I have been waiting for Tormented Souls 2 since I finished the first Tormented Souls a few years ago. I ordered my copy as soon as it released and immediately bumped it to the top of my next to play list when it arrived. The wait was worth it. We have another great survival horror game to add to a growing list of games that have revived this genre. I have really enjoyed my recent play throughs of this title but some technical issues soured things a little and Dual Effect still hasn’t quite been able to create something on par with the best games released during the glory days of the genre.

Tormented Souls 2 has exactly what you are expecting to see. There are tank controls, limited resources, puzzles, locked doors, exploration, unpleasant enemies and fixed cameras but with some tracking/zooming/tilting. The main character, Caroline, controls well. I was using the direction buttons on a PS5 controller and found the main weakness to actually be the PS5 direction buttons more than anything in the game. Steering the character worked as expected and there were no problems when the camera changed. Stopping and starting was instant, control precise and it didn’t take long before I was weaving through the environments. Run speed and walk speed felt just right and there is a quick turn. When in combat, while using both guns and melee weapons, the aim will stop you and target enemies but you can still move slowly. So you can back up while shooting as enemies approach and they have also added a back step iframe dodge. This means you can keep on creating some space and keep putting bullets in enemies as they approach and then when they launch an attack you can dodge out the way. Then reposition yourself as needed or take the risk of shooting up close or switching to melee. You can quick swap between four things at once and of course bringing up items pauses the action so you just instantly swap to what you like or heal too. You can also reload while you are moving.

This might be sounding like there aren’t enough limitations in combat and maybe dealing with enemies might be too easy in some ways. There is a small bit of truth to this but Dual Effect has well tuned things around the way this game plays to ensure tension and challenge and there is a good variety of foes to keep things interesting. The enemies can take a beating before going down for good, they hit hard and they can be quite quick. The game also likes to throw 2-3 creatures at you at once, they have a habit of trying to take you by surprise too and space can often be tight. Enemies jumping you was something I grew tired of though as it became predictable when they were coming. The real challenge comes from the fact that just about everything on tormented difficulty kills you in two hits and the additional and optional challenges like beat the game in under five hours or with no saves or only using one health item. Combat was satisfying and tense once I started to get the hang of it. I found myself getting into the habit of blasting and dodging enemies until they dropped and then running up to smack them while they were down or stunned. You can group enemies together to blast 2-3 at once with the shotgun or to make more than one enemy take a melee swing. Everything is consistent too. You will learn exactly how many shots or swings each enemy needs to be stunned, dropped and killed with the only change being due to how close you are with the shotgun (and the difficulty you are playing on). You’ll also pick up on which weapons are suited to which enemies fairly quickly as well. Sometimes I took a hit when it looked like I was just out of range and maybe the tracking on enemy attacks/lunges needs some fine tuning but they were probably trying to push you into using the dodge. I’m not sure about this back step iframe dodge. The game almost doesn’t need it. With some minor tweaks it could just be about space, movement, repositioning and stunning enemies. I did also experience a weird issue. There were times when I went to start running and the character just jammed up half repeating an animation and not moving. This was fixed by not pressing anything and then trying again but it was frustrating and cost me some damage multiple times.

My main issue with combat is what’s around it and how there isn’t a strong enough incentive to avoid it. Tormented Souls 2 actually encourages you to engage everything. There are moments when you are forced to fight to progress, the resources are not that limited and there are trophies for reaching certain kill counts. I went into the game with a survival horror mindset so I was avoiding some enemies to save health and ammo but half way through I realised it wasn’t necessary at all on the standard difficulty and found out later it isn’t needed for tormented difficulty either. I found there to be a good selection of guns and melee weapons combined with ample ammo resulting in very little concerns about ammo (except for ammo being a bit scarcer in the second half on tormented difficulty but I killed every single enemy on this play through). This could have been solved by having stricter resource amounts and/or inventory limits and then some kind of item box. This game is already taking heavy inspiration from Resident Evil anyway, there are even a bunch of references, so why not. That way I would be forced to consider what to have on me, what to pick up, what enemies to engage and when to run instead of walking around at all times with a full arsenal dropping everything.

So what about health then, maybe you need be really careful about taking hits so you don’t run out? No, not on any difficulties really, there are plenty of healing items available and you carry as much as you want. Only those making pretty constant mistakes, particularly on tormented, will be worried about this. But on tormented difficulty you will probably just end up dead and trying again rather than burning through health supplies. Tormented Souls 2 limits saves in a cool way with an item too but the save items are not limited enough for it to matter at all, unless you plan on beating the game in a lot of very, very short bursts and/or want to keep running back to a save room constantly. Backtracking is not much of concern when you are just going to clear enemies the first time through (although the game does like surprises and repopulating areas), you have a good amount of resources and there are no limits on inventory. There are a lot of considerations and tension that could have been present but are not. Overall I don’t think Tormented Souls 2 has quite enough limits and that it doesn’t do the survival part of survival horror that strongly. I think the way difficultly is handled is part of the problem I have with this game being just a little too easy in those particular aspects as well. There is assisted difficulty with changes to the game for those that don’t like survival horror but still want to play this. Standard isn’t challenging enough and tormented difficultly is locked behind one play through. So I can’t pick it from the start and by the time I get to it I already have hours of experience with the game under my belt.

Is this complaining that fair though when it isn’t what Tormented Souls 2 was aiming for. Maybe it is not really. Just because I want something crueler with the resources that results in something with more considerations doesn’t mean what’s here isn’t great and Tormented Souls 2 seems to be going for something somewhere in the middle between classic Resident Evil and classic Silent Hill. You still need to consider what you are doing and using. There are some boss fights and tougher enemies you might want to keep your best ammo handy for. Reloading your weapon takes a moment and the dodge has a bit of recovery time. The darkness makes a return from the first game. Darkness kills you after too much time in it and you can’t take actions in it. So you need a light source but carrying this means no weapon. So there are times when you may be running defenceless in a fight until you get some light or light something up. But there is an item later in the game that removes this issue and disappointingly this stress inducing idea was pulled back on a little in comparison to the first game. You can still die very quickly because of the hard hitting enemies and because of your own mistakes or by being complacent and cruising around at mid health or not healing in the middle of the action when you need to. When you die you are going back to your last save in the last save room too. There is definitely the right type of challenge here and you feel vulnerable. The game requires learning and sloppiness will get you punished. It is still a tense and engaging experience that I enjoyed all the way through and I wasted no time jumping into a replay. I haven’t even got to the puzzles, exploration, visuals or story yet too.

While combat is a key part of Tormented Souls 2 puzzles and exploration are just as much if not more. They have done a great job putting together some satisfying puzzles here. I remember the first Tormented Souls having one or two puzzles that were a little too obtuse but this time around they nailed it. I went in with survival horror brain turned on and was looking suspiciously at every line of text, clock or painting I came across and trying to bank the information for later in case it was connected to a puzzle. I was examining items picked up too and it was rewarding to have this approach pay off. Not everything was observation based though. Some things needed to be put together, others were riddles, some involved moving things the right way or using the right item and in the correct way. So there was some good variety in there and they didn’t go too hard on puzzles. You are not stopping every ten seconds to figure things out or overwhelmed with things to be doing which helped the pacing. Not all the puzzles were equal though and some were on the more simple side. There will be some puzzles that require knowledge not learned in game but it is things that most will be well aware of. Interacting with puzzles and items can be fiddly at times as well. One of the great things about the puzzles is how they tie in with what is going on and the location, its history, culture and the characters from there too.

The setting and locations of Tormented Souls 2 are perfect or maybe a little cliché depending on how you feel about it, maybe both. It is set in a remote Chilean town that you get to by rail and their main business is fishing. It is a religious place too and things kick off in a convent before you get out onto the streets. I don’t want to spoil things too much but you’ll come across other locations that are well designed for a survival horror game, with interiors full of locked doors, puzzles and multiple levels, and are suitably creepy and/or a bit disgusting, before going deeper at the end. The locations look exceptional; just some of the most sumptuous backgrounds ever in a survival horror. The camera is used so damn well too. The way so much of the game is framed is aesthetic but also in service of gameplay and it is used to create discomfort and suspense as well. Often you will hear enemies before you see them, important things will naturally draw your eye and the lighting also needs praise. This is such a key part of the game that shapes the mood, enhances unease, and heightens the atmosphere and impacts how you play. It works with the controls well, you can see where to position yourself during combat, your eye is naturally drawn to clues or important things and you organically know which way to go next and where to explore. It has strong design and direction that weave together how it plays, how it feels to be in and environmental story telling while looking gorgeous and not relying on overt guidance or hand holding. That’s beautiful, not clunky, outdated or in need of modernisation and this recent release is not in need of a remake just like all those older survival horror games don’t need remakes.

Exploration is satisfying in that typical survival horror way. You find an item, key or puzzle clue and remember where you need to revisit. You develop an intimate knowledge of locations to the point where you no longer need to be checking that map all the time. The map is also a great improvement over the first game as well. You’ll often open locked doors or short cuts that bring you back around to where you were before and I found areas often worked in a loop that brought you back near save rooms. At times you might even need to swing back to earlier sections of the game and it works nicely, never making you feel like there is too much of a jog ahead. Although even once everything is opened up there aren’t ever a whole lot of route options. While getting about the place you’ll also notice the sounds. It has some good, fitting music that isn’t heavy handed and there are some environmental noises, and obviously the sounds of enemies too, bringing this location to life. Tormented Souls 2 does a great job of being a methodical, satisfying experience where you are considering your play and being careful, while it also keeps you on your toes, gives you bursts of gory action and builds dread until you step into the soothing sounds and welcome respite of the next save room, before heading back out and building up that tension again.

The story is an improvement over the first Tormented Souls and I found myself more interested this time around. I liked Caroline more than in the first game and the other characters more than the first game’s cast too. She is a likeable character and a good fit for a survival horror. She is a bit of a badass that handles the enemies and bosses thrown at her but she is still vulnerable, with grounded abilities. Voice acting and dialogue was a big step forward from the first title and the environments are great at helping to tell this story. I was soaking in the details of every room, stopping to read every document found and I really liked getting know this place, its inhabitants and what has been going on. I won’t go into much here but Caroline and her sister, Anna, head to this town in search of treatment for Anna’s mental health and that she is drawing some wild things that may be connected to reality. They are separated quickly and then it is up to Caroline to get her sister back and get to the bottom of the dark shit going on. It isn’t mind blowing and it is inspired a lot by previous works but I enjoyed it and most fans of horror and sci-fi will likely find things to enjoy here. I liked that it had a bit of cheese and humour without indulging in that too much. There are two endings, both worth seeing, and I would recommend playing the first game before this. Knowing what the characters have already been through will add weight and explain some things. The first game is also just a pretty good survival horror game too, so why not.

Before I wrap things up I have some faults to complain about. There are some character interactions that are not done in cut scenes and also not even voice acted which felt a little out of place. The enemies and character models are a good improvement over the first game but they don’t match the quality of the environments and they still need to be better. It is really clear during cut scenes when characters are talking and emoting. During gameplay you will notice Caroline’s hair and clothing occasionally doing something weird or looking off. I have already mentioned some issues along the way but there are a few more technical problems. There are a couple of times when transitioning camera angles or from one room to another caused a very brief flick of light. Occasionally a shadow might flicker and there was one time when steam made things look strange in the wrong way. The game got completely stuck for me a couple of times. Caroline would try to walk or run but couldn’t move. I couldn’t pause, look at the map or bring up items so there was no choice but to restart and lose about 15 minutes of progress. I missed one document on my first play through and I think it was due to it not appearing where it was meant to. The trophies are not working for me properly. Some of them do work, some of them popped after two or three times doing the requirement and some just don’t want to pop at all. The whole game really needed a little more time, testing and polish and it is still in need of more updating now. I actually want to do some more runs through this game but I am going to put it on hold for now to see if things are further improved. Maybe the game is a little bit too long as well with thorough first play throughs most likely hitting 12 hours or more but then there isn’t really anything I would like to see cut or streamlined.

I really enjoyed Tormented Souls 2, even if I am looking for a little more resource and item consideration and management, and in many ways it is the best survival horror game of the current revival of the genre. The controls, camera angles, gameplay, visuals and sound really come together well to create a great experience for fans of this type of game. There is room for improvement and some fine-tuning. It is in need of more polish and updating and this is currently dragging the game down. But if you enjoy survival horror then you should already own this, an easy one to strongly recommend.