This Might Hurt a Bit
Say what you will about old-school survival horror, nut there’s something inherently terrifying about the fixed camera perspectives. Recent horror games have given you more freedom (unless you’re playing in first person) and as a result, some of the horror is lost. You don’t need to worry that a zombie is hidden just out of sight when you can turn the camera and see around corners.
Tormented Souls is taking things back to its roots. Taking inspiration from Silent Hill and Resident Evil, two of the pioneers of the genre, the game gives you a modernized control scheme and fixed camera perspective, although with a certain level of dynamism. The game’s description is as follows:
“While investigating the disappearance of twin girls at Winterlake—something terrible happens to Caroline Walker. Waking in the dead of night, naked in a bathtub – and hooked up to some decrepit medical equipment, Caroline must fight for her life as she explores the halls of an abandoned Mansion turned hospital.”
Straight away there are hints at the game’s influences- the mansion harken back to Resident Evil’s Arklay Mansion, and medical equipment is a recurring motif in both Silent Hill and Resident Evil- in fact, Silent Hill has featured a hospital of some kind in almost every one of its games. According to NME Caroline can travel through mirrors as she investigates the mansion, a talent shared by Silent Hill Origins protagonist Travis Grady.
Based on the trailer we’re getting a slick, stylish throwback to horror roots that takes advantage of the next generation’s gaming power while still staying true to the classics. It’s still too early to tell whether the game will win a place among the genre’s juggernauts like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or Fatal Frame, but here’s hoping that we have another horror great in the making.