m.sniffles.esq wrote: ↑Wed Oct 18, 2023 10:24 am
If you have Game Pass, the RE/Dino Crisis/Silent Hill tribute
Signalis is on the death watch for Oct 31st
Ta, looks interesting from the trailer; I'll proabably bag it for later.
Meanwhile,
Tormented Souls...
Highly recommended RE1 rip/homage. Been a while since I played the latter, but I'd say the puzzles here are a fair bit harder and require more lateral thinking. Proud that I didn't have to endure the frustration of consulting an FAQ only to find the answer had been staring me in the face all along (which in some cases it
had, but at least I got there eventually under my own cognitive steam). I have to confess though that I totally brute forced the...
..."You should not have entered here" puzzle room by trial and error, based on which candles lit up when I followed certain paths. The clues on the plaque only mystified me further, so I ended up ignoring them, heh!
And (full disclosure), I definitely overthought the puzzle where you...
...have to set the clock to match the day of salvation, and obsessed about it being connected to the day Caroline arrived at the Hospital to rescue the daughter(s), or the day the girls escaped to the bridge back in the 80s. This one really was staring me in the face! :flyingfacepalm:
The hazmat suited dude ceremonially marching around the observation room corpse was a good visual prompt for how to progress beyond the Operation Room puzzle, but I was tired that evening and -- as is the way with these things -- once enough self doubt had crept in, I convinced myself I'd missed something and ended up backtracking through every facking room up to that point. This was also the first puzzle that didn't entail using a specific item, so I'll sling that in for my defence too.
Minor gripes: Shouldn't really complain about the combat, since this isn't supposed to be Souls or Ninja Gaiden. Mechanics-wise, you have a simple back-dash that can only be relied on if the space behind you is completely clear of scenery obstacles; it takes a moment to execute, and mashing is not advised. It works well enough, but once you have a proper weapon there's little need to use it. A "no projectiles" run would be an interesting challenge. On that point, on standard difficulty the game could be a bit less generous with ammo so as to build some tension from running low, or they could have made enemies a bit tougher to kill. I never felt like I was in danger of having to go it alone, just me and my trusty crowbar, even though I wasn't especially conservative with nails etc. It's quite trivial to give some of the more powerful beasties the runaround, or shoot them a bit, then close in for some thunky crowbar downswings while they're stunned. There isn't much mob variety either, but that's forgivable and somewhat restricted by the story anyway. The only other obvious weakness concerns the...
...floaty ghoul (the sister?), whose nearby presence is overtly signalled by discordant music. And to make things worse, you can circumvent any encounters by just exiting and re-entering the room or corridor when you hear said music. All too tempting if you can't be arsed to timing-dodge those grasping arms, not that she's difficult to evade. Weird design choice though; think I would have preferred to be scared shitless at the possibility of her suddenly drifting toward me from nowhere. Once you get used to hearing the audio cue, it does diminish the tension.
The voice acting for the protagonist is suitably crummy, and West Coast voice actress dudette's accent has her pronouncing the names Anna and Emma almost indistinguishably ("Amma"?). Add to this that one of the other characters actually says Anna when he means Emma (the subs also have it wrong), and this certainly helped disorientate me as I tried to figure out wtf was going on.
Praises: The music is extremely atmospheric and sets the mood perfectly. Standout tracks are
Father, for that moment of respite when you encounter a save room, the main title track,
Main Hall, plus some of the more Trent Reznor-y doom-laden noise tracks (e.g.
Entrance).
At first (like RE1), the static switching camera angles can be a touch annoying as you move through rooms, until you get a good feel for the layout and can traverse the complex without having to keep thumbing the map button. This doesn't detract from the overall experience though, since initial disorientation with slowly emerging clarity matches how the (fucked up) story's events are drip-fed via disordered diary pages.
The puzzles are good 'n' tough. Some of them are unique enough that the solutions will definitely stick in memory for future revisits.
Gorgeous visuals, with great use of shadows to raise the heart rate and trigger a few double takes! There was one static wooden bannister that caught me off-guard more than once when it suddenly loomed large as Caroline moved toward the camera.
Poor Miss Walker does move like she's shat herself when injured, adding to the realism given her situation. A quick shot of discarded morphine and her undie linen is fresh as a daisy. Again, just like in real life.
Well executed was the inevitable Lovecraftian descent (because this trope shows no sign of fading)...
...into the mausoleum below the hospital, then the sewer below that. Not deep enough? How about five levels of disused bunker remains, followed by an elevator down to an underground graveyard, then below that a slaughter room, then...oh my! It gets pretty oppressive down there!
Plot mysteries: Some details didn't quite add up in my feeble mind, though I've yet to consult a lore wiki to clarify things. Like:
Was the unkillable floaty ghoul thing Anna all along? If so, why was she free roaming throughout the story but at the end suddenly bound to a cross?
Why did Grandpa Noah say he must have the blood of two twins in order to raise the Pollux sect deity, but when the plan goes tits up was able to use his own blood instead? Was it some kind of half-arsed partial revival or something?
Why did Grandpa Bertram seal himself in the bunker with the rest of the dying cult members; did he discover a conscience? Did he want to give his grandkids a fighting chance of survival, and protect humankind from the rest of the cult followers, etc?
That both grandfathers turned out to be sadistic fucks was a pretty major coincidence, even if their motivations were (initially) somewhat different. Becoming the High Priest of a cult that performs ritual sacrifices and experiments on sick people is not something you just fall into in life.
Anyway, the story needn't hang together perfectly. It was a fun, atmospheric ride. Will definitely play the sequel on PS5, whenever the slim launches in UK.
even mean, though?!
), but not enough to resist good old-fashioned buckshot. Coupled with everyman's everyman Harry, makes for a classic horror movie setup of regular joe overcoming the beast by way of lower-brain fear and a shotgun.
) instead of setting expectations for what the game actually was.
