In another, you access a room via a hatch, only to discover that you immediately come face to face with an enemy that’s blocking the exit. Upon moving toward said corridor, you won’t be able to see either enemy. An enemy waits on both the left and right sides. It’s almost like the enemies were slapped in without much thought at all given to the environments in which they were being placed. Much like that album, it falters because some aspects of it, (the vocals in one, the enemies in the other) don’t go well with the rest of the package. Pretty much every enemy in Tormented Souls looks like a variation of Eddie from the cover of Iron Maiden‘s often maligned 1995 album, X Factor. I still don’t understand it.īut then there’s the combat aspect. Two different diagrams ended up representing the same number. Another puzzle tasked me with interrupting diagrams to try and figure out what numbers they represented. And it needed to be done three times in a row, with absolutely no hints given that this was required. The first time I hit a dead end in Tormented Souls was simply because I needed to walk around an immobile enemy. Some of these aren’t even puzzles, though. Some of the solutions to a handful of puzzles were so confusing that I never would have figured them out on my own, as they don’t always make much sense or have enough explanation for some folks. The puzzle design doesn’t fare as well, but it’s still mostly around the caliber you’d expect. There’s a sewer section at the end that’s confusing and kind of boring, however. It’s not a huge place, but I had a great time memorizing how to get around and learning the ins and outs of navigation. You’ll find maps that reveal the mansion’s layout, but the location’s design is excellent. Camera angles are all fixed, either staying in place, or following you on a rail, depending. All the while you need to carefully explore the premises for ammo and healing supplies, while making sure to survive the game’s enemy encounters. As Caroline, you explore the mansion, find key items, and solve puzzles. Tormented Souls is very much a byproduct from the intense love for the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games. What else could be going on when you wake up in a mansion/hospital? She’s missing an eye and finds herself caught up in some bizarre ritual being perpetrated by a cult. Upon venturing inside, she’s knocked out before waking up in a bathtub. She then heads to the location the photo was sent from: a seemingly abandoned mansion/hospital (that’s a mansion that has been turned into a hospital because reasons). The story centers around Caroline Walker, a young woman who receives a mysterious photo of twin sisters in the mail. Tormented Souls may have the word “souls” in its title, but it’s very much in the mold of survival horror games from the mid-to-late ’90s. It attempts to make up for it by throwing plenty of healing items and ammo at you, but this is a game that genre stalwarts will enjoy. The game is let down by poor enemy placement, however. The level and environmental design (barring a dark, dull section at the very end), puzzles, and atmosphere are mostly where they need to be. Tormented Souls, which is almost shameless in its throwback nature, gets much of it right. The resource management, the level design, the puzzle-solving it’s all part of what makes the genre feel so very special. Old-school survival horror games scratch a specific itch that isn’t easy to fill.
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