Tormented Souls 2: A Buggy Mess
It Doesn’t Work
INTRODUCTION:
Imagine this: you’re a quarter of the way into a game, and an elevator doesn’t work. Or you’re in a boss fight and you can’t switch weapons or access your inventory. Or you’re an achievement hunter and there are trophies that are bugged.
In Tormented Souls 2, I experienced all those issues and more. The response was a patch that moved players’ saves into another folder, causing panic because it looked like the saves were deleted. This was rolled back, and thankfully, a beta patch was released that gave some temporary relief. The next patch promises to fix around 60 problems. 60! Unacceptable. Someone greenlit shipping in this condition, and that’s not okay. It’s insulting.
Why do we accept buggy games at launch as a way of life? We spend our hard-earned money on games we’re excited about at premium prices, only to discover they need another month of testing. Even the good ones ship with surface-level QA. It doesn’t have to be that way.
I’ve beaten Tormented Souls 2 multiple times, and I’ve earned every achievement. My Steam profile is public if you want to see that for yourself. It’s a great game, one of the best survival horror experiences I’ve had in awhile.
But the technical problems are impossible to ignore.
Despite all that, I’m still going to recommend this game. I’m going to tell you which chainsaw in my rating system that it earns and where it fits in my tier list. Why put in so much effort? The answer isn’t just one thing, it’s everything working together, and it begins the moment you see Caroline and Anna aboard a train.
SETTING & ATMOSPHERE:
The game opens with a cozy train ride to Villa Hess, a remote Chilean town. Two sisters are traveling together. The older-appearing one, Caroline, has told her younger-appearing sister, Anna, that they’re going to a spa retreat, but the truth is they’re heading to a convent where Anna is to get specialized mental healthcare. She needs treatment for the trauma she suffered in the first game, which will be discussed later. While Caroline sleeps, her sister draws. Well, I wouldn’t call it drawing, really. It’s more like violent scribbling while her eyes are rolled in the back of her head. Anna draws truly horrifying images, and the bad part is that whatever she draws comes true.
When you arrive, the Chilean setting creates an immediate unfamiliarity. I like it when horror games are set in unfamiliar locations, because otherwise, some of the fear can get diluted by recognition. Villa Hess, though, feels a bit alien, and that feeds a low hum of anxiety. The convent is massive, with multiple levels, outdoor areas, a dilapidated prison, a torture museum, and a bunch of other unsettling locales, interconnected in ways you discover through exploration. The Christian iconography is horror fuel. Crucifixes, religious art, and the architecture are inherently grim when filtered through the right lens.
The darkness becomes an enemy, itself. Tormented Souls 2 is literally dark, making it hard to see in certain areas even after adjusting the brightness. That’s intentional, because the dark will kill you. At first, you can hold a lighter to illuminate your surroundings and stay alive, or you can use your weapon in a lit area. If enemies mob you in the dark, you have to run toward the light before you can fight back. Suddenly you’re strategizing in ways most horror games don’t demand. Not only are you managing health and ammo, you’re also managing positioning and light sources.
The village is small, but the verticality makes it feel much larger. Everything interconnects masterfully. You’ll unlock shortcuts to new paths that connect in unexpected ways. There’s a lot of backtracking, but once you learn the optimal routes, it doesn’t feel like a slog. The exploration rewards you constantly with weapons, upgrades, healing items, ammunition, and lore. The game wants you to poke into every corner, so make sure you do that, even if it’s scary and you just want to run to safety.
The game doesn’t rely on jump scares, but the few it has work. I almost had to change my underwear in an area where corpses were hung and one of them made this guttural noise. Looking back, it was obvious, but in the moment, it was effective. The real scares come from the environments themselves. The convent’s imagery feels oppressive. The school section introduces cooing baby dolls that suddenly come to life and attack viciously. There are distant sounds of people screaming, and sometimes someone or something will bang on the door of the room you’re in. I think that’s more genuinely unsettling than placing a ton of jump scares for no reason.
This isn’t a game that makes you scream. It’s a game that makes you tense, cautious, and always aware that something could go wrong. That’s harder to pull off than cheap jump scares, and this game nails it.
But Villa Hess isn’t a random location. There’s a reason Caroline brought her impossibly younger twin sister to this nightmare, and understanding that requires going back to where this all started: Winterlake Hospital.
STORY AND THEMES:
Tormented Souls 2 is a direct sequel to the 2021 original. In that game, Caroline explored an abandoned hospital and discovered VHS tapes that let her travel through time. To save her long-lost sister, she manipulated the timeline, which is why Anna is 14 years younger than her, even though they’re twins. That time manipulation had consequences, and Anna’s been struggling with severe trauma ever since. That’s why they’re in Villa Hess.
When they arrive, things quickly go wrong. Caroline wakes up from a nap alone, only to realize that Anna’s missing. After a frantic search, she finds her in a chapel being manhandled by nuns. That’s when we meet Mother Lucia, who confronts Caroline directly before a particularly large nun restrains her and puts her in a sleeper hold. Nite nite, Caroline.
Caroline wakes up with huge needles driven through her body. After pulling them out and a moment of wooziness, she gets dressed and embarks on the wildest walk of shame in gaming history. Her goals are to find Anna and get out of Villa Hess alive.
The story doesn’t try to be philosophically complex, but it doesn’t need to be. The themes are clear-cut: sisterhood, sacrifice, and doing the right thing. Caroline manipulated time to save Anna in the first game, and now she’s willing to face whatever darkness lurks in Villa Hess to protect her. It’s not Silent Hill 2 with layers of psychological symbolism, and that’s fine. Sometimes a straightforward survival horror story told well is exactly what you need.
Villa Hess is populated by NPCs who have their own reasons for being there. One that stands out is Miguel. Like Caroline, he’s driven by a personal mission to save someone. His story arc is compelling, and he plays a significant role in how things unfold. Around the midpoint, Caroline describes the events of the first game during a cutscene with him, which helps orient players who skipped the original.
Lore items scattered throughout fill in the narrative’s gaps. The convent’s dark history, Mother Lucia’s motivations, and the gradual corruption of Villa Hess come together in a story more cohesive than a lot of games in the genre. Players are rewarded through exploration via documents, journals, and environmental storytelling. The more you learn, the more Mother Lucia makes sense as the game’s antagonist.
And speaking of, Mother Lucia steals every scene she’s in. The voice actress is exceptional, with this strained quality that makes her menacing. She’s not evil for the sake of being evil. Her conviction is absolute, and that unwavering belief makes her terrifying.
A compelling story gets you invested, but solid gameplay keeps you there. Fortunately, Tormented Souls 2 delivers on the mechanics front.
COMBAT AND MECHANICS:
The fixed camera angles and tank controls immediately evoke classic Resident Evil. If you’re worried about tank controls, there’s only one puzzle that requires them, and it’s brief and doesn’t require much skill.
Combat offers solid weapon variety with both ranged and melee options. You’re constantly making decisions about whether to fight through groups and burn resources or run and risk missing something important. Boss fights have gimmicks, but they’re the fun kind that feel like puzzles to figure out rather than cheap tricks.
Enemy variety keeps things interesting. Standard undead shamble around, but then you encounter spider-human hybrids that are terrifying and tough to take down, especially in groups or when you’re low on ammo for your stronger weapons. The cemetery has ghosts that grab you and literally suck the life out of you. Each enemy type demands different tactics.
Enemy placement keeps you on edge, because it’s unpredictable. Enemies sometimes track together, and uncertainty creates constant dread. You’re also forced to decide whether you fight through and risk wasting resources, or run and potentially miss something important hidden in that room. As horror game fans, such is our calling.
Combat is nuanced. You can’t just blast away. For example, when an enemy drops from the ceiling, there’s a brief moment where it’s invulnerable, so you have to wait before attacking. Downed enemies might be stunned rather than dead, and the music clues you in on which is which. Also, if your weapon still auto-aims at a supposedly dead enemy, that means it’s stunned. Let it recover, then finish it off. Different enemy types have different behaviors, and learning those patterns makes a difference.
Resource scarcity is brutal, especially on the highest difficulty. It’s worse than most survival horror games I’ve played. Even using a guide to collect every piece of ammo and every healing item in the game, I still found myself resorting to melee weapons during the final boss fight. The devs could have been more generous, maybe by offering a little more ammo and healing items at the final checkpoint than what is currently available.
This game is puzzle-heavy. You’ll need either a great memory or a phone full of screenshots. If you see a picture or diagram, you should take a pic. You might need that information several puzzles later. There were a couple of really clever ones that made you feel kinda smart. One of the numerous candle puzzles you need to solve to make it to the other side, a kind of otherworld, requires a bit of math, for example.
Difficulty settings matter. Assisted mode gives you the most resources, auto-saves at checkpoints, and regenerates your health from danger to caution automatically. Standard reduces resources and switches to manual saves with a limited number available. Enemies also need more damage to bring down. Tormented cranks everything up even further with fewer resources, including healing items that become rare and restore less health. There are fewer manual saves, and enemies are significantly tougher and deal more damage. Choose wisely based on how much punishment you want to endure.
All those difficulty tweaks and resource decisions play out across some genuinely impressive environments. The game doesn’t only play well; it looks and sounds stunning, too..
VISUALS AND AUDIO:
The graphics in Tormented Souls 2 are incredible, a massive upgrade from the first game. The developers clearly put love into this. The art direction works perfectly with the visuals to create something special. Even your own shadow can fool you and make you think something’s following you.
I can’t think of another modern horror game doing what Tormented Souls 2 does. Games like Crow Country went for that deliberate PS2 aesthetic, and plenty of others use fixed cameras, but nothing else combines this level of graphical polish with genuine fixed camera perspectives and old-school survival horror design. The visuals here rival big studio games, and that’s not an exaggeration.
Every major area is visually impressive. The convent’s scope is surprising. The school looks grand and imposing, the kind of place that was clearly a source of pride before everything went to hell. The environmental storytelling works through the visuals too, like occult symbols drawn in what looks like blood on the walls and floor, the kind of imagery you’d expect from evil rituals or satanic worship.
The enemy designs are solid with good variety for a game this size, and they’re genuinely scary. The zombies that suddenly reveal chainsaw blade hands are nightmare fuel. The ghosts draining your life force create a horrifying visual, and the sound of babies cooing as they toddle on their way to kill you is deeply unsettling.
A cool detail about the graphics is what the shinies look like. They’re not just glowing orbs. You can actually tell which item you’re picking up. I want this to become a trend in all video game genres.
The audio design is just as strong. The music fits perfectly, creating atmosphere throughout. When an enemy spots you, the music shifts to unmistakable terror, the kind that makes your throat close, and suddenly you realize you’ve forgotten to breathe. Save rooms have melancholic yet comforting music that you soon associate with safety, with the absence of danger. It’s pure relief.
Every movement creates sound. Walking, switching weapons, firing ammo all register as unique. The puzzle sound design deserves mention, too. When you’re examining items and rotating dials, each interaction has its own weighty sound that makes everything feel tactile and deliberate.
Speaking of tactile, the haptic feedback is comprehensive and well-executed. Everything from firing weapons to clicking through puzzle dials gives you proper controller response. It’s one of those details that shows the developers cared about the complete experience, not just what is seen and heard.
When a game is this spot-on with the fundamentals, it makes you want to see everything it has to offer. You want to push through to 100% completion because the experience deserves it. This makes it all the more frustrating when technical problems get in the way of finishing what they built.
JOURNEY TO 100%:
The platinum for Tormented Souls 2 is difficult. I put in four playthroughs total: one blind run to experience the game on my own terms, then three more following Optinooby’s guides. His channel has been invaluable for getting these trophies, and I don’t think I could have pulled this off without his help.
The trophy list is standard, but the requirements are challenging. You’ll need to complete the game on all three difficulty levels. You’ll need to play without opening the map. And there’s the trophy that made me question my life choices: completing the game without saving. That was the hardest one by far, and I have no desire to do that again anytime soon. Some of you trophy hunters out there will enjoy that challenge. You and I are not the same.
The technical problems spill into achievement completion. When I started the game, two trophies were completely broken. A beta patch eventually fixed them, but if you’re thinking about going for 100% completion, consider this your warning. This game had issues at launch, and while they’ve been addressed, trophy hunters should know what they’re getting into.
And that brings me to the part of this review I wish I didn’t have to write.
CRITICISMS:
Tormented Souls 2 released in an unacceptable state. I don’t care how good a game is underneath its problems. Releasing a product that doesn’t work properly is not okay, and I’m not going to soften that stance regardless of the circumstances.
I got soft-locked multiple times. The game crashed on me. Weapon switching broke. My inventory locked up and I couldn’t access it. Elevators stopped working. This is unacceptable quality control, period.
The frustrating part is that these technical issues overshadow what is otherwise a fantastic game. When Tormented Souls 2 works, it’s incredible. But the fact that I have to qualify that with “when it works” is a problem.
There’s one design choice that might bother some players, though it didn’t bother me. The boss fights are gimmicky. They’re as much puzzles as they are traditional combat encounters. I enjoyed figuring them out. Each boss felt like solving a unique challenge rather than just dodging and shooting. But if you’re expecting straightforward boss battles where you learn attack patterns and fight, you might find this approach frustrating or unsatisfying.
That’s it for actual design criticisms. Everything else about this game ranges from good to excellent, which makes the technical problems all the more infuriating. Where does that leave us?
FINAL JUDGMENT:
In a properly functioning state, Tormented Souls 2 would be a Platinum Chainsaw game. The atmosphere, puzzles, combat, visuals, audio design. Everything comes together to create one of my favorite recently released horror games. This is the kind of game that reminds you why you fell in love with survival horror.
But I can’t ignore what happened at launch. I can’t pretend the problems didn’t exist because a patch eventually fixed them. That’s not how this works.
Tormented Souls 2 earns a GOLD CHAINSAW.
That it’s still earning gold despite everything I’ve complained about should tell you how exceptional this game is. Most games with this many technical problems would be looking at a Used Chainsaw or worse. But the core experience here is too strong to dismiss.
If you’re a die-hard fan of fixed camera Resident Evil games, you need to play this. But wait until it’s fully patched. Don’t jump in until you’re confident the technical issues are resolved. This game deserves to be experienced properly, not through a haze of crashes.
I did try playing on Steam Deck, and it was a letdown. I had to downgrade settings just to make it playable, which made everything look unrefined. I didn’t enjoy it.
The Gold Chainsaw accounts for everything: the highs, the lows, and the unacceptable technical state at launch. But my chainsaw ratings and my horror tier rankings measure different things entirely.
TIER PLACEMENT:
When this game is firing on all cylinders, it delivers exactly what classic survival horror fans have been craving. The atmosphere is oppressive. The tension is thick. The darkness creates dread. The puzzles are cerebral. Combat is dangerous. Every element works together to create a game that belongs in the upper echelon of the genre.
The technical issues keep it from being a perfect game, but they don’t diminish what it accomplishes as a horror experience. This is one of the best examples of fixed camera survival horror in years, and it deserves recognition for that achievement.
Tormented Souls 2 earns its place in the S tier.
OUTRO:
I’m James with Horror 100. I review horror games after getting all achievements. We will never accept a review copy or a sponsorship within the industry. Let’s bring integrity back to game reviews. We deserve it.