Tormented Souls 2 Review

I missed the first Tormented Souls,though our reviewer Carlos found it to be a great homage to the classic Resident Evil’s and survival horror in general. With the release of the sequel, I felt it was time to see if the series could win me over as much as Carlos as we’re both pretty similar in our tastes. It’s not without niggles, but TS2 is a solid survival horror with some decent puzzles and exploration, only let down by some weak feeling combat design.

We play as the returning Caroline Walker as she’s escorting her younger sister Anna to a remote clinic in Chile. Anna is suffering from some bizarre illness, and this clinic has been pointed out to them as a place for a cure. Naturally, upon arriving all in not what it seems, and Anna is abducted by Mother Lucia, the head Sister at the clinic. So we must explore the clinic and its many passages and rooms to try and save her.

As with the original, TS2’s inspiration is firmly on show, from the tank controls to (semi) fixed camera angles, resource management, creepy vibes and monsters to fend off. As a big RE guy, I was immediately drawn in with the presentation, and the general feeling is one of the 2002 RE Remake on Gamecube. The story is delivered in the most b-movie way possible, and – on the default difficulty – we even get the return of ink ribbon-style limited saves.

Exploring the mansion…sorry – clinic – scratches that survival horror itch well. There are plenty of locked doors and teases of other pathways, and always that one thread to follow to progress, be it finding an item or simply exploring rooms we haven’t done previously. Locked doors are marked on the map, as are both solved and unsolved puzzle locations. This latter part is especially nice, as when we finally find an item it narrows down the search for where to head back towards to move on.

There is resource management, though it’s more in line of not wasting ammo than juggling a limited inventory. Items picked up are split into three tabs – weapons, important items, and notebooks – and there seems to be no limit on what we can carry. Ammo is pretty scarce though, and enemies take a fair pounding so it falls to the old dodge and run tactic more often than not.

Speaking of enemies, this is the weakest part of TS2 for me. They don’t feel especially fun to fight on account of taking too much punishment even early on. A low level grunt will take upwards of 6 shots from our nail gun, and with no way to target specific body parts it can lead to them feeling very bullet sponge-like. They also move far faster than the shambling zombies and so simply running past them – while key to saving ammo – is not always possible, or indeed worth the risk to our health bar.

 I will also say I’m not super keen on how interacting with items is handled though. In order to use a key for example, we must select it in the menu then drag it to a key hole to use. This is fine, if a bit laborious on a controller, but when it comes to combining items or trying to figure out other puzzles it all feels a bit awkward. It’s the same for navigating the map, and what should be a snappy thing to check where we are and where we’re going turns into a slow process that feels worse each time we have to do it. 

But when we’re not fighting and are simply exploring and finding ways forward, TS2 is quite enjoyable indeed. I love the slow unravelling of an area like this, and finding clues on how to open a door, or where a key might be is pretty satisfying. The use of the static cameras lends a good amount of tension to the game, and overall it’s a pretty good if not overly flash looking title, with plenty of dark shadows for monsters to hide in. These shadows also cause Caroline to go mad and die if spent in too long, so balancing using the lighter while avoiding danger comes into play quite often as well.

Conclusion

Some weaker combat and a few UI problems aside, Tormented Souls 2 is a good love letter to the survival horror genre, with good exploration and puzzles to keep us wanting to see more.