That seems back to front: a particularly miserly opening can push frustration a step too far, disrupting that all-important mood instead of enhancing it, while more plentiful resources can dull the impact of the most climactic moments. Save tapes and morphine are particularly limited in the early hours of the game, but become (relatively) abundant later on. That said, it doesn’t always strike the right balance. All these pieces combine to make a game that’s clunky, but again, that’s by design: the clunkiness and fraught encounters are a source of tension. You can usually hear monsters before you see them, and camera angles can make targeting unwieldy, even with a bit of aim assistance. You can only see what you’re allowed to, and the first time through a new area, you don’t necessarily know when there’s going to be a camera cut. The cinematic effect of set design and shot framing allows the game to present each location in the most eerie way possible, but more than that, it takes a degree of control away from the player. Tormented Souls is rarely “scary” in a jump-out-of-your-seat way, but discomfort and unease are constant companions, and the willingness to indulge in “bad UX” is a vital piece of that.įixed camera angles take that atmosphere a step further. In a game about exploring a creepy old medical facility filled with bizarre abominations and enough dark secrets to fill a tome, that tension goes a long way. A simple encounter with a type of enemy that you’ve fought a half-dozen times before and know exactly how to deal with can still put you on edge when a little mistake can have such heavy consequences. With such high stakes on something as utilitarian as saving comes a real, palpable feeling of tension, even anxiety. Here’s our review.īut what you get in exchange is atmosphere. Related: For a very different but no less enthralling horror game on Switch, Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is worth a look. Again, this is a game that’s knowingly and deliberately hostile inconvenience is a feature, not a bug. Not being able to just save at will and turn off the game is more than a little inconvenient (though sleep mode helps with that, so long as you don’t want to play a different game in the meantime), and losing a huge chunk of progress is a pain. When you’re used to the convenience of autosaves and plentiful resources, this can be infuriating. And tape reels, those vital consumables that allow you to save your game? In the first half of the game, at least, they’re like hen’s teeth-if you want to use one, you better pick your moment right, or your next death could be a major setback. The life-giving effects of morphine are harder to come by, and crucial for giving you a bit of breathing room when three or four hits is all it takes to drop you dead. But it’s still rare enough that you can’t afford to get wasteful, and if you miss a box of nails or two, you can easily find your back against the wall with nothing but an unwieldy crowbar to defend yourself. Ammo isn’t too bad-if you pay attention to your surroundings, you’ll find enough ammo to deal with any enemy you encounter. In Tormented Souls, everything is scarce. Far more than just a nostalgic throwback, it’s a game that understands what makes those classic survival horrors tick. But like the games it draws upon, that hostility, frustrating as it can be, is also what gives it its atmosphere. It can be abrasive, even hostile to the player to a point of frustration-especially in a time where there’s so much focus on “good UX”. In a sea of survival horror games citing classic Resident Evil as an influence, Tormented Souls stands out for its willingness to wholly, uncompromisingly commit.
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