When Tormented Souls first launched, it felt like a love letter to the classic survival horror era-fixed camera angles, punishing combat, and that lovely sense of vulnerability we used to get from early Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The announcement of Tormented Souls 2, complete with a new gameplay trailer at Gamescom 2025, instantly grabbed my attention for one reason: not many studios are brave (or maybe foolish?) enough to double down on vintage horror design in our current wave of AAA hand-holding.
Let’s be real: Most games that try to “bring back” classic horror end up recycling tired tropes with shinier graphics. What stands out in Tormented Souls 2 is how unashamedly old-school it goes. Fixed camera angles make a brutal comeback, and there’s a specific note about reintroducing tank controls (with a more casual option, if you’re not feeling masochistic). Dual Effect knows who its audience is—and it defines itself in opposition to the overproduced mediocrity clogging up the genre lately.
The supernatural puzzle mechanics aren’t just window dressing, either. Using mirrors and VHS tapes to leap between timelines isn’t a new gimmick for the series, but this time, what you do in the past or the “Other side” creates butterfly effects in the present. It instantly reminded me of the underappreciated TimeShift or even some of the best bits of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, but with more gameplay impact. If the puzzles actually force me to use my brain (and not just pixel-hunt for a crowbar key), I’m all in.
Then there are the boss monsters. The press release spends extra time describing behemoths like the Iron Maiden and the Harvester—a “terrifying fusion of twisted metal and scorched flesh.” This is the clever part: Bosses in these games used to be more about tense resource management and creative solutions, not bullet sponges. If Dual Effect keeps to that tradition, we might actually get some memorable encounters instead of another round of “shoot the weak spot until it falls over.”
Do I believe the hype? Honestly, half and half. The first Tormented Souls was rough around the edges, with clunky writing and combat that sometimes traded old-school difficulty for outright frustration. The “supernatural powers” risk drifting into pointlessly convoluted territory if the pacing isn’t tight. The new quick-select weapon mechanic sounds nice for modern convenience, but if it makes the game too easy, purists are going to whine (and I’d be right there with them).
But PQube and Dual Effect seem to at least understand what made classic survival horror tick. Limited saves are back—there’s no “gee I hope you remembered to cloud sync”—and the physical PlayStation 5 version feels like a deliberate throwback for collectors who still prize actual boxes. Plus, setting the story in southern Chile (instead of the usual US or Japanese towns) could give the world a fresh flavor, if they lean into the folklore and not just generic horror imagery.
It’s easy to get cynical about “retro” horror—there are so many cash-ins, you’d think the term survival horror just means “dark lighting and bad combat”. But with Capcom laser-focused on remakes, and Konami still finding its feet, there’s actually real space for indies to make something that’s more than a nostalgia trip. If you’re hungry for the tension, limited resources, and grimy camera angles that made you sweat as a kid, Tormented Souls 2 might finally scratch that itch.
Of course, the whole bet rides on execution. If Dual Effect learned from the first game—sharper writing, more thoughtful puzzles, and better boss design—this could be the game that earns a spot next to the classics. If not, well, there’s still a demo right now if you want to judge for yourself.
Tormented Souls 2 is set to bring back the glory (and horror) of true survival horror this October. Will it nail the formula or fall into the same old retro traps? Try the demo now, but don’t expect nostalgia alone to do the heavy lifting—let’s see if it actually delivers something memorable for the genre veterans.
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