you and make it feel like you're in control, but you still can't look around that corner without walking around it - no matter how much you want to. This, paired with the minuscule amount of Saving Items in the first half of the game made me feel so tense exploring every new room. The Healing Item scarcity was really good, I never had a stockpile throughout the entire game. The ammo scarcity could've been a bit harsher, I killed most enemies I came across and didn't really run out.
This game does a lot of the classic survival horror mechanics really well and even improves on them in some cases.
The music is really great and memorable, although it could sometimes feel a little bit too similar to Resident Evil.
I actually enjoyed the story quite a bit and the way it was told! All of the notes told the same overarching story but from different perspectives and they were interesting, I never wanted to skip over any.
You don't have to worry about sorting your inventory in this game which makes the gameplay much more streamlined.
But at the same time, there was still a bit of clunkyness with certain things. Like changing weapons, you have to navigate through two menus to do that which feels quite interruptive. Now, I'm not asking for a Doom Eternal weapon wheel, that would be stupid. But this wasn't it. And some puzzles have point-and-click aspects with things that are easy to miss. I looked up a solution for a puzzle, but it turns out I was doing the right thing all along, I just hadn't clicked on the exact correct part of the screen. The "plot twist" is also completely obvious after playing the game for less than a minute. Literally. That's not a massive deal, it's just kinda funny.
Overall, Tormented Souls is awesome! I'm super excited for the sequel to come out. If they can improve on this game, the sequel is going to be amazing.
I love how the story is heavily connected. All the diary entries show different aspects of the story from different perspectives, and even reference locations in the game. You can read a diary entry, visit a location, and see evidence of what the diary entry was talking about.
And the game is quite scary, at least for me. All four times I played it (if less so the fourth time). Great atmosphere.
And the game is quite scary, at least for me. All four times I played it (if less so the fourth time). Great atmosphere.
there's one fucker that won't die
This review contains spoilers
Switch off the lights and circle around corpse anti clockwise after wasting 2 hours looking for the next puzzle, No thank you.
It’s fair to say a good portion of the survival horror fandom still yearn for the halcyon days of fixed-camera classics - I don’t need to mention which ones. And there’s plenty of recent homages to just that: Song of Horror, Alisa, Murder House, Dawn of Fear, The Medium, Post Trauma, etc. Tormented Souls, with a story as generic as its title, is neither the best nor worst of them.
In its favour, the fixed camera gameplay and combat are pretty solid, appropriately challenging in moments of confinement with a monstrosity trying to tear you up. My hottest take is that Tormented Souls boasts some of the strongest puzzles we’ve seen in horror gaming for a long time: some puzzles are the standard ‘find a thing that wouldn’t normally combine with this other thing but somehow combines anyway and does something cool’ type thing and others involve hopping into alternate mirror dimensions and even a bit of time travel to alter the state of the real world. The sound design is also rather accomplished, evoking the oppressive soundscapes of the first Silent Hill game. The score is good and, while not always perfect, can be unsettling - the music that plays when the ‘stalker’ monster is near had me spinning around and immediately running back.
My only gripe, beyond the voice acting that leaves a lot to be desired, is the aesthetic coherence: while I appreciated the cluttered ‘lived-in’ design of the setting, it’s sort of ugly? Maybe this is just my personal preference as a purist for Silent Hill’s stripped back design where emptiness creates ambiguity and unease, but this place leans into the curious over-design of a steampunk fantasy world. Or is it just me? In other words, this game, which somehow gets away with placing some of the all-time classic disturbing paintings (The Nightmare, Judith Beheading Holofernes, etc) in its world, does not manage to conjure any unique visceral horror of its own.
Lots of strong elements but there’s certainly room for improvement. And if there’s any lesson Tormented Souls’ upcoming sequel should learn, it’s that homage can only get you so far.
In its favour, the fixed camera gameplay and combat are pretty solid, appropriately challenging in moments of confinement with a monstrosity trying to tear you up. My hottest take is that Tormented Souls boasts some of the strongest puzzles we’ve seen in horror gaming for a long time: some puzzles are the standard ‘find a thing that wouldn’t normally combine with this other thing but somehow combines anyway and does something cool’ type thing and others involve hopping into alternate mirror dimensions and even a bit of time travel to alter the state of the real world. The sound design is also rather accomplished, evoking the oppressive soundscapes of the first Silent Hill game. The score is good and, while not always perfect, can be unsettling - the music that plays when the ‘stalker’ monster is near had me spinning around and immediately running back.
My only gripe, beyond the voice acting that leaves a lot to be desired, is the aesthetic coherence: while I appreciated the cluttered ‘lived-in’ design of the setting, it’s sort of ugly? Maybe this is just my personal preference as a purist for Silent Hill’s stripped back design where emptiness creates ambiguity and unease, but this place leans into the curious over-design of a steampunk fantasy world. Or is it just me? In other words, this game, which somehow gets away with placing some of the all-time classic disturbing paintings (The Nightmare, Judith Beheading Holofernes, etc) in its world, does not manage to conjure any unique visceral horror of its own.
Lots of strong elements but there’s certainly room for improvement. And if there’s any lesson Tormented Souls’ upcoming sequel should learn, it’s that homage can only get you so far.
Decent surv horror, u should give a shot.
Tormented souls is great in all ways but navigation.
Level design is so horrible that I spend most of my hours looking around for things i've seen before but forgot where they are
also game dont have a special button for map that already has bad presentation.
Also combat mostly doesn't give you a chance to escape enemy interactions, if you see enemies you have to fight no matter what
Tormented souls is great in all ways but navigation.
Level design is so horrible that I spend most of my hours looking around for things i've seen before but forgot where they are
also game dont have a special button for map that already has bad presentation.
Also combat mostly doesn't give you a chance to escape enemy interactions, if you see enemies you have to fight no matter what
Wenn ihr gerne in Horrorherrenhäusern rumrennt und Rätsel löst und einem Spiel die ein oder andere Schwäche verzeiehn könnt, ist Tormented Souls etwas für euch.
Das Negative vorweg:
Man merkt dem Spiel gerade bei Cutscenes an, dass da kein Geld dahinter steckt. (Dafür kostet es aber auch keine 70 Euro ;) )
Man bekommt innerhalb von 3 Minuten ein prächtiges Paar Titten zu sehen.. danach übrigens nie wieder.
Wie man sein Niveau direkt am Anfang über Bort werfen kann bleibt mir ein Rätsel.
Das Schießen ist zweckmäßig, wenn der Kamerawinkel wechselt läuft man oft gegen ne Wand und es gibt nur ...5? oder 6 Gegnerarten. Mehr tatsächlich nicht.
Es gibt eine Art Nemesis, der einen verfolgt, ab der 2. Hälfte des Spiels.
Man.. muss aber einfach aus dem Raum und wieder rein und er ist weg. ..naja.
Der Endboss ist ein Witz.
Der Plot.. ist auch bei RE nicht besser, also kann man das nicht zu negativ bewerten :D
Kommen wir zu den guten Sachen und das ist wirklich alles andere.
Die Atmosphäre ist krass.
Dafür dass das Spiel wirklich alles andere als AAA ist, haben die Leute es echt geschafft ne dicke Atmosphäre zu kreieren.
Der Soundtrack tut hier sein übriges. Saferoomsong, Kirchenchorsong, ätzender du bist in der Hölle Song und alle immer richtig eingesetzt.
Die Rätsel sind immer lösbar. Ich glaube wir mussten 1x Googeln.. aber da war man zu 50% selbst schuld dran. :D
Man wird belohnt, wenn man sich beim Spielen die Räume einprägt, denn wie bei dem Klassiker RE, wird man hier von A nach B nach C und zurück zu A gescheucht. Aber eben ohne Questmarker, wie in den guten alten Zeiten, als Spiele einen nicht für dumm gehalten haben.
Kein Schwierigkeitsgrad! Das Spiel ist anfangs ein bisschen knackig, je länger das Spiel geht, desto mehr Munition kann man aufsparen, aber es wird nie ein Selbstläufer.
Für mich gerade nach dem Ersteindruck ne riesen Überraschung!
Das Negative vorweg:
Man merkt dem Spiel gerade bei Cutscenes an, dass da kein Geld dahinter steckt. (Dafür kostet es aber auch keine 70 Euro ;) )
Man bekommt innerhalb von 3 Minuten ein prächtiges Paar Titten zu sehen.. danach übrigens nie wieder.
Wie man sein Niveau direkt am Anfang über Bort werfen kann bleibt mir ein Rätsel.
Das Schießen ist zweckmäßig, wenn der Kamerawinkel wechselt läuft man oft gegen ne Wand und es gibt nur ...5? oder 6 Gegnerarten. Mehr tatsächlich nicht.
Es gibt eine Art Nemesis, der einen verfolgt, ab der 2. Hälfte des Spiels.
Man.. muss aber einfach aus dem Raum und wieder rein und er ist weg. ..naja.
Der Endboss ist ein Witz.
Der Plot.. ist auch bei RE nicht besser, also kann man das nicht zu negativ bewerten :D
Kommen wir zu den guten Sachen und das ist wirklich alles andere.
Die Atmosphäre ist krass.
Dafür dass das Spiel wirklich alles andere als AAA ist, haben die Leute es echt geschafft ne dicke Atmosphäre zu kreieren.
Der Soundtrack tut hier sein übriges. Saferoomsong, Kirchenchorsong, ätzender du bist in der Hölle Song und alle immer richtig eingesetzt.
Die Rätsel sind immer lösbar. Ich glaube wir mussten 1x Googeln.. aber da war man zu 50% selbst schuld dran. :D
Man wird belohnt, wenn man sich beim Spielen die Räume einprägt, denn wie bei dem Klassiker RE, wird man hier von A nach B nach C und zurück zu A gescheucht. Aber eben ohne Questmarker, wie in den guten alten Zeiten, als Spiele einen nicht für dumm gehalten haben.
Kein Schwierigkeitsgrad! Das Spiel ist anfangs ein bisschen knackig, je länger das Spiel geht, desto mehr Munition kann man aufsparen, aber es wird nie ein Selbstläufer.
Für mich gerade nach dem Ersteindruck ne riesen Überraschung!
This has some of my favourite puzzles in all of survival horror, with them being genuinely challenging and fun to finally figure out.
I LOVED the environments and camera shots, this game is gorgeous to look at while playing, the few cutscenes the game has are pretty weird and the voice acting during dialogues isn´t the best, unfortunately the same can be said about the story, it is a little too generic and the plot twist can be discovered in half a hour. HOWEVER, this game still is a very solid survival horror game, I think it should have a difficulty selector tho, but the puzzles are great.
had some pretty neat ideas, but clunky combat holds it back for me. Some of the puzzles were so obtuse I had to refer to a guide every now and then. Decent overall
+ The game kept an intense atmosphere up to the last few stages.
+ Puzzles are good and not too difficult, except for the monkey one - I had to look that one up on the internet. People say audio cues about certain puzzles are wrong but I did not have such a problem.
+ Soundtrack is a jam
- The story is well built, but lacking a bit in terms of surprise. Most things are figured out preeetty early and it is way too unrealistic for the playable character to be so out of the loop sometimes (she'll ask «who is doing this?» after reading on a document who literally is doing this)
- Acting is a bit meh, expecially when mixed with with ^
+ Puzzles are good and not too difficult, except for the monkey one - I had to look that one up on the internet. People say audio cues about certain puzzles are wrong but I did not have such a problem.
+ Soundtrack is a jam
- The story is well built, but lacking a bit in terms of surprise. Most things are figured out preeetty early and it is way too unrealistic for the playable character to be so out of the loop sometimes (she'll ask «who is doing this?» after reading on a document who literally is doing this)
- Acting is a bit meh, expecially when mixed with with ^
This is a love letter to the old RE and Silent Hill games. After playing 0, this game feels more nostalgic than the actual RE game. The story was pretty tropey, but fine. It's pretty comical how almost immediately I guessed the "twist", as the Medium had the same exact one . . . I do think the presentation had a strong start that just couldn't be kept up with. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, which felt just like silent Hill 3, with the score, sound design, and dark visuals all working together to put you on edge. I will say as time goes on, I really want to have an audio/video of developers explaining their nonsensical puzzle to me. I'm referring to a TV puzzle.
Empecé Tormented Souls sin muchas expectativas, buscando algo más o menos funcional que pudiera rascar el picor que tenía por jugar un "survival horror" clásico, y como el juego se promocionaba precisamente como un producto para llenar ese hueco, decidí darle una oportunidad.
Joder, qué alegría haberlo hecho.
A ver, en mi defensa diré que esos prejuicios estaban medianamente justificados, porque empiezas el juego y te saltan todas las alarmas. Se hace más que evidente desde el vamos que vas a jugar a un producto novel con un presupuesto limitado, todo lo que envuelve a la presentación es cutre de cojones, véase: Los modelados y animaciones dignos de un juego de PS3, la actuación de voz que haría llorar hasta a un sordo, las cinemáticas introductorias dirigidas con las patas, la resolución a 1080p (algo injustificable para un port de PS5, por muy indie que sea el estudio), los menús más feos que limpiarte la polla con el pelo de tu hija, la jugabilidad poco pulida con bugs en los que, por ejemplo, si mantienes el botón de apuntado mientras recargas el personaje se queda quieto en el sitio unos segundos, los textos en los que se nota que no tuvieron en cuenta el español durante el desarrollo porque cuando aparece una tilde la letra cambia a otro tipo de texto… Vaya, que no es por tirarle piedras al juego, pero la primera impresión no pudo ser peor. Por suerte, conforme vas avanzando, te vas dando cuenta que detrás de esa cuestionable presentación hay un "survival horror" muy competente, que entiende bastante bien las virtudes de los juegos del género añejos y qué era aquello que los hacía tan memorables. Una obra con carisma propio, que logra impresionar por momentos con su ingenio. Un producto que por sus decisiones de diseño, se nota que detrás tiene un equipo de gente que ama el género y que han decidido de manera bastante inteligente invertir sus recursos en los puntos fuertes que hacen a un buen survival horror, un buen survival horror, aun si eso implicaba descuidar otros apartados, como la presentación, por la falta de presupuesto.
Porque todos esos defectos que he enumerado anteriormente palidecen delante de un diseño de juego muy notable y que se hace más que evidente lo bien pensado que está en el apartado más fuerte del juego: unos puzzles tremendamente bien diseñados y en ocasiones originales, que se sienten orgánicos, y que si realmente te paras a entenderlos y a darles un par de vueltas, gozarás sobremanera. Puedo decir que si algo consigue Tormented Souls es que DISFRUTES ATASCÁNDOTE GRACIAS A LO DIVERTIDOS QUE SON LOS PUZZLES, y eso no todos los juegos lo pueden conseguir. De las decenas de puzzles que tiene el juego, solo se me ocurren un par que están cogidos por los pelos: el del generador que se siente un poco tramposo por una triquiñuela que te tienes que fijar y que encima te ponen al principio del juego, cuando aún no entiendes del todo la lógica que van a seguir los puzzles y que te hace creer hasta que puede ser un bug, y el de los monos, que es abstracto de cojones y muy sujeto a la interpretación del jugador. Más allá de este par de excepciones, todos se sienten gratificantes de resolver, una vez te hacen clic y les entiendes la lógica no tienen pérdida y si le echas ganas ni siquiera vas a necesitar una guía. Como pega en este aspecto le puedo sacar que siendo un juego tan centrado en los puzzles y en que el jugador tenga que hacer backtracking, el mapa es un pedazo de mierda que no sirve para nada, porque es confuso de leer y ni siquiera marca la posición del jugador. Creo que hubiera sido una buena decisión asignarlo a un botón para no tener que estar dando vueltas en el inventario cada vez que quieres consultarlo. Sospecho que los desarrolladores sabían esto, porque la edición física incluye el mapa impreso, un detallito que al menos se agradece JAJAJA.
Otro fallo garrafal digno de comentar sería el enemigo tipo "stalker" que tiene el juego, que además que se siente de coña porque su diseño le hace parecer el primo adicto al paco de la mascota de "Michellín", sus apariciones son lamentables. Se resumen a que aparece en habitaciones aleatorias a partir de cierto punto del juego, pero tú como jugador puedes prever esto inmediatamente, porque la música ambiente cambia a la asociada con este monstruo, y es tan sencillo como volver a salir y entrar de la habitación para que este enemigo despawneé. De verdad que no he visto un enemigo tipo "stalker" tan lamentable en mis décadas como jugador.
Y vaya, como estos errores que estoy comentando, prácticamente le puedes sacar fallos a todos aspectos del juego. Desde el sistema de combate hasta la historia, que es un pedazo de mierda, pero lo que habíamos comentado, consigue poner a funcionar de manera cohesiva todos sus apartados, haciendo énfasis en aquellos que hacen bueno a un "survival horror" que gracias a que el resto de apartados son simplemente funcionales te queda en conjunto un producto que es más que su suma de sus partes, y que desde luego, es divertido de cojones, sobretodo para el público objetivo al que el juego, de manera muy inteligente y honesta apela, a los fans del "survival horror" clásico.
Aún y con sus errores me ha gustado, es un buen primer paso en la buena dirección, les deseo suerte a los hermanos chilenos que han hecho esta joyita con el desarrollo de su secuela, que si sigue la estela de este juego y aprende de sus errores podríamos estar ante un futuro juegazo.
En resumen, una carta de amor para los fans del "survival horror" noventero hecha por gente que se nota que ama el género.
Joder, qué alegría haberlo hecho.
A ver, en mi defensa diré que esos prejuicios estaban medianamente justificados, porque empiezas el juego y te saltan todas las alarmas. Se hace más que evidente desde el vamos que vas a jugar a un producto novel con un presupuesto limitado, todo lo que envuelve a la presentación es cutre de cojones, véase: Los modelados y animaciones dignos de un juego de PS3, la actuación de voz que haría llorar hasta a un sordo, las cinemáticas introductorias dirigidas con las patas, la resolución a 1080p (algo injustificable para un port de PS5, por muy indie que sea el estudio), los menús más feos que limpiarte la polla con el pelo de tu hija, la jugabilidad poco pulida con bugs en los que, por ejemplo, si mantienes el botón de apuntado mientras recargas el personaje se queda quieto en el sitio unos segundos, los textos en los que se nota que no tuvieron en cuenta el español durante el desarrollo porque cuando aparece una tilde la letra cambia a otro tipo de texto… Vaya, que no es por tirarle piedras al juego, pero la primera impresión no pudo ser peor. Por suerte, conforme vas avanzando, te vas dando cuenta que detrás de esa cuestionable presentación hay un "survival horror" muy competente, que entiende bastante bien las virtudes de los juegos del género añejos y qué era aquello que los hacía tan memorables. Una obra con carisma propio, que logra impresionar por momentos con su ingenio. Un producto que por sus decisiones de diseño, se nota que detrás tiene un equipo de gente que ama el género y que han decidido de manera bastante inteligente invertir sus recursos en los puntos fuertes que hacen a un buen survival horror, un buen survival horror, aun si eso implicaba descuidar otros apartados, como la presentación, por la falta de presupuesto.
Porque todos esos defectos que he enumerado anteriormente palidecen delante de un diseño de juego muy notable y que se hace más que evidente lo bien pensado que está en el apartado más fuerte del juego: unos puzzles tremendamente bien diseñados y en ocasiones originales, que se sienten orgánicos, y que si realmente te paras a entenderlos y a darles un par de vueltas, gozarás sobremanera. Puedo decir que si algo consigue Tormented Souls es que DISFRUTES ATASCÁNDOTE GRACIAS A LO DIVERTIDOS QUE SON LOS PUZZLES, y eso no todos los juegos lo pueden conseguir. De las decenas de puzzles que tiene el juego, solo se me ocurren un par que están cogidos por los pelos: el del generador que se siente un poco tramposo por una triquiñuela que te tienes que fijar y que encima te ponen al principio del juego, cuando aún no entiendes del todo la lógica que van a seguir los puzzles y que te hace creer hasta que puede ser un bug, y el de los monos, que es abstracto de cojones y muy sujeto a la interpretación del jugador. Más allá de este par de excepciones, todos se sienten gratificantes de resolver, una vez te hacen clic y les entiendes la lógica no tienen pérdida y si le echas ganas ni siquiera vas a necesitar una guía. Como pega en este aspecto le puedo sacar que siendo un juego tan centrado en los puzzles y en que el jugador tenga que hacer backtracking, el mapa es un pedazo de mierda que no sirve para nada, porque es confuso de leer y ni siquiera marca la posición del jugador. Creo que hubiera sido una buena decisión asignarlo a un botón para no tener que estar dando vueltas en el inventario cada vez que quieres consultarlo. Sospecho que los desarrolladores sabían esto, porque la edición física incluye el mapa impreso, un detallito que al menos se agradece JAJAJA.
Otro fallo garrafal digno de comentar sería el enemigo tipo "stalker" que tiene el juego, que además que se siente de coña porque su diseño le hace parecer el primo adicto al paco de la mascota de "Michellín", sus apariciones son lamentables. Se resumen a que aparece en habitaciones aleatorias a partir de cierto punto del juego, pero tú como jugador puedes prever esto inmediatamente, porque la música ambiente cambia a la asociada con este monstruo, y es tan sencillo como volver a salir y entrar de la habitación para que este enemigo despawneé. De verdad que no he visto un enemigo tipo "stalker" tan lamentable en mis décadas como jugador.
Y vaya, como estos errores que estoy comentando, prácticamente le puedes sacar fallos a todos aspectos del juego. Desde el sistema de combate hasta la historia, que es un pedazo de mierda, pero lo que habíamos comentado, consigue poner a funcionar de manera cohesiva todos sus apartados, haciendo énfasis en aquellos que hacen bueno a un "survival horror" que gracias a que el resto de apartados son simplemente funcionales te queda en conjunto un producto que es más que su suma de sus partes, y que desde luego, es divertido de cojones, sobretodo para el público objetivo al que el juego, de manera muy inteligente y honesta apela, a los fans del "survival horror" clásico.
Aún y con sus errores me ha gustado, es un buen primer paso en la buena dirección, les deseo suerte a los hermanos chilenos que han hecho esta joyita con el desarrollo de su secuela, que si sigue la estela de este juego y aprende de sus errores podríamos estar ante un futuro juegazo.
En resumen, una carta de amor para los fans del "survival horror" noventero hecha por gente que se nota que ama el género.
Tormented Souls was a callback to the classics of survival horror, and one of the few that actually pulled it off. With a densely furnished environment complemented by a terrific use of lighting, it never failed to lure me further into its depths. Puzzles made up most of the game, mostly involving items and using them in specific ways. Ammo and saves were limited, but the difficulty was more than manageable with a sparse number of monsters, each of whom represented hospital patients and staff mutilated by experiments, from acid spitting crawlers to flayed wall monsters.
I had a great time, all told, but couldn’t quite get into the story, which in itself seemed to be an afterthought compared to everything else. The voice acting was especially painful.
I had a great time, all told, but couldn’t quite get into the story, which in itself seemed to be an afterthought compared to everything else. The voice acting was especially painful.
Jogo absurdo de bom n esperava que fosse tao bom quanto foi. hype pro 2