- Game purchased on Steam and finished in about 8 hours (I left it on pause for a long time an afternoon from where the screenshot that says 10h40)
- Now I want to do it again Parasite Eve 2 and Silent Hill 2 This fall...
- ...to be followed in future articles!
The 1990s are a horror video game what the 1970s are in genre cinema is a deluge of creativity. On the artistic side that interests us here, we think above all of the Alone in the Dark of 1992, forerunner of the survival horror in 3D. The creation of Frédérick Raynal already invited the player to explore a house haunted by dangerous creatures, while managing his inventory and solving puzzles to advance. A gestation of lezard shark later, in 1996 therefore, came out the cultissim Resident Evil PlayStation. More action oriented but reproducing Overall the structure of his predecessor, Mikami's masterpiece was crowned with a critical and commercial success. It's finally the master. Silent Hill and its unforgettable psychological intrigue in the fright of madness that will complete this prolific decade in beauty. In 2021, Tormented Souls the fire and claim from this school of gameplay the end of the last century... for our greatest pleasure?
In memory of old times
The developers of Dual Effect and Abstract Digital don't hide them: their game is a tribute to the survival horror In the past, more precisely this tender era of the late 1990s. The author of these lines once went to the video club every Friday and proudly wore a certified crown Live DOP, sort of a ridge of seduction with questionable efficiency that even Tintin would probably have floundered. I was then wandering through the alleys, surrounded by hundreds of VHS jackets and unscrewed by a life-size Tommy Lee Jones card that kept the entry of the horror ray. The vast local smelled like a mixture of wet carpet and cold cigarette. Only the confectionery ray generated its own atmosphere and irradiated a sweet fragrance. My mother bought us some candy and then we went home to watch one or two scary movies at home. He arrives at the occasion to re-think feverishly the video club, this magical place both out of time in my inner fore but yet moored in the past. This melancholic wave has a name: nostalgia. And it's on this feeling of sweet languor that Tormented Souls is built.
Thus the main menu has not even been displayed yet that creators already titillate our sensitive rope by presenting a warning screen about the explicit violence of the content. A fun reference to the titles mentioned in the introduction, for which this message was more a preliminary to raise apprehension than a real warning. The familial choice of options also allows us to choose between modern or old controls. Understand that the first ones will direct you to the camera angle and that the second ones, also called controls «tank», you will move according to the direction in which your heroine looks. It's up to you to see what suits you best. Personally, I consider that the old school moves are more accurate and adapted to this class of horror games to the third person, characterized among others by successions of fixed screens with changing shots.
The house of the thousand dead
Caroline Walker's nightmare begins like that of James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2, at the reception of a mysterious mail. A photograph of binocular girls is shown in the envelope, with a threatening sentence: «Do you really think you can leave us here?». He followed long sleepless nights before the young woman decided to go to the anonymous sender's address at Wildberger Hospital, lost on the fictitious island of Blackwood in Canada. But now she has barely arrived that she gets knocked down to regain consciousness only a few hours later naked in a bathtub, connected to a medical system and especially with a less eyeball. This starting point Saw has the merit of immerse us directly in a macabre atmosphere.
What strikes immediately, however, is terrible. character design Caroline. A proper description would be a kind of hybrid between the gravely fantasies of a single 50-year-old subscriber to a Youtube channel of tutos makeup for high school girls and an inflatable doll in reduction on Leboncoin. His total absence of charisma does not help. Character models – apart from enemies – usually do cheap and the staging suffers regularly on this side broke. Same for dubbings that will make you reconsider performance Tommy Wiseau in The Room. One could argue that this is a wink at the pronounced B-series side of the Resident Evil original... wet. The interface also gives the impression of having been entrusted to a student redoubling his L1 in plastic arts and his ugliness will make everyone agree. This paragraph a tantinet assassin is coming to an end and so much the better because here is the time to explain why Tormented Souls It's worth it.
When nostalgia goes, everything goes!
As your best friend told you in college as you were looking for the Great Bear on his face constellated by the acne: there is not only the outer beauty that counts. And while the grievances mentioned above are real, the horrific climate remains effective. First of all, thanks to music, an atmospheric success composed by Begoña A. Carrasco and NyxTheShield. The soundtrack alternates brilliantly between melancholic pieces with an emphasis on the piano and more aggressive tracks with metallic percussions, depending on the reality in which your character evolves (we think of the city of Silent Hill and its mazes of rusty corridors). We also find the relief of entering a backup room sheltered from danger and immediately recognizable by its duvetous melody. Too bad that the proposed challenge is so reasonable and that we almost never feel in danger of death past the surprise of the encounter with the first monsters.
The exploration dimension is not left behind and one takes an unmasked pleasure to survey the floors of the immense hospital home. The map, classic in its form, forces us to experience our sense of orientation so much that the progression turns out to be grey and this despite the back and forth inherent in this type of claustrophobic experiences. The doors of the house are unlocked according to our findings and often at the cost of a welcome reflection effort, in spite of perhaps a few riddles a little fuzzy. However, pride is felt as soon as the puzzle is defeated and one realizes that the meninges have unfortunately become quite optional in the survival horror current. The solution is often logical but with an extra common sense layer at the end of the race that makes the difference in its resolution.
In addition, the care given to the decorations pushes us to go ever further and explore the slightest corners in search of ammunition for our nail gun or a reel to record our part, an echo to the ribbons in the flagship zombie series of Capcom. Indeed, the backups are limited and you will have to manage your inventory – instead of unlimited – and your resources to hope to get out of it. Don't worry it says so much the game shows kindness in this regard. You'll never really find yourself in need of anything, unless you neglect your environmental searches or want to exterminate all the abominations of Blackwood at all costs. We will note to finish documents to be collected rather well written and some entrances will make you cold in the back, if you play at nightfall in the darkness of your living room.
Verdict
Tormented Souls takes us through a nightmare full of nostalgia that takes back to the letter the codes of the survival horror 3D of the 1990s. The Dual Effect and Abstract Digital project offers a strong tribute to the cadors of the genre, the Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. It is a pity, however, that the mischievous appearance partially spoils the staging. A defect that will not overshadow an effective application of the above-mentioned progression scheme. This means a taunted exploration of a hostile environment, punctuated with puzzles that give meaning to return trips. Music is also one of the strong points and gives thickness to the melancholic and heavy atmosphere at Wildberger Hospital. Should you crack? Two cases here. If you're shivering at the theme of Resident Evil 2's precinct or you're talking about Dino Crisis with tremolos in your voice, then head for Tormented Souls and take it for what it is, namely an anachronistic clone of the horrific masterpieces of the last century, a part of talent and originality less. He thus joined the category of sympathetic first cousins such as Obscure or Cold Fear in their time. You'll definitely have a good time, and that's what it takes. On the other hand, if you've never looked at a timeless pearl like Silent Hill 2 to name but him, then the choice is pretty simple: ignore the tormented student and sell without moreFor
- A love letter to a past form of survival horror
- The music, perfectly in the tone
- Winterlake Building: An Exploration treat
- The map, useful and functional without chewing the orientation
- Some brilliant puzzles...
- The rocking scenario
- Well-written documents
- Old-fashioned inventory management without space constraints
- Backup: a limited resource like others
Against
- Performing often suffers from lack of resources
- The character design of heroin: frankly missed
- The hideous interface
- We would have liked more descriptions of scenery
- ... but sometimes a little too twisted
What does it make you want? Nostalgia does its work, it seems!
I'm still looking forward to re-doing Parasite Eve 2 and Silent Hill 2 now:-p J
Beautiful critique, very complete and which makes you want to dive into this macabre universe ;-)))