DaRmaZat Caroline Walker is back — battered, haunted, and once again drawn into the abyss. Tormented Souls 2 picks up soon after the events at Wildberger Hospital, sending her deep into the Chilean mountains in search of her sister Anna, who has fallen under the sway of a mysterious order promising salvation through pain. Of course, it’s a classic horror setup — a journey meant for healing that quickly spirals into damnation. But after the cult success of the original Tormented Souls, my biggest question was whether Dual Effect could actually evolve this formula.
Old-School Fear, Familiar Frustrations
Right off the bat, Tormented Souls 2 reaffirms itself as a true die-hard survival horror experience, blood and vomit included. The game offers three difficulty modes, including an Assisted option, yet even the “Standard” setting punishes the slightest lapse in caution. Early on, the atmosphere hits hard, but despite its strong sense of dread, the narrative soon tangles itself in religious symbolism and overwrought melodrama. There’s genuine intrigue in the mystery, but the storytelling often mistakes confusion for complexity. The writing never quite lands, leaving moments that should feel tragic or terrifying oddly hollow.
Once again, Tormented Souls 2 tries to resurrect the spirit of PS2-era survival horror with fixed camera angles, methodical pacing, and deliberate combat — and at times, it succeeds. More often, though, it just feels clumsy. Moving between rooms can be disorienting, with sudden camera cuts throwing off your sense of direction and making even basic navigation feel awkward. Still, the puzzles are easily the highlight, blending mechanical tinkering, cryptic logic, and classic item-based problem-solving. Inspecting and combining objects, rotating mechanisms, and poring over obscure notes deliver that old-school satisfaction — even if a few solutions border on unfair.
When it’s time to fight, Tormented Souls 2 loses much of its composure. Movement is stiff, and the shifting camera angles disorient more than they frighten, often leaving enemies half off-screen. Your weapons — from the nailgun to blunt tools like the hammer and crowbar — sound vicious in concept but feel oddly weightless in practice. Hits lack impact, and enemy AI swings between erratic and passive, turning what should be tense survival encounters into slow, messy brawls. With no dodge mechanic to rely on, getting cornered usually means panic rather than strategy. The darkness mechanic — step too far from the light and die instantly — also tends to frustrate more than it terrifies. Too often, I found myself lost in pitch-black corridors, dying simply because I couldn’t tell where the hell I was supposed to go.
Haunting Looks, Haunting Score
On a purely visual level, the shift to Unreal Engine 5 gives Tormented Souls 2 a solid first impression, with several moments of striking visual fidelity. The lighting is also more realistic than in the prequel, and environments are packed with grisly detail, making the world feel genuinely oppressive. However, even in this sequel, facial animations remain rough and texture quality varies wildly.
On the positive side, the environments are far more diverse this time, featuring a decaying mountain town littered with relics of faith and failure. One moment you’re creeping through chapel ruins, the next you’re navigating a derelict shopping mall or solving morbid riddles in a graveyard. The shift in scenery helps break the monotony and gives Tormented Souls 2 a broader, more cinematic scope than its predecessor.
The game also boasts a great score, with somber tunes that perfectly capture the tone. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the voice acting, which ranges from serviceable to overacted. As mentioned before, paired with the uneven writing, it’s not always easy to stay fully invested in the drama.
Final Thoughts
There’s no denying Tormented Souls 2’s ambition — though at times it may reach a little too far. For every well-designed puzzle or beautifully lit corridor, there’s a janky fight, a frustrating death, or a narrative thread that unravels before it lands. It’s certainly more polished than the first game, but not significantly deeper. Its atmosphere lingers, yet its clunky or unfair mechanics too often pull you out of the experience.
Tormented Souls 2 understands what made old-school horror special — it just struggles to recapture why it worked. There’s tension, yes, and style in spades, but also repetition, rough edges, and moments that feel trapped in the past. It’s a haunting sequel with flashes of brilliance, but one too often smothered by its own shadows.
Additional Information
Release Date: Oct 23, 2025
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Dual Effect
Publisher: PQube
Relevant links: Tormented Souls 2 on Steam
