Tormented Souls Nintendo Switch review

In 1996, Capcom caught lightning in a bottle and rode that lightning into a successful franchise about zombies, BOW, and a not-so-secret evil corporation pulling strings from behind the curtain. Since that time, other game developers have dipped their toes into the genre but they haven’t quite captured the same atmosphere of late ’90s survival horror. Maybe it’s the pre-rendered backgrounds, the static camera angles, the tank controls, the monsters themselves or any combination of those, few games have that feel. With Tormented Souls coming out in the Summer of 2021, fans of the genre thought the wait might be over, and it turns out, they were right. Tormented Souls is developed by Dual Effect and Abstract Digital and published by PQube Limited and has been included in many lists of the “best horror games” of 2021. It invites the player to act as Caroline Walker but they give no insight into who he or she motivations. Immediately, the player will receive a mysterious letter containing a picture of two twin girls in a place called Winterlake. The twins disappear without a trace, which must really gnaw at Caroline as she travels to Winterlake to solve the mystery of their disappearance. Caroline’s motivations for wanting to find the twins are unclear but, nevertheless, she heads to the luxurious mansion/hospital. Upon arrival, Caroline passes out and later wakes up naked and in the bathtub. After removing the breathing apparatus and searching his clothes, he was shocked to find that one of his eyes was missing. Not remembering what happened and why he was missing one eye, he left the bathroom to explore the mansion. both. Armed with a pressurized nail gun and a lighter to corner shadows, Caroline must make her way through the halls of Winterlake to unravel the twins’ story and find her way out, avoiding terrifying creatures along the way. In sum, the story does not offer much to the player, but it adds to the bare-bones retro feeling. Throughout the second half of 2021, Tormented Souls will only be available to play on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Now, new and returning players can experience the game on Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, Tormented Souls don’t benefit from that flexibility; seems like there are more cons to playing a game on Switch than pros. Tormented Souls is an incredible game, but playing it on the wrong console can ruin that experience. Tormented Souls has a visual quality about its graphics that makes it look like an old horror VHS without the grainy filter that many indie horror games use these days. The graphic quality seems to improve even more on the Switch’s smaller screen but the inconsistent frame rate will knock players out of immersion. The game offers options in favor of the visual or frame rate but the standard console and PC wins over the Switch version. The controls on the Switch version also leave something to be desired. While Caroline’s movements are not considered traditional tank controls, they are similar to tank controls. That means, for the most part, movement is easy. When there’s tension and panic, Caroline can run into a wall or worse, a monster. Tormented Souls’ camera angle options make the controls even more of a struggle. When the character is being chased by a monster in a wheelchair with knives for hands, players have to make a clean getaway. But that’s a bit difficult when the camera angle changes and now means down and down means up. Even worse is the cursor control for item inspection. Regardless of sensitivity, players will struggle to get their cursor where they want it. The result was disappointing to say the least. Aside from changes in feel and efficiency with the cursor controls and some stuttering cutscenes, Tormented Souls remains one of the few successful attempts at recreating the late 90s survival horror vibe. Cinematic camera movements and a beautiful but creepy atmosphere (not to mention the nightmarish monsters) give the game a bit of scares, while terrible voice acting and a strangely bare plot leave the players with more questions than answers by the time the game is over. It seems the best and most authentic way to play Tormented Souls is on Playstation 4, Xbox One, or PC. Very small graphical improvements on a smaller mobile screen do not take away the benefits of gaming on other consoles. Tormented Souls is now available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Today Technology was provided with a Switch code for this review.