Tormented Souls

Tormented Souls is a hauntingly beautiful, psychological survival horror set in an abandoned hospital. Explore the decrepit remains and solve the carefully crafted, elaborate labyrinth of puzzles to uncover the secrets hidden within. To no surprise this is without a doubt a must have hidden gem for any survival horror fan!

"As Caroline Walker, explore the terrifying halls of an abandoned mansion on the hunt for missing twin girls - but you are not alone. Solve puzzles and face sinister enemies in deadly combat in this relentless nightmare. Can you confront your fears and uncover the secrets of Winterlake... or will you die trying?"

Developers: Dual Effect, Abstract Digital

Publisher: PQube

Reviewed on: PS5

Written by: Gabriel Sewell

What makes survival horror scary? I think we’d all agree that the daunting sense of ambiguity is at the heart of all of our fears. Too scared to turn the corner you hesitantly ask yourself if you're making the right decision, second guessing every step you make. Well, Tormented Souls manages to channel this feeling perfectly with its tight, dimly lit corridors and eerie hospital setting. To make matters worse, standing in an unlit room for too long will cause you to be consumed by shadows and die, not only will you encounter a large variety of body horror-inducing abominations of enemies but you’ll also have to confront the many puzzles that seem to corner off every new section you find. With a heavy focus on resource management you'll need to approach new areas with caution, managing the finite amount of resources to be found, so don't get trigger happy you maniac. Without going in to too much detail let me just tell you this, the puzzles are hard and at times, too hard. You'll find yourself back tracking a lot because you're stuck on a puzzle that has a really silly solution, and although most of the puzzles will force you to think outside of the box some just have really infuriating solutions.

Now it’d be almost impossible to discuss the game without mentioning its obvious inspirations like: Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark. Not only does it encapsulate the franchises perfectly but it even stands on its own helping to separate itself from just being another clone, rather more of a faithful successor or even tribute to the iconic games of old. And although some of the camp 90’s horror traits carried over it still keeps a mostly serious and gut wrenching atmosphere while simultaneously giving us that big dose of nostalgia we've all be craving for years. The most recognisable influence is obviously the fixed camera angles/perspective which at times can be very disorientating and a tiny bit cumbersome as you try to mentally map out the area or line up a shot, but for the most part, works incredibly well and helps to portray a cinematic experience. They even went as far as to include “tank” controls on the D-pad for hardcore fans of the genre, while I’m not a fan of using these controls it’s nice to have the choice.

There's an incredibly dark, morbidly twisted and well written story to dive into and read about in the several diary entries and documents to find, and while the voice acting is not the best, the writing itself is very good with some very intriguing lore to learn about. This is in no way a high budget title, but you’ll be surprised with the overall quality, mainly the gorgeously designed protagonist with the most realistically rendered legs I’ve ever seen in a game (Which I totally don’t want to be squished by) and the highly detailed and varied set pieces. It still amazes me the amount of unique detail that is crammed into every nook and cranny explore-able along with how well designed the enemies are. However, one of the only NPC's you'll meet has a weirdly waxy complexion which looks really odd, pair that with the subpar voice acting and lip syncing and it culminates to really bizarre interactions. Overall it took me about 9 hours to finish and for the story to come to a completion but I enjoyed every second of it, this might be one of the best Indie games I have ever played, it really scratched that itch I had for a new survival horror.

Pro Tip: Press Square while aiming to dodge/jump back.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there’s an amazing soundtrack tied to this game, melodic choirs sing hauntingly beautiful melodies in safe zones, soft piano scores to be heard throughout. There's always an unsettling atmosphere created by ambient sounds that build the tension as you nervously search a room, or find yourself being approached by that ever increasing sound you could vaguely hear in the distance as it clambers its way towards you picking up pace, the sound of steel scraping along the ground still sends shivers down my spine just by thinking about it.

Conclusion

Although not flawless Tormented Souls is the perfect game for long time survival horror fans and an easy recommendation for newcomers to the genre, from the dark ambient atmosphere arises a truly unique indie game that knows what it wants to be and succeeds perfectly at it.

Indie Game Rating: 3/3

Masterpiece

Pros

Enjoyable Story

Beautiful Graphics

Brilliant Puzzle Design

Genuinely Scary

Cons

Mediocre Voice Acting

Author: Gabriel Sewell

Published: 01/09/2021