Tormented Souls 2

I had so much hype for this sequel since absolutely loving the first game and I have to say this one hits the mark, mostly.

Just like the first game, the music is so sublime with perfecting that vibe of classic Resident Evil. These games do such a good job at feeling like playing a classic survival horror game from when I was a kid. This one continues with its perfect RE like save room theme again to the somber ambient and dark ambient moments similar to that of Silent Hill. Also the sound design with the monsters and traps is next level with how visceral it feels especially when playing with headphones on. Only exception is some of the audio mixing in the boss fights and glitches and bugs I’ll talk more about later.

Another thing I’ve enjoyed a lot in this one has been the puzzles. None too difficult nor too easy. But some of them I just really enjoyed the theming with them with my favorite being how in the church there’s a puzzle that specifically tests your faith and I think that was so unique and interesting. I can definitely tell the devs definitely put a lot of effort into perfecting the experience with the puzzles in this game. More so than the first in my opinion.

I also like how when getting the hammer and using it to break jars to open new pathways it gives almost like a metroidvania feel since I didn’t think of it like that kind of item since it was in the weapons part of the inventory. And this continues with more items that allow you to access different areas you couldn’t reach before.

A thing I noticed more with this entry was the enemy variety and how each area has enemies that make sense with the location. Might sound like a low bar but honestly in comparison to the games that influenced this most don’t have as much of an enemy variety. And I really like how it made each section feel fresh when progressing.

There were some points of the game that I enjoyed how the world and vibe were crafted. The cemetery has such an interesting experience for me in that I enjoyed the vibe with its music and puzzles but it kind of took me out of that with the ghost enemies. At first I thought the ghost was a good scare that was an interesting one time effect but as they happened more and I realized they were enemies to fight it killed the vibe I was enjoying. And then a game breaking bug completely broke immersion and didn’t help how big the cemetery was so having to start over made me have to put down the game. But once I picked it up again and heard the music. It did have me eager to try it again.

Now unfortunately the bugs don’t stop there. Some shadows have a glitchy effect that does break immersion a little. But after playing more there are some serious bugs that need to be addressed. I’ve ended multiple play sessions due to game breaking bugs such as an enemy attacks and then I’m stuck in the floor and have to load up the last save again or in the cemetery where the camera stopped following me in a side hallway where the ghost appeared and I couldn’t find my way back because Caroline was off screen and eventually I stopped hearing footsteps but was still moving so I’m guessing the bug just took her off the ground and unable to move.

Another random bug was when I got the gold trophy for killing all the enemies in the game, but didn’t even have all the enemies killed for the room I was in.

Of course I’m not complaining about getting an easy trophy but the game breaks are just really annoying and immersion breaking.  I hope the developers patch this because this game is a great game and a great experience and especially for people not playing on assisted mode so they don’t get auto saves, this stuff would be extra annoying. So hopefully they patch this soon.

This game’s story seems way more off the rails than the first game. There’s more logic loopholes like Caroline finally opening up to a seemingly random guy she runs into mid game and so she tells his life story to just be met with him saying well I got stuff to do too. It feels like Tommy Wiseau wrote the dialogue sometimes. I understand these games are meant to have that B movie kind of vibe like the early survival horror games but I’d say this takes it a step further into pure stupidity. Besides the fact that given Caroline’s personality I feel she wouldn’t just tell all and then just let the guy walk away with his cop out of a response. I feel like she would push for him to open up too. Just another thing that too me out of the experience.

In spite of all the bugs the game is really fun and enjoyable and it lived up to my expectations. The bugs are a fix that can come with time so hopefully more people with play it and enjoy this great modernization of classic survival horror.