Tormented Souls 2 Review

A ’90s survival horror experience that rewards observation, memory, and patience.

Tormented Souls 2 is a very deliberate kind of sequel. Instead of trying to modernize its identity or expand outward into a more action-heavy experience, it returns to the foundations that made the first game stand out: fixed camera angles, scarce resources, and puzzle-driven progression.

The story picks up again with Caroline Walker, once more drawn into a nightmare she cannot turn away from, this time inside the decaying remains of Villa Hess. Spread out across 7 different unique zones, each area is a labyrinth of symbols, ritual, and decay.

Welcome to Into Indie Games’ review of Tormented Souls 2, where we break down everything we loved about the game and the things that didn’t sit well with us.

For more information about the game, check out its Steam page here.

Puzzles Take the Spotlight

Most survival horror titles treat puzzles as obstacles. Tormented Souls 2 treats them as the spine of its design. Nearly every major area is built around exploration first and connection second. The solutions often require multiple items spread out around the environment. Careful observation is more important here than brute forcing through trial and error, making the progression feel earned, not stumbled into.

The game is full of moments where a clue you walked past an hour earlier suddenly becomes relevant because your understanding caught up with what the game was foreshadowing. Small objects matter. Architecture matters. Even religious iconography is used as a puzzle language.

One of the strongest aspects of the design is that puzzles rarely exist in isolation. Tools, even weapons, are frequently multi-stage. A crank, a dial, an object, or even a weapon often returns later in a second context. The Pliars you pick up early on are a perfect example. It is not a simple fetch-use-forget item. But rather, it stays with you pretty much the entire course of your journey, helping you solve late-game puzzles because of its multi-layered functionality.

It never feels like a checklist. If you enjoy thinking your way through games rather than brute-forcing them, this is exactly the kind of puzzle design that leaves a lasting impression.

Survival Horror – Minus The Jumpscares

While puzzles lead the experience, horror lives under the surface. Tormented Souls 2 does not rely on jump scares to unsettle you. Instead, it creates a dread that comes from the places you are forced to enter and the silence that follows you as you do. The world is deliberately dark. Corridors feel too narrow, rooms feel too still, and the camera often locks you into an angle that forces you to consider what might be behind you instead of only what is in front of you.

The darkness mechanic amplifies this. Light is not just guidance. It is survival. Walk too long in the blackness, and death claims you. It is a simple rule, but it creates a persistent unease. You are not merely exploring an environment. You are trespassing on it.

Some areas make this especially effective. The Other Side, a dark reflection of the real world,  mirrors the same layouts but twists them into something deeply wrong. These zones often hold tougher creatures that rush to punish you for even crossing over, reminding you that curiosity always comes with a cost.

Combat Not Without Its Cost

Combat exists here, but it is never the priority. The Hammer and the Nailer feel more like means of survival than empowerment. The Shotgun is satisfying to use, but it also reinforces the scarcity that defines the rest of the game. Every shell counts. Every swing costs positioning.

Even the boss fights aren’t just about riddling the big monster with bullets. You can keep firing at them forever, and they’ll keep getting back up. Each boss fight has a specific logical puzzle that you need to solve to take it down. You do not fight for dominance. You fight for the right to move forward.

The Lighter quickly becomes the most important object you carry, and perhaps the most interesting design choice in the game is that your reliance on it never fully disappears. Even when your weapons become stronger, the light reminds you that power is conditional. You are always one mistake away from losing control of your surroundings.

Backtracking is not used for padding here. It serves a much deeper purpose. Spaces evolve as you revisit them. Meaning accumulates. A corridor that felt like a dead end the first time becomes a revelation the second time. The world does not reward speed. It rewards intention.

Stories in the Silence

Tormented Souls 2 tells its story indirectly, and that choice suits it well. Instead of exposition dumping, the game trusts you to connect fragments of lore, broken symbols, and quiet implications through its architecture. As you progress, you begin to realize that Villa Hess was not corrupted overnight; it was shaped over time by twisted devotion, ritual, and occult experiments.

The religious undertones are not mere decoration. They run through every interaction. Penance, sacrifice, ritual, inheritance, and burden echo in the puzzles just as much as in the cut-scenes. The facility feels both sacred and violated, and the tone walks that line convincingly.

As a player, I found myself reading the world as much as I was traversing it. The design encourages you to treat scenery not as background art but as context and warning. When a puzzle is resolved, it feels less like unlocking a door and more like peeling away another layer of the place’s history.

Minor Cracks in the Mirror

There are a few pacing dips where the game leans a little too long on traversal before giving you the next logical leap to work with. Some encounters can also feel cramped because of camera placement, especially when enemies corner you in angles where visibility becomes part of the threat.

Players unfamiliar with old-school survival horror might also find the inventory rhythm a little slow at first. Tormented Souls 2 wants you to think before you act, and modern players used to immediate results may need time to adjust.

But for anyone who appreciates intention over convenience, these issues are part of the tradeoff. The game wants you to feel the structure press back against you, and for fans of the genre, this is a welcome sensation.

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Final Verdict – Worth Playing for Horror Purists

Tormented Souls 2 is not trying to reinvent survival horror. It is trying to preserve the parts that were worth keeping and strengthen them with modern clarity. What results is a game that feels both traditional and surprisingly confident: a horror experience that expects you to think, observe, and respect the weight of your own decisions.

This is a puzzle-first survival horror game built by people who understand why the genre mattered before jump scares and loudness became substitutes for growing chills and dread. It rewards patience, memory, and curiosity. And it never forgets that puzzle-solving and atmosphere are at their strongest when they serve each other.

If you come for combat, you will miss the point. If you come to unravel a mystery through design as much as through story, Tormented Souls 2 delivers exactly what you are looking for.

​Developer: Dual Effect
Country of Origin: Chile
Publisher: PQube
Release Date: 23 Oct, 2025  (Steam, Xbox X|S, PS5, Epic Games Store)

This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the developer. The PC version of the game was played for this review of Tormented Souls 2.

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Thank you for reading our review of Tormented Souls 2.

Already playing the game? Check out our complete walkthrough for the game here.

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