There will always be developers that mould their horror games on the ones that came before. Resident Evil is one of the greatest of all time, and there have been many games similar that have tried to emulate what made it so special. Tormented Souls 2 is filled with familiar aspects of Capcom’s masterpiece. From fixed camera angles to intricate puzzles. Tank controls and sporadic save points. Make no mistake, this is no carbon copy. Yes, it wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but it’s also very much its own game.
I was fortunate enough to play through the opening hours of Tormented Souls 2. What struck me was how good the visuals are compared to the first title. The environments are intricately detailed, with lighting playing a huge role in building that tense atmosphere. Villa Hess is reminiscent of the mansion deep in Arklay Mountains. There are moments spent wandering down empty halls, when all of a sudden you swallow your tongue and piss yourself as an abomination bursts through a door and attempts to maul you to death.
You arrive at Villa Hess with your sister. Anna has been having horrifying visions and as a mechanism for coping, she draws what she sees. You play as Caroline, her big sister. Supposedly, going to the nunnery and finding sanctuary is going to make everything better. After going for a power nap, you wake to find Anna missing. It isn’t long before you realise there’s an evil cult inhabiting the Villa. They’ve been waiting to get their hands on Anna, and you led her straight to them.
Caroline passes out and wakes up on a hospital bed with countless needles deep in her body. Upon pulling them out, you gain your bearings and go after Anna. You’re armed with nothing at first and there’s no real direction for you. This was one thing I loved about Tormented Souls 2. The seldom tutorials appear on posters on walls (such as how to use the nail gun). Your objectives are more about remembering what conversations you’ve had. There’s always the map to rely on as well, showing you locked doors, question marks, and points of interest.
Inventory management is always so restrictive in survival horror games. Thankfully, Caroline can carry pretty much anything she wants. There are random notes and items to help solve puzzles; health items to heal you; ammunition; and more. You find the nail gun quickly, as well as a hammer for use in melee. There’s also a lighter to illuminate the darkness. These key items can be given shortcuts, and equipping them with a flick of the right analogue is a simple yet effective idea.
The horror of Tormented Souls 2 is intense when it needs to be. There’s no reliance on jump scares. That tension is created through the silence, where subtle sounds and dark corners create things that are never there. The atmosphere is excellent. It was more unnerving than the weird monsters themselves, however, when you’re faced with one, you better hope you’re at a safe distance. With those fixed camera angles, shooting one with your nail gun can be terrifying because they can be hidden in a previous area where you can’t see them.
Speaking of the camera angles in Tormented Souls 2, the majority of locations do have a fixed view, however, at times the camera moves with you down a long corridor and offers a greater sense of scale. Without a light, wandering into shadows can spell the end of Caroline as the darkness distorts your view. Important items glimmer white and draw you to pick them up, and many other points of interest can be interacted with. Villa Hess is a labyrinth, and the more you explore, the weirder things become.
The puzzles are also one of its strongest features so far. Many require you to find multiple items and use your brain to think outside the box. There are plenty of locked doors that require different keys, and one of which highlighted the intelligence behind Tormented Souls 2’s gameplay is. I was stuck for a while because I couldn’t find any keys for any of the locked doors. One of these locked doors had a rusty padlock on it, and in my head I needed a key. After getting frustrated for sometime, I thought about hitting it with the hammer.
It opened and led me to a whole new area. I should have thought about doing so earlier, but I was so stuck in the mindset of needing keys that I didn’t use my intuition to get it open. Tormented Souls 2 is smart, and Dual effect have added little touches to bring that old school horror into the modern day. You can select auto-save so that you don’t lose plenty of progress saving at the tape recorders. There’s difficulty settings as well to make enemies weaker. Despite two hours of playing, I’m so excited to play more.
Tormented Souls 2 is hopefully going to continue to be great. The visuals are excellent despite not reaching the heights of other games like Bloober Team’s Silent Hill Remake or Cronos: The New Dawn. The puzzles are smart, and the environments have been intricately designed. I love the sense of freedom in such a restrictive world. While the acting is kind of corny, I’m still hugely invested in what’s happening. With little over a month to wait, I’ll be counting down the days until I get to play the full release.
Tormented Souls 2 is coming to PC on October 23rd.
