Old school ghouls for the Switch 2
Released in 2021 for the PS5, Xbox series, and PC Tormented Souls was a sleeper hit with horror game fans. It wore its influences proudly on its sleeve as if to say if you liked classic Resident Evil or Silent Hill, this is the game for you. And it largely delivered on its promise with a decent mix of puzzles and combat, and gross monsters all tied together with a story that made just enough sense. The game scored well enough and sold enough copies that a sequel was all but inevitable. The question then was, what would developer Dual Effect do for this eventual follow up? The answer, for better or worse, is more of the same.
Tormented Souls 2 once again stars Caroline Walker. After the events of the original game Caroline just wanted to relax and enjoy her time away from monsters and ghoulies. Unfortunately, her sister Anna began having visions. These visions manifested in her drawings and prompted Caroline to take Anna to a remote religious retreat in Villa Hess Chile for treatment. And as is to be expected, things go almost immediately sideways. After taking a nap Caroline wakes up alone and panic sets in. Thus begins her gruesome adventure to rescue her sister from an evil cult worshipping at the altar of Nautilus, a Lovecraftian like tentacle beast. The story is well written with some decent voice acting along the way. There is nothing groundbreaking here but there doesn’t need to be. It works and gets players from point a to point b in a way that makes sense most of the time. It’s the travel between the bigger story and action set pieces where some of the cracks start to show.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Switch 2 (reviewed), XBOX, PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
Movement in Tormented Souls 2 is handled in two distinct ways, a more modern, action like control scheme and classic, old school tank controls. I appreciate the developers including the option for both styles as they definitely have their place when done well. The camera unfortunately doesn’t really help either scheme shine. Showing its allegiance to classic survival horror games, the camera is fixed, which sometimes leads to some very cool, atmospheric shots, but mostly just leads to frustration with the controls. Switching from one angle to the next while using the analog stick, the modern controls, often causes some janky movement of the player character when the perspective shifts which just doesn’t feel very good. Using the d-pad for tank controls also runs into this issue but it isn’t nearly as jarring as the movement is much slower and deliberate. It doesn’t ruin the experience but did take me out of the game more than a few times, breaking the immersion a game like this thrives on. I would have loved to see some innovation in this space as fixed camera angles can be very, very cool as long as they don’t futz with the control.
Puzzles in Tormented Souls 2 are also a mixed bag with some being dead simple and others controller chucking clunky. Often, it’s simply a case of the game being too clever for its own good. One of the interesting mechanics in Tormented Souls 2 is that many of the items can be interacted with or combined to create new bits of kit. Find a shotgun and an old pipe? Combine it to make a double-barreled shotgun obviously. A crossbow frame and some old bike parts? You guessed it, a functioning crossbow. All relatively straight forward if a bit over designed. But right from jump players are presented with the type of puzzle that just breaks the flow of the game in my opinion. Caroline finds a locked bible after waking up in the infirmary. After doing some exploring you come across a locked door requiring a flower bud key.
Players may or may not have already also found a thumbtack you can take into your inventory. If you can see where this is going you need to examine the bible to discover that one of the nails is missing from the crucifix. Combining the thumb tack with the bible unlocks the bible and grants you the flower bud key. Not only does this not make a ton of sense, you cannot just pick up other thumbtacks in the game world, only this one, you also have to drag and drop the thumbtack onto the bible in the right spot. Which, fine, a little interaction never hurts but you have to do this for everything. When you interact with most puzzles the screen shifts and you are presented with the object and your four tab inventory. Sometimes you have to use an item from your inventory, sometimes you have to interact with the object first. And sometimes the solutions to the puzzles are clear on the other side of the map or buried in files and text.
That clunkiness really reared its ugly head during the saving mechanic. In order to save you have to find reel to reel tapes. Once you find a tape you interact with the machine. That interaction opens up the puzzle/inventory page. Then you have to find your tape and drag it onto the reel-to-reel machine. Then you have to click record on the machine. Then you have to select your save. And then sometimes Caroline gives an exposition dump! Again, this does not ruin the game but is far clunkier than it needs to be.
Performance wise Tormented Souls 2 looks and runs great on the Switch 2. While some of the human characters in the game suffer from the uncanny valley and the hair is downright bad, the monsters and the world all look amazing. The lighting in particular is very strong and really highlights the work Dual Effect put in to make this game as atmospheric as its influences. Tormented Souls 2 features a few different locations all with their own distinct look and feel. Environments are suitably gross and bloody and stay just this side of goofy. The sound design is also very good and playing this handheld with headphones is wonderfully creepy. The music and audio cues really heighten the tension of the areas. There is a lot to like here if you can get past the janky controls and clunky puzzles. It’s a welcome addition to the Switch 2 library and has me very excited for a possible follow-up. With a little more innovation Dual Effect could have something truly special. As is, Tormented Souls 2 is a good value at $30 digitally, $40 for a physical key card, and will definitely scratch that classic survival horror itch.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.