Tormented Souls

Let me start off by saying some positives. This game has really good production value and art direction. Wanting to explore the environments is what pushed me to playthrough and see the ending. However, almost everything else was a chore. I don't mind fixed cameras or tank-controls, but it gets tiring walking into a room and hearing enemies off-screen. Your only options are to blind fire, hoping you have line of sight, or move into camera view and get hit. That’s not to say combat is hard, as it is easy to stun enemies and finds tons of healing supplies. Mid-way through the games there's an invincible enemy, like Mr. X, who can spawn in whenever you enter a room. If you leave the room and reenter, this enemy will just de-spawn making it completely pointless. The puzzles start off fine, but they're not much better. Be prepared for audio puzzles related to Morse code and music pitch. Many of the puzzles feel "interpretive", like solving a riddle, rather than objective puzzles with absolute solutions. There a point in the game where you have to match shapes with their number of faces, but then is confronted with an infinity sign. According to the devs a circle has an infinite number of faces, as opposed to only 1. There are a few other areas where the puzzle-logic doesn't hold up. The story is very predictable, no twists, turns, or surprises.

I still play the original Resident Evil games about once a year. However, finding titles that bring that type of gameplay in an appropriate, non-blatant-rip-off way is basically impossible. Tormented Souls did that. It's not free of flaws (neither were the Resident Evil and Silent Hill games that inspired it). Acting is bad like in the 90s, and the rest is detailed later. Graphics: They're beautiful. Some people don't like how the MC looks compared to everything else, but uh, I ain't complaining ;D Everything is highly detailed and adds this brooding atmosphere to every inch of the game. 10/10 Controls: They're what you expect from the games that inspired it. However, they're more interactive. Instead of just combining things in your inventory and "talking" to doors, you actually get a little hand to grab and manipulate the pieces of various items and insert them into things, blah blah. This adds a massive amount of variety to puzzles when they could have easily copied what came before and got away with it. Puzzles: I usually skip this bit, but it's important for the genre, and Tormented Souls kills it. Some are hard, but I found that anytime I was stuck it was because I didn't pay attention. The aforementioned control additions to the original formula also opened up room for unique and immersive puzzles such as using door knockers a specific way, listening for heartbeats with a stethoscope, etc. 10/10. Enemy/Weapon Variety: This is a little weak. Most enemies just look like the same thing. You have scrawny weirdo walking, scrawny weirdo in a wheelchair, scrawny weirdo stuck to a wall, and so forth. The weapons are pretty limited too. However, what is here works very well. Story: It doesn't have the in-depth lore of the games that inspired it, but it also only has one entry. There is plenty of lore to be found, though, and it's all pretty interesting stuff without being derivative. If you don't dig the genre, pass. Otherwise, you're in for a treat

The game is a great indie title. I wanted a creepy game with some depth and uniqueness. There is plenty of horror, exploration and puzzle solving. The plot is set in the 1990s, and at times the game feels like it was made in that era. The music-driven mood, tank controls, and voice acting make it feel like a early Playstation concept title. Graphically, the game looks fine, but inconsistent. Certain textures look like they have more detail than others. A lot of movement in the cutscenes seems deliberatly crafted, which makes reuse more obvious. The line deliveries seem a bit off, and voice direction does not seem to always match what is happening. Still, everyone tries their best and I appreciate being able to hear different voice actors that are not in circulation for every AAA title on the market. I know I said that the music sounds like it is from the 90s, but I meant it in a good way. The tracks are distinct and have an emotion tied to them. The sounds are sometimes a bit stock, but do not bother me. It is sometimes difficult to see what I am doing because of the camera angles, but that is a common hazard with such titles. Other hazards include developer logic, which is sometimes a bit out there, but nothing close what you would come across in an old Sierra title. I have no idea why people complain about this game. It is a bit difficult, but you are a young woman with a nail gun. You are injured, traumatized, and scared. There is "resource conservation" painted all over a game like this. You need to look after yourself and your inventory or you will not survive a surprise encounter in a dark corner. This is one of my new favorites. It isn't that long, but definitely memorable. The only thing is the marketing. Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark I can agree with, but not so much Resident Evil. Definitely some Haunting Ground in here like someone else stated, though that game is considerably superior. However, that is a very difficult game to match.

For the good, the atmosphere and soundtrack are fantastic! The puzzles are great. Most of them will make you think for a while but are definitely solvable without looking up a guide. Plus I do appreciate the shortcuts you find in the map. Story is servicable. Though for the bad, camera is constantly in front of you so you usually have to guess where an enemy is. Sometimes enemies get a free hit when you enter a room. The character voice acting is pretty bad. Not as charming as the games its tryng to mimic. Character models themselves don't seem like they fit the setting at all due to low quality textures and materials plus the animations and acting could use some work. Also there isn't a lot of enemy variety and the AI isn't very good. Combat is sluggish and because of tank controls, you will find yourself taking more hits than you'd like. Other than all that, its a fun game and worth a play through if you like classic style survival horror!

As many others have said, Tormented Souls takes after classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill games. I would say that it took the elaborate locking mechanisms and save rooms from RE, and just about everything else from SH3. This is not criticism, though -- saying that a game feels like genuine Silent Hill is high praise in my book. Save slots as an in-game consumable (there are finitely many tapes and one is consumed each time you save) seemed like a bold choice to me, though the overall effect it had on the gameplay was beneficial. The game looks good and the heroine might be the loveliest I've had the pleasure of playing in three decades. Her outfit, the bouncy walk, the way she keeps her balance when walking down a flight of stairs, her character, her altruistic motivation... everything about this girl is just plain likeable. Without spoiling anything, I also want to praise the story: At some point I felt that it was getting quite predictable, which made some of the revelations and twists all the more surprising and enjoyable. Some of the puzzles I found to be a bit obscure. Also, since the explored area gets progressively larger, it can become difficult to remember where there might still be an elaborate locking mechanism that you have yet to unlock. Overall I would strongly recommend this to anyone who likes classic RE/SH, or even just horror games that rely on atmosphhere and story rather than on "psychological" (jump scare) horror.