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RTTP: Tormented Souls - A Great (?) Homage to Classic Survival Horror Games

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Yo dawg, I heard you like classic RE style games, so they made a classic RE style game with equally bad voice acting, fixed camera perspectives and tank controls.

This game was on sale recently on Xbox and PS so I picked it up having heard a lot about it and seeing some positive videos.

And yeah, if you are one of those who don't like the way modern 'horror' games are becoming more action oriented with over the shoulder camera perspectives, this is the game for you.

Tank controls, fixed camera, a cast of characters with the range of a plank. This game has it all.

I mean, it's such a classic RE clone that it even starts with the same warning message on boot:

TS2.jpg



I'm currently a little bit into the game but already more puzzles than most other modern survival horror style games. Will keep it updated.

PS, the game has gone through a substantial number of updates since its first showing and is in a much better, stable, state now. They also added a secondary new costume and a hidden weapon near the very beginning of the game to help players along and those who didn't like the default costume.

And finally, anyone whose still on the fence, here is arguably the most positive review on the game yet, anyone whose familiar with this channel knows that this guy likes playing and reviewing RE and RE clones.






Here's some screens (not mine)from the game.

maxresdefault.jpg


tormentedsouls.jpg


combat-image-3.gif
 
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DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Played it a handful of months ago. Started off disliking it because of its unforgiving save system. Grew to really like it. Though it definitely has flaws. Gives you very few hints or clues as to where to go next and I like that in some instances, but they were so open with that, it has you running around aimlessly for sometimes hours figuring out what to do now, what puzzle to find, where to go, etc. All that did in the end was artificially inflate the length and waste your time.

But the gameplay, atmosphere, and classic RE feel were all top notch.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Played it a handful of months ago. Started off disliking it because of its unforgiving save system. Grew to really like it. Though it definitely has flaws. Gives you very few hints or clues as to where to go next and I like that in some instances, but they were so open with that, it has you running around aimlessly for sometimes hours figuring out what to do now, what puzzle to find, where to go, etc. All that did in the end was artificially inflate the length and waste your time.

But the gameplay, atmosphere, and classic RE feel were all top notch.

From what I've played, the environments look fantastic.

But the main character looks like a wax doll. I wish they put in a little more detail there, and yes I know it's a small indie game .. but the UE4 library seemed to have delivered amazingly well for the environmental assets at least. Wish it had done the same for character models as well.
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Loved the game and I appreciated the none handholding even if it like you said made the game longer then it is.
But I really enjoyed my time with it the environments was fantastic and I didn't mind the character design but like you said could have been more detailed.
I can't wait for a sequel
Any screen's of the new outfit?
I played it when it first released on PS5 so I'm unaware of this.
 
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Bartski

Gold Member
yeah I liked it a lot but not sure if I'd recommend it to anyone free from 90s RE nostalgia and a thing for B horror jank. Smart, well thought out puzzles vs dumb as shit plot.
 

Roberts

Member
Playing it right now. Not going to complain about the save system (even though it made me replay certain parts more than once), The camera placement is a bit clumsy and the VO is terrible, but it is a reasonably good looking and atmospheric game. I like it and will definitely complete it.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
This game's gonna be a good test case for Quick Resume, owing to the extremely limited saving.

Hoping it stays as strong as it has for me in other games and doesn't flub up.
 
Would you say that this is worth the 14 euros asking price ? (it's being discounted right now on the Microsoft Store.)
Also, how does it run on an Xbox Series X ?
Anyway, watched the YouTube review that the OP posted and some dumb fuck in the comments section spoiled the whole story, FML !
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Would you say that this is worth the 14 euros asking price ? (it's being discounted right now on the Microsoft Store.)
Also, how does it run on an Xbox Series X ?
Anyway, watched the YouTube review that the old OP posted and some dumb fuck in the comments section spoiled the whole story, FML !

Yes, I would say it's definitely worth that price. I bought it for $13.99 on the sale as well.

And the game reportedly runs at 4K / 60 FPS.
 
Yes, I would say it's definitely worth that price. I bought it for $13.99 on the sale as well.

And the game reportedly runs at 4K / 60 FPS.
Thanks friend, much appreciated :)
could you please elaborate on the saving system? Is it really that bad? I hate losing progress or not being able to save every 10-15 minutes (at least)
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Thanks friend, much appreciated :)
could you please elaborate on the saving system? Is it really that bad? I hate losing progress or not being able to save every 10-15 minutes (at least)

The save system is basically the ink ribbons from the classic RE games. But from what I've heard, you get a very low amount of save items.

In RE, you get like 3 ink ribbons in each pick up, here you get 1 recorder per pick up and you lose it as soon as you save. And like I said, I've been told the save recorders are pretty rare in the game.
 

bender

What time is it?
I played the demo and had a good time but the enemy designs really put me off. I've got it on my "deep discount" wishlist.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I played the demo and had a good time but the enemy designs really put me off. I've got it on my "deep discount" wishlist.

It's a small indie game, I doubt it'll go on any deeper discount than $13.99 for the foreseeable future. Unless it comes to something like Game Pass or PS Now in the coming months.
 

KiteGr

Member
I have it in my Steam library.
I'm waiting to play it on my steam deck when it finally arives in a couple of years.
I've heard it has full frontal nudity.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I have it in my Steam library.
I'm waiting to play it on my steam deck when it finally arives in a couple of years.
I've heard it has full frontal nudity.

Yes, within the first 5 minutes. No idea if it'll happen again later but I'll update if it does.

But, yeah, there's titties and even vag in the first 5 mins.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Talk about burying the lead bro. Should have been in the thread title.

To be fair it has no place in the game so far lol, it's only happened once and felt like it was just some weird fan service more than anything. There's no thematic or story relevance to it at all.
 
To be fair it has no place in the game so far lol, it's only happened once and felt like it was just some weird fan service more than anything. There's no thematic or story relevance to it at all.
Well its published by pqube so I'm not surprised. They don't shy away from fan service, which is fine with me .
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Alright, update time.

I've since gone and 1000G'd the game since I made this topic lol.

The final set of achievements were a bitch. One requires you to beat the game without saving, one requires you to beat the game without healing even once and the obligatory speed run achievement for beating it under 3.

True Achievement doesn't recommend attempting these all together but my stubborn ass wouldn't listen. In my first attempt I ended up dying on the very final boss which almost made me want to rage quit and uninstall the game. But cooler heads prevailed and the next attempt was the golden one. All 3 done in the same run. Made my younger RE enthusiast self proud.

Anyway, to close this, I will once again highly recommend fans of older classic RE games, or horror games with fixed camera perspectives in general (like the PS2 Fatal Frame games etc) to check this out.

1l7kfc.png





PS. Xbox / PS5 owners, if you have the means, definitely play this game with VRR on. It massively improves/eliminates any judder.

VRR Off:




VRR On:

 

tav7623

Member
Got this game physically for the PS5 last year and for the most part really enjoyed playing it (also I've gotten all but 4 Trophies, basically the 3 you mentioned and one for dying via the shadows), didn't know they had added some content via updates since I'd last played it so I might have to go back and check it out.
 
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Roberts

Member
Completed my first run. Took me 9 hours, but I was in no hurry and looked for everything. It’s a fun and creepy little game. While I always appreciated Quick Resume, I don’t think I ever played a game where it was so useful before. Considering the game’s save system and the fact that I usually don’t have more than 20-30 minutes to play a the time, QR was a godsend.
 
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Aure

Banned
It's a fantastic game but the puzzles are just terrible, i gave up on the game because of that, and i'm not the type to do so but this game had too much.
A shame, really, but i'm sure i'm not alone in this. I grew up playing the old Resident Evil and Silent hill franchises, all of them.

In other words, i got filtered by this game.
 
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Awwwh, you didn't like the puzzles A Aure ? I thought they were some of the highlights of the game!

Played Tormented Souls with an old friend of mine that I used to play Silent Hills etc through with and we had a WHALE of a time. Moment-to-moment writing is troublesome, the plotting is labyrinthine but not especially interesting... the combat's kinda shonky but... gosh, it has a lot of heart. It's a good time.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Picked this up the other day for PS5 cause it's on sale. Spent a bit of time and did a few puzzles and toyed around with the combat.

It's seems spot on when it comes to classic survival horror and I absolutely loved the music.

I'm not really in the right mindset to dedicate time to it but I'm probably going to really enjoy it when I get around to it.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Picked this up the other day for PS5 cause it's on sale. Spent a bit of time and did a few puzzles and toyed around with the combat.

It's seems spot on when it comes to classic survival horror and I absolutely loved the music.

I'm not really in the right mindset to dedicate time to it but I'm probably going to really enjoy it when I get around to it.

Yeah, some of the puzzles are REAL head scratchers. This one's gonna need your dedicated attention.
 
It was alright. Some of the puzzles were a bit obtuse and the combat was very bad. I know it's a throwback and you're not necessarily supposed to fight everything, but it was still pretty rough around the edges. I still ultimately enjoyed it but it could have used some more time in the oven for sure.
 

peronmls

Member
A bit too anime with try hard shock value and no originality. Looks too much like other games. Nothing we haven't seen before.
 
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H hangdang69 - I dunno, I thought the combat was serviceable. It's certainly not a selling point and at no point does it 'feel' notably good (even like the satisfying combat in, say, Silent Hill 2... or the gratifying gore and dodging of Resident Evil), but it definitely does the job. Given how small the team was and how much entertainment I got out of it, I'm definitely willing to forgive some of the flaws.

Deerock71 Deerock71 - Yeah. Like, I appreciate that the intention might have been to sell a sense of vulnerability at the beginning, but it seemed somewhat odd. The scene is presented in a male gaze-y fashion that detracts from the vulnerability - and if they were going for exploitation / schlock (which I'd have no problem with if that was the intention), then why not repeat the nudity etc anywhere else? Weird.

peronmls peronmls - Pff, I dunno, 'anime'? My impression was that it seemed much more like a mid-European adventure game - certainly the acting and characterisation was at that level. I thought the thing with the injury the main character gets early on was fairly effective as a shock, though.

Honestly... I'm not too concerned with the lack of originality in Tormented Souls. Achieving that level of visual quality and polish and even *approximating* the Resident Evil / Silent Hill aesthetic is a significant achievement, especially for such a small team. I'm delighted with their current success, wish them well with more ports and look forward to their next project... hopefully another fixed camera game for the Society. =P
 

Roberts

Member
Awwwh, you didn't like the puzzles A Aure ? I thought they were some of the highlights of the game!

Played Tormented Souls with an old friend of mine that I used to play Silent Hills etc through with and we had a WHALE of a time. Moment-to-moment writing is troublesome, the plotting is labyrinthine but not especially interesting... the combat's kinda shonky but... gosh, it has a lot of heart. It's a good time.
Yeah, I liked the puzzles as well. I think pretty much all of them made sense and therefor were relatively easy. But I mean it in a good way. You don't spend hours trying to figure out why you need to combine a bottle of milk with a hairdryer to create a key to open the door (I'm exaggerating, but you know, some similar games are guilty of this).
 
Roberts Roberts - Ehh, my friend and I got stuck a few times. =D We're not so smart! I did find myself swearing vociferously at the screen regards the disc puzzle. Thought that was pretty neat. I get there's no 'cat moustache' in the game, but it definitely hits 'survival horror dumb puzzle' levels once you reach the series of chambers with riddles towards the end.
 

nkarafo

Member
PS. Xbox / PS5 owners, if you have the means, definitely play this game with VRR on. It massively improves/eliminates any judder.

VRR Off:




VRR On:



VRR fixing developer incompetence once again. Does the PC version also need VRR? I usually skip games that have such horrible frame pacing issues.
 
I had a fairly consistent 60fps with a desktop that's nearly ten years old. I was able to stream it to a friend with a locked 30fps.
 
H hangdang69 - I dunno, I thought the combat was serviceable. It's certainly not a selling point and at no point does it 'feel' notably good (even like the satisfying combat in, say, Silent Hill 2... or the gratifying gore and dodging of Resident Evil), but it definitely does the job. Given how small the team was and how much entertainment I got out of it, I'm definitely willing to forgive some of the flaws.

Deerock71 Deerock71 - Yeah. Like, I appreciate that the intention might have been to sell a sense of vulnerability at the beginning, but it seemed somewhat odd. The scene is presented in a male gaze-y fashion that detracts from the vulnerability - and if they were going for exploitation / schlock (which I'd have no problem with if that was the intention), then why not repeat the nudity etc anywhere else? Weird.

peronmls peronmls - Pff, I dunno, 'anime'? My impression was that it seemed much more like a mid-European adventure game - certainly the acting and characterisation was at that level. I thought the thing with the injury the main character gets early on was fairly effective as a shock, though.

Honestly... I'm not too concerned with the lack of originality in Tormented Souls. Achieving that level of visual quality and polish and even *approximating* the Resident Evil / Silent Hill aesthetic is a significant achievement, especially for such a small team. I'm delighted with their current success, wish them well with more ports and look forward to their next project... hopefully another fixed camera game for the Society. =P
I agree which is why I ultimately enjoyed it but there's a lot of room for improvement
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
be sure to disable HDR in ps5 system settings.
That games does not have hdr but will not trigger off "hdr if available" on ps5 and will look too bright
 
Would you say that this is worth the 14 euros asking price ? (it's being discounted right now on the Microsoft Store.)
Also, how does it run on an Xbox Series X ?
Anyway, watched the YouTube review that the OP posted and some dumb fuck in the comments section spoiled the whole story, FML !
For 14€ it's definitely worth a look.
 
Would you say that this is worth the 14 euros asking price ? (it's being discounted right now on the Microsoft Store.)
Also, how does it run on an Xbox Series X ?
Anyway, watched the YouTube review that the OP posted and some dumb fuck in the comments section spoiled the whole story, FML !
I mean... you're not really playing it for the story, tbh. =) Play it with a friend, enjoy the atmosphere, wrestle with the puzzles! Definitely worth €14.
 
Just picked this up. It definitely emulates the original RE formula to a T. Nails the atmosphere, environments are great buy the character models suck. Like, c'mon at least do a better job with the main character. Also, the voice acting is terrible. Not terrible in an endearing way like the old RE games but just plain terrible. If those two things could somehow be fixed the game would be awesome but as it is its good but with a caveat: those flaws could take you out of the game.
 
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