Survival horror as a generic description came about when the phrase was coined in reference to the first Resident Evil game. Of course, Resident Evil was building on the tropes that Sweet Home established, but in defining the survival horror genre, Resident Evil was king. Then, a few years later, Silent Hill solidified and fleshed out survival horror as a genre and format. Both Resident Evil and Silent Hill remain some of the most famous survival horror games of all time, and Tormented Soulshopes to recreate the initial magic and terror of these early survival horror titles.
Tormented Souls takes direct influence from Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Alone in the Dark. What this means for players is to expect some psychological terror, limited resources, grotesque monsters, and perhaps some Lovecraftian influence like what was seen in Alone in the Dark. Everything released about Tormented Souls so far promises that the game will be a faithful update to old-school survival horror experience, re-creating the look and feel of those early games.
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Resident Evil had Racoon City, Silent Hill had the eponymous town Silent Hill, and Tormented Souls has Winterlake. Not a huge amount is known about Tormented Souls' setting just yet, except that it is a mysterious place where things are not as they seem. The original Resident Evil took place in a zombie-infested mansion in Racoon City, adding to the gothic horror of the game. What sets Silent Hill apart from Racoon City is its infamous multiple states. An ominous siren sounds, and suddenly the town of Silent Hill shifts into a hellish alternative with more difficult monsters, known mainly as the Other World. Another state was the Fog World, a clever old-school trick that accounted for limited draw distance and added to a spooky atmosphere.
Like Resident Evil, Tormented Souls takes place in an abandoned mansion in Winterlake. However, like the town of Silent Hill, this Winterlake mansion exists in multiple states, but this time shifting between states has temporal ramifications. Players can interact with mirrors throughout the game, which brings them back in time to a darker, more difficult version of the mansion. Actions that are done in the past mansion affect things in the present. This ties together tropes from Silent Hill and Resident Evil, as the game's haunted mansion offers a shifting state and a classic gothic horror setting.
One of the main ways the influence of Resident Evil can be seen in this game is the puzzles. Resident Evil is famous for the blend of combat and puzzles, as well as the limited resources seen in many survival horrors today. Managing ammo and inventory space while solving puzzles that require a decent amount of thought and consideration makes survival horror games more engaging plays, and Tormented Souls utilizes this fully.
A demo that is playable now for Tormented Souls (as well as the above trailer) shows how the game implements these ideas, and it successfully captures the feel of playing old-school survival horror. The gameplay feels like an early Resident Evil or Silent Hill game, with scattered enemies and multiple complex puzzles along the way. The Silent Hill-like enemies are tactile, abject, and uncanny; they are humanoid but intrinsically repulsive and confrontational in nature.
The plot also takes influence from early survival horror, with the protagonist, Caroline Walker, searching for missing twin girls. Games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil helped to define the survival horror genre, and Tormented Souls is trying to recapture the early magic while still creating an engaging game for a 2021 audience. Players will have to wait to play the full game later this month to find out if Dual Effect Games have pulled this off.
Tormented Souls will launch August 27 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X with PS4, Switch, and Xbox One versions also in development.
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