Tormented Souls

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Tormented Souls: Once upon a time, third-person horror games were very popular and attractive, especially during the “golden” period of the 90s with Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Alone in the Dark, etc. A long list that the writer will have the opportunity to tell you.

They are attracted not only by the creepy and mythical images but also by the difficult puzzles, fascinated by the fantasy stories.

Then as time passed, some monuments disappeared (Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Alone in the Dark). The rest also went through a difficult and awkward period, finding a new direction for themselves through many trials experiences and then reap a lot of success when game studios find a “new formula,” as shown in Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil Village, Visage.

Despite the new trend, many gamers still want to find the horror game feeling of a bygone era, still want to review old memories.

That prompted the two developers of Dual Effect and Abstract Digital to collaborate to release: Tormented Souls.

When you look at you will immediately see the familiar images of the famous horror games of the 90s, such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, etc., just mentioned above.

The main setting of the game, Wildberger hospital, is a place where the lights are dim, and the electricity is flickering; combined with the game taking place at night, 80% of the player’s time will be groping for the Dark.

Players will not be able to “cheat” Tormented Souls by turning on the game’s Brightness and the screen to maximum because once entering the dark; everything will become dark.

That is interesting because Tormented Souls have made darkness your biggest enemy.

More specifically, if Caroline enters a completely dark area with no light source, the player’s ability to control the character will be reduced shortly after, losing his life. Do you remember the year Don’t Starve game?

The developer wants us to understand that even if we can’t see the enemy with our own eyes, they are always lurking in the dark, waiting for the opportunity to take Caroline’s life.

If so, how will players have to explore the game? The answer was the lighter, one of the first items Caroline collected.

The lighter was a portable light source that Caroline could hold in her hand and a tool to solve some puzzles.

But the light is not the answer to all problems.

More specifically, in the game, Caroline will have times when she has to fight with enemies, and because she is not a “martial arts,” she cannot hold a weapon and hold a lighter simultaneously.

That makes the player think when seeing the enemy, whether we run away to the safe room or quickly find the candles – where we can use the lighter to light, create a light second source – then fight?

Unfortunately, Tormented Souls did not make the most of this light mechanism.

After passing the mid-game milestone, Caroline will have access to a flashlight, the type that can be hooked up to clothes. This flashlight ensures that Caroline can both explore and fight.

The existence of this item has further simplified the gameplay mechanics.

Even so, the writer does not feel that this should be seen as a minus because with the frequency of enemies appearing more, perhaps the developer himself also wants to let the player “breathe.”

where can you get a Tormented Souls online

Tormented Souls – PlayStation 5: Buy it now

Tormented Souls – Nintendo Switch: Buy it now

Tormented Souls – PlayStation 4: Buy it now

In horror games, two of the most popular settings are the mansion and the abandoned hospital.

That is because, in the fictional world, the mansion will always be a place of secret rooms and basements with mysteries revolving around the owner’s history. Meanwhile, hospitals will always have the appearance of bloodstains, corpses, and horrifying experiments.

Wildberger Hospital blends these two seamlessly. This site was once a mansion for its owner decided to overhaul it as a hospital for plot-related reasons.

Also, for this reason, we can understand why Wildberger has a relatively small area compared to real-life hospitals.

Besides the above factor, the fact that everything in the hospital is always in a messy, dirty, and untidy state also shows us that those who have the opportunity to leave have seized it, and we really should not be here.

If classic horror games have inspired you, puzzles are essential. Most puzzles will be in the form of “find items A and B, combine them, and then find the right place to attach them.”

However, there are also more difficult puzzles, requiring players to repeatedly find the right answer or read in-game documents to deduce the results. These documents require the attention of gamers; if you miss them, forget to pick them up, it will lead to a “tragic end.”

Some puzzles will also use a two-parallel world mechanic, where Caroline will explore a more somber version of the area she needs a solution. That is a pretty cool mechanic, and it makes for more complex tiered puzzles.

Overall, the puzzles of Tormented Souls are not too difficult, but it is difficult enough to challenge the player.

Besides, because the game has a lot of sentences that overlap, players should take out a pen and paper to write down what needs to be solved to avoid forgetting.

The fixed camera angle is a feature of the classic horror game series; it is a pity that Tormented Souls did not do this well.

At some moments in the game, the enemy will be placed in a position hidden from the camera corner to easily “scream” the player. That is quite normal with fixed-angle games, so what’s the problem here?

The answer lies in the game’s enemies. Unlike the slow zombies of Resident Evil, enemies in Tormented Souls can deal damage from a distance or jump to attack the player. There have been times when the writer was in the middle of exploring when *swoosh* got a fatal slash and had to replay from the last save point.

There are cases where items such as blood and ammunition are placed in a hidden position from the camera. Without accidentally entering that point, players will miss these essential items, making the game more difficult.

A character’s emotions in the game are expressed through two factors: the voice acting and the character’s feelings when encountering shocking elements.

In the voice factor, the voice actress for Caroline Walker has not conveyed emotions into the character; her lines do not show fear, pain, or surprise.

However, this is an element that we can “let go” of if we consider an indie game with a low development budget.

However, in terms of the feel of the character, the developer has not done well.

More specifically, Caroline is just an ordinary woman, but when she defeats the first enemy in the game, she doesn’t have any feelings like “Oh no, I just took a life,” “Who has created this creature,” or “I’m sorry, I don’t want to do this.”

Besides, when Caroline first stepped through the parallel world and solved a sentence, it was supernatural, and she didn’t have much emotion about her actions.

The writer wants to confirm that Caroline is not completely insensitive to everything; she can also show emotions when suddenly encountering strange elements. The lack of emotion when Caroline was supposed to speak made the character somewhat mechanical.

The main character’s emotions are, after all, a small factor in the game, but the fact that the main character does not show much emotion has also made the horror element of the game somewhat less.

Tormented Souls has only one game mode, with no harder or easier options.

After completing the game, the game also does not have unlocked rewards, such as new costumes, super cool weapons, or special items.

If Tormented Souls has the above elements, the game’s replay value will increase a lot. Because it is a relatively short game (playing time is from 4 to 6 hours), many players will feel regret when completing the game too quickly.

The game has three different endings, which will likely become a goal many gamers strive to achieve.

However, since there are no rewards that can be unlocked after completing the game – things that can change the way the game plays – the second and third plays will be quite boring.