Tormented Souls 2 Review

Tormented Souls 2 picks up after the events of the game and Caroline Walker’s ordeal at Wildberger Hospital. Walker hopes to settle down for a regular life with her sister Anna. Unfortunately, Anna’s obsession in drawing dark things brings our duo to a mysterious clinic hidden within the mountains of southern Chile. During one night, Anna goes missing and Caroline needs to find her.

Tormented Souls 2 is a 3D survival horror game throwback to the classic Resident Evil games from the PS1 era; or more closely the 2002 Resident Evil Remake; fixed camera, limited resources, save points and puzzles galore. Throughout your (mis)adventure, you’ll find a handful of weaponry to fight off monstrosities, clues for puzzles and consumable items to assure your survival.

One of the mechanics of the game is the darkness. If you find yourself in a pitch black room, darkness will surround, absorb and kill you. This adds a layer of tension as you can’t defend yourself and hold the lighter at the same time. So it is vital to find switches or candles to light up the area to fight properly, also find useful items and more importantly find the path forward.

Given that enemies can be quite aggressive, if Caroline is aiming with a weapon, she can dodge upcoming enemy attacks by jumping back, which is a life saver, especially at higher difficulty settings. As mentioned, the game brings back save points. You’ll need tapes to use on tape players; so if you’re out of tapes, you can’t save. Akin to original Resident Evil’s typewriter/ink scenario. And when reaching specific points in the game, Caroline will go over the recent events as sort of a reminder of what’s going on.

Another interesting, albeit familiar mechanic is the Otherside. Certain areas will require players to use a mirror to travel to an alternate reality of a specific area in order to complete puzzle and progress forward. It’s an alternate dimension, similar to what players experience in Silent Hill games. If you’re looking for a true old school experience, you can even change the game’s controls to full-on tank control.

The game looks great, in its own respect. Environments are creepy and the fixed camera definitely adds a of tension; unlike the myriads of other AAA survival horror games. Enemy design is fair at best. Boss battles are fair and underwhelming. The game also offers a nice diversity of areas; from a confined creepy church to a mall. There are a few glitches here and there, mostly in cutscenes. The audio is surprisingly good. The voiceover work is slightly more beliveable than you’d expect, more so than some of Dead Reset’s b-movie acting. The soundtrack is great; unnerving and perfectly atmospheric, but not as classic as the original RE trilogy.

The game does have a few nuisances. The first one being not able to dodge unless you’re aiming at an enemy. If you’re attacked in the dark, where a lighting source is vital, you’ll need to figure out a way to run or back track to avoid unnecessary damage. While I’m a huge fan of the fixed camera, it can cause some issues during certain boss battles when trying to avoid damage. Also, the nailgun makes a return and it does feel incredibly underpowered; a pistol would’ve felt a bit more reasonable.

Tormented Souls 2 feels like a love child between Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. It’s also one of the best survival horror games I’ve played in recently memory. It feels like a perfect mix of old school and more recently gameplay mechanics. The fixed camera adds a layer of nostalgia and tension, the combat is far, albeit brutal, especially on higher difficulties and the puzzles are complex and challenging. While not all is perfect; can’t dodge unless aiming and the nailgun being as useful as a melee weapon, Tormented Souls 2 is a must play for gamers who enjoy the genre. It’s the first game that gaves me legitimate jump scares in the last five years. Highly recommended.