Tormented Souls

Tormented Souls is the successor to classic survival horror. I’ve wanted a new Silent Hill (or classic Resident Evil) game for years, but I’d trade all the drama and disappointment for a fantastic spiritual successor like this any day. Exploring Winterlake Hospital channeled all those feelings of dread and loneliness that made those games special and proves that the format still works. The biggest issues with Tormented Souls seem like they stem more from a problem with budget more than the devs’ ability. With indie games, there are always compromises that have to be made to launch a title, and I think Dual Effect struck the best balance it could here.

Solid old-school survival horror with an exceptional atmosphere. Suffers from balance issues and a rather mediocre conclusion.

Tormented Souls is an extremely atmospheric game that will please the connoisseurs of the survival horror genre.

Even though the game is inspired by old-school horror titles, it is still very much its own thing. The game has a lot of its own ideas and feels unique even with its similarities. If you’re an old-school survival horror fan, you need to buy Tormented Souls. This game was created exclusively with you in mind. With the game’s value price, it’s quite amazing the amount of content in the game. If only this game had more replay value to it, it would be a super solid experience. Even without that, it’s a very fun tread through the type of survival horrors that we used to enjoy back when the genre was still young.

Boasting good puzzles and solid level design, Tormented Souls doesn't break new ground, but it does well what it set out to do. It's not a game I would recommend to everyone since you have to get used to the clunky combat and the lack of guidance and be equipped with enough patience to overcome the initial difficulty barrier.

Tormented Souls feels like a labor of love, paying homage to its predecessors and delivering a survival horror experience akin to the games of the genre’s glory days in the PlayStation 2 era of gaming. This game will not pull in newcomers to the genre, but lovers of survival horror will enjoy this game for its puzzles, tension, and environmental design, even if the game is lacking in some major areas.

Tormented Souls pays homage to old school gems like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, without adding something new to the formula. If you are a nostalgic of the nineties golden era, you are gonna appreciate it.

Tormented Souls is a good first step for Dual Effect in the world of survival horror: their tribute to the 90s is clear without falling into plagiarism, the puzzles are well thought out, but the game needs a few more touches to make the experience less rigid.

Tormented Souls is a love letter and throwback to the old school survival horror games, warts and all, even including the age-old tank controls found in the games it looks to emulate. Honestly, it does a good job in this, setting the atmosphere, ramping up the stakes and only rarely venturing into the absurd when it comes to puzzle logic. While not completely innocent, with some nonsense puzzles, and a questionable art style for the protagonist, there's enough on offer to keep you going and it makes it more than worth the reasonable price of the game.

Tormented Souls definitely has some issues, mainly the highly derivative combat system and map. Nevertheless, when it comes to level design, highly challenging riddles, and overall dark atmosphere it’s one of the best, if not the best, indie survival horror games aiming at a nostalgic trip to the survival horror games of old.

All in all, Tormented Souls achieves what it set out to do: recapture the magic of old-school fixed-perspective survival horror games with modern technology. However, this extends to having a lackluster story and underwhelming voice-acting, both of which plagued early survival horror titles. While the game’s tension, atmosphere, and environmental storytelling are top-notch, the controls can be difficult without a controller and some decisions are downright tasteless. In the end, this game will probably appeal most to people who already love classic survival horror rather than bringing in new fans.

Both well-designed in some spots and iffier in others, Tormented Souls can be highly frustrating, but is an overall enjoyable classic-style survival-horror experience that fans will be happy to have.

Under its broke survival horror airs, Tormented Souls is much more solid than it looks, not least thanks to its very controlled production and atmosphere. It is with great pleasure that we walk through the corridors of a very mysterious manor, until we find ourselves faced with puzzlingly difficult puzzles, further weighed down by a map that is sorely lacking in information. The thrill of discovery then turns into a frustrating stroll, especially during a second part which requires going through most of the rooms already visited. Other flaws (animations, inventory) add to the overall weight even more, without overwhelming it. So we end up with a nice tribute to Resident Evil and Silent Hill of the time, but not especially in the face of an unmissable survival horror. To try anyway.