And then we get on to the voice work and once again it’s like 1997 all over again. The soundtrack is decent enough too, with enough ups and downs in building tensions and jump scares. Further, the cutscenes and characters do look like something straight out of a 90’s game, but with updated relish while keeping their original feel to them. The creature design can look good at times, but on occasions it’s like a blast from the past. There is some great level design, and fantastic interiors which made me love walking about the world. Visually, Tormented Souls looks good in the environments and locations on show. Honestly, I ended up running more than I did fighting, which gives you an idea of how well I mastered the combat. When that happens, it’s pretty much curtains. You can dodge as well, but the fixed camera angles don’t help your cause as it’s easy to get stuck in the wrong viewpoint. You get a nail gun first of all, firing it off at strange monsters who move quickly with some big range on their attacks. That one mechanic in itself is going to be something that you’ll either love or hate, particularly when having to retrace footsteps for the hundredth time.Ĭombat occurs in Tormented Souls and this is perhaps the hardest part of the game to master. You have to get tapes to be able to use these machines in order to save, and you should be aware that these can be quite rare. Saving is old-school too, with tape machines found in certain rooms which are well spaced out around the locations. Reading the clues laying around will give hints about what you might need to do to solve things, but there’s a high chance you’ll need to hit the online worlds to search out the odd solution. You have to think hard and fast about how things work in Tormented Souls, especially regarding combinations of items. There are maps to collect of the area too, but I did at times find these confusing, bearing little in relation to where you are on the map and what you haven’t explored. You can examine objects and do the usual thing of collecting stuff, combing things, and using items with the environment to forward the progression of the game. The first twenty minutes to half an hour of opening is all nice and easy, as you get to walk about the rooms, admiring the locations. You control your character by moving around the space with a light jog to get you out of trouble. Health posters on walls, dark paintings, and brilliant interiors tell a thousand stories and are a pleasure to explore. However, it’s the actual locations and their brilliant sense of place and dimly lit rooms which are the real narratives. Some might find the narrative a bit old-fashioned and there certainly isn’t anything surprising, but you can see that the developers grew up loving this genre of games and have tried to entwine it here. But you know what, I was thoroughly hooked on it and enjoyed what it provided. The story feels very old school and the writing at times can feel like it has been ripped straight from the 1990’s full of cheese and on-the-nose pieces of dialogue. It’s now up to you to venture out and solve the mystery. You wake up naked, in a bath, with a tube down the throat and an eye missing. Before you even get a chance to take control, Caroline is knocked out and the screen goes black. The effect of the picture makes her travel to Winterlake hospital to find out what has happened to them. At the start of Tormented Souls she receives a letter that comes with a picture of some twin girls.
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