Tormented Souls

 PC
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. SpazioGames
    Sep 20, 2021
    74
    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.
  2. Multiplayer.it
    Sep 6, 2021
    72
    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.
  3. Wccftech
    Sep 26, 2021
    70
    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.
  5. GameOver.gr
    Sep 10, 2021
    70
    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.
  6. COGconnected
    Aug 31, 2021
    70
    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.
  7. PC Invasion
    Aug 28, 2021
    70
    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.
  8. Jeuxvideo.com
    Sep 3, 2021
    65
    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.
  9. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Nov 30, 2021
    56
    Resident Evil 2 Remake shows how to properly blend old-school horror ideas with modern action to create a great game. Tormented Souls ignored all that and tried to copy the original one-to-one, with predictable result: it’s a bland clone of a game two decades old. [Issue#256, p.38]
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Awards & Rankings

69
#69 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 71 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 71
  3. Negative: 13 out of 71
  1. Kunray
    Sep 2, 2021
    10
    The game is a beautiful,I recommend giving it a try.
    Old school survival horror.
  2. AllNewSuperfake
    Sep 19, 2021
    1
    Once upon a time, there was a horror game on the Playstation, and it wanted to have really impressive 3D graphics. And because the PlaystationOnce upon a time, there was a horror game on the Playstation, and it wanted to have really impressive 3D graphics. And because the Playstation could not render those in real time without bursting into flames, the developers came up with an idea, which was to have a fixed, cinematic camera so that there was no extensive rendering necessary. They also understood what a camera does when it's cinematic, meaning that they understood camera movement and camera angles. The result was quite impressive graphics for the time and additional classic horror atmosphere.

    A thing of beauty: Necessity as the mother of an invention. The developers of this game did not have the necessity, and they also did not understand the invention, aka camera angles and movement. But they wanted their game to look and feel and play like that godforsaken classic and copied all the wrong things.

    Like the terrible tank controls, with the added unnecessary difficulty of the oh so popular "wait, now that the camera angle changed, pressing forward means that I'm going in the exact opposite direction, aka back to where I was coming from". Because that's what we are missing when we get all nostalgic, right? Right.

    Like the clomp-clomp-clomp of footsteps ruining all the other audio. The fiddly controls while examining stuff with some extra fiddly controls while rotating it. This is even worse than back in the good old days, everything is spinning out of control. Sometimes your cursor changes into a looking glass, which can mean everything from opening something to pressing a button to actually looking at something. Sometimes you need one click, sometimes you need to double click, it's as intuitive as your yearly tax return.

    You get thrown right into the action without any buildup whatsoever, meaning that you have no idea who you are. Which makes it a little difficult to care, especially when you are wearing the mother of all bad anime outfits and hair. And during the first cutscenes you already have classic goofs with missing props and props changing sides and places, only to run into one of the most mind-boggling puzzles in my long, long gaming history where I learn how to "modify" a wrench to use it as a doorknob. And what "lost in translation" means.

    The level design has all the chaos, but none of the interactivity of a hidden object game, and you have to rub your wooden animated body against walls, cabinets, shelves and other architecture to figure out if you can use any of the ten million objects lying around. Which, in case of the aforementioned doorknob, means that there are roughly twenty things in that room alone that would serve the same purpose like that wrench. You know, that thing that is always the first weapon you find in any game?... and that you leave there. Of course you leave it there, why would you need a weapon in a creepy house where people kidnapped you and cut your eye out?!

    So, if any of you undying "Resident Evil" and "Silent Hill" Fans out there could tell developers that even you have moved on and that you would not like to be reminded how badly huge chunks of the concept aged and how you also appreciate all the progress in game design we've made since? That would be great. How you appreciate those new, modern inventories where you don't have to search for the stuff you just picked up because because a watch is a "file" and a wrench is a "resource"?

    Because this drags down a great story. In other games, not this one, don't even get me started. This has all the appeal and insane twists of yesterday's leftovers put in a blender. But in case you had a great story, this would drag it down. Luckily for the developers, they hold on to that really good and original story for the next time. Right? Right.    … Full Review »
  3. hertzian68
    Sep 2, 2021
    0
    Only good IF you like RE 0/1 remakes. It has the awful fixed camera, the clunky UI in general, tank controls if you don't use a controller,Only good IF you like RE 0/1 remakes. It has the awful fixed camera, the clunky UI in general, tank controls if you don't use a controller, confusing tape save system, minimal to no controls etc training, not the best graphics looks like an early ps3 game. On the plus side it has decent music so far, moderate puzzles which if you've played the above games won't be too hard. Like everyone else has said it's an old school RE and silent hill mix. If konami or capcom don't want to do this so much the better for others, for those two giants a game like this would take peanuts and be low cost at the same time be a huge market. All you'd need is a modern 3d camera and modern intuitive UI and a modern save system so take RE2re with these graphics and add a story done, it's not that hard.

    The devs of this game were obviously trying to do it as cheaply as possible so using the fixed camera, limited save system, older graphics and old school UI were pretty much a guarantee of low cost/time to make. But in todays world an up to date 3d camera shouldn't be that hard or cost that much, a save system that respects peoples limited time would also be a good gesture and be good for business. Those two things are what makes it either a niche game or a more universal and bigger selling game. So it's a niche game with limited appeal. I just don't have the time to waste on losing hours of progress because of the save system. Once or if we get trainers that will negate that it will be more feasible to put time into this.    … Full Review »
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