I love when developers don't just chase the mainstream and try making a what's-currently-popular type of game, but rather make a type of game they themselves love and enjoy. You can genuinely tell this is the case here. As the title says, this game is heavily inspired by the original Resident Evil games, as well as some others such as Silent Hill and Alone in the Dark. I've played the modern free camera 3rd person shooter Resident Evil games so much and gotten used to that format to the point that I completely forgot how good the OG style of fixed camera view is as well. I’m going to compare this game a lot to OG Resident Evil games during this review for convenience.
So, yeah, if you want the short version of the review - this is basically identical to the old school Resident Evil games and plays just like some remakes of the old ones (Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 0, and all the old non-remake ones).

Now, if you want a more detailed version, these are the main points I’d like to bring up in regards to this game:

Controls

A lot of people suggest and prefer playing this with a controller, but I played the game with mouse & keyboard, and it was completely fine. The controls can’t be changed though, which annoys me in any game I play, but in this one, it’s ok once you get used to them (though opening the map with “F” on the keyboard will never stop being weird to me, no matter how much I play it). The movement itself is kind of funny to me, because there are the classic tank controls, but there’s also a modernised version you can use - directional controls. I found the directional controls super weird at first (you have to rotate your character basically before moving), but then I remembered how much it annoyed me when you’d run in the OG Resident Evil games from one camera angle to another and instead of continuing in the direction you’re going, you’d end up going back once the camera turns by holding the same movement key. These modernised directional controls take a bit of getting used to, sure, but I honestly think they’re way better for this type of game than tank controls are.

Saving and inventory management

Just like in RE, you need an item each time if you want to save your game. If you have no item, you can’t save the game, which can be a bit inconvenient. In Resident Evil that is usually reserved for the higher difficulties, but here there is no such thing. You need a tape each time to save your game (I’m saying tape because it’s not a Typewriter like in RE, it’s a voice recording thingie). There’s also inventory management as well, but it’s way more generous than any of the older RE games. In RE you’d have a hard time fitting stuff into your inventory and had to manage well, because sometimes even key items would start pilling up. This game here is not like that, it’s very generous when it comes to inventory slots, and the key items are completely separate from the weapon/ammo/heal and other items.

Ambience and general feel

The ambience and general feeling in this game is great, though I didn’t find it all too scary honestly. Maybe I’m too used to the horror genre so it’s just me, but even with some jump scares and stuff it’s not all too scary. The voice acting is also quite funny which makes it even less scary at times, but there’s not too much dialogue so it’s fine. I mean, the voice acting is not completely horrible, but it’s definitely not the best and has some very weird moments. But the game looks nice, and the creepy feel in general is certainly there:

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3553057387

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3553070327

Weapons and combat

The weapons in this game are rather funny, not gonna lie. In RE you usually get real and actual weapons such as pistols, shotguns and all that, but here, you’re basically a stranded civilian so you didn’t bring an armory with you. Your toolkit to survive is legitimately just makeshift weapons and whatever you find lying around. Your main ranged weapon is a pneumatic nail gun which shoots, you guessed it, nails!, and your main melee weapon isa good old crowbar. Later you can find parts that help you make a makeshift shotgun, which is basically a bunch of pipes combined into a shotgun looking thing which lets you shoot. The combat itself is rather easy, I find, there genuinely are only a few challenging encounters and situations throughout the game, though I've seen some people complaining that it's hard. I guess it takes getting used to fighting with a fixed camera, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes very easy. The aim auto-locks onto enemies, and the only real problem you might encounter when it comes to combat is low or no ammo.

Puzzles (some minor spoilers ahead!)

I think this is where the game shines the most honestly. The puzzles are very well designed and there’s a nice variety of them. For example, at one point you have to listen to a heartbeat and replicate the sound and rhythm on a door knock to open a door. At another point you can see a random big shaman dude dancing around a corpse in circles with a light, and to progress the game doesn’t tell you what to do, you need to observe and imitate and do the same thing that’s hinted at. Many people claim that the puzzles are too hard, and while some are definitely harder than others, I don’t think they’re too hard to figure out on your own. Sure, you need to think a bit about some, but all of them, except maybe two, are pretty logical and the game does guide you in the right direction to solve them. A great example of that - at the start of the game you’re tasked with getting a back-up generator operational to be able to power the building and turn on the electricity. It’s located in the basement level of the building, western side. You do that, the lights finally come on, and you walk away to chase your next goal. Later at one point you can’t pass beyond some water in a flooded corridor, because it’s electrocuted due to malfunctioning wires in the walls. The corridor is also located in the basement level, but eastern side. The game doesn’t tell you anything directly or hint at stuff here, but it expects you to instead remember and walk back to the generator to turn it off. No electricity = no electrocuted water. Easy. So, yeah, some of the puzzles are not really hard per se, it literally boils down to them just requiring you to have some common sense honestly, then thinking a bit and remembering what you did previously.

Verdict

All in all, I absolutely recommend this game, though I will say that you should probably watch a video or two of how it looks and plays before you get it, because this type of game definitely isn’t for everyone (especially the fixed camera). I mean, right now at the time of writing this review, the game is on a huge 90% sale, which means you can basically get it nearly for free (it shows a 1.99€ price-tag for me, literally pocket change). If you also end up liking this game, I have good news for you – a sequel is coming. Tormented Souls 2 has been announced and is coming later this year, and a demo is already available, so definitely good things ahead!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2464280/Tormented_Souls_2/

Tormented Souls is a game that mixes the puzzles and story style of Silent Hill with the gameplay and atmosphere of Resident Evil

As for the gameplay and puzzles, the melee combat is complete garbage. Fighting in close is basically forbidden here and luckily the developers know that because honestly I have no idea how to explain that before every encounter, you’re given exactly as many bullets as you need to kill all the enemies

The puzzles fall into two categories: normal and Harvard-level. The first are standard puzzles you run around, think a bit and solve them but starting from the second half of the game, the puzzles reach Harvard admissions level and I can’t imagine how I would’ve solved some of them without walkthroughs or hints

What really pissed me off were the quality of life choices. For example some items on the map are marked and some aren’t or how saving requires finding tape recordings. ♥♥♥♥ this homage to PS1 games. Back then consoles had limited memory that forced developers to prevent constant saving but why the hell do that now ? I might understand if this was a hardcore mode thing but the game has no difficulty settings at all

There was a moment when I wanted to just quit the game but I couldn’t because there are no checkpoints and I had no tapes for saving, so I ended up sitting there for another hour

A person in a wheelchair was chasing me! 10/10