Recent reviews by Fauzen

I am absolutely stoked for the success of this game. Please, give us a Trilogy.

Tormented Souls 2 expanded greatly on what the first game had to offer. If the standard difficulty is “the intended experience”, they nailed it. Compared to the first game TS2 is more difficult in a way I could relate to the jump in action classic survival horror fans saw going from Resident Evil 2 to 3.

And the puzzles? Not all of them are winners, but who cares!? There's plenty to enjoy.

If I had to complain? Earlier on I had some trouble with enemy I-frames, environmental hit-boxes, and how it had me wasting a few shots prior to getting a firmer grasp on the joy that is this flavor of survival horror combat.

Straightforward game-play, fantastic audio/video presentation, and a good story to boot.

If you're thinking about playing FAITH then why aren't you already?

Saw another review say "I wish steam had a neutral vote for games", and I have never felt that as much as I have with this game. A classic? Yeah, clearly. This game fits in well with other Meta-Horror Point & Click games, it's pretty timeless in that regard.. But the game-play pales in comparison to other Point & Click Adventures of old. The first half of this game is fine, but the 2nd half relies a bit on a shockingly clunky combat system that has aged less like wine and more like milk. It was jarring. It spoiled the experience for me enough to where I just pulled up a guide to grind through the rest of the game.

Worth the experience? Sure. But I highly recommend in the latter half of Harvester you punch in BRUCE to enable Invincibility Mode when you just can't progress anymore. Or just go watch a vid to finish it out.

Absolutely as advertised; a love letter to Survival Horror classics like Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill, and Resident evil. Plenty of fun puzzles, some trying to be fresh and interesting, some falling flat in that regard. The environments and music in this game are absolutely fantastic. However I thought some of the music choices had more room to be original instead of so blatantly adjacent to say... Resident Evil save room music?

The cheezy plot devices and character dialogue are absolutely at home here. Brought a smile to my face to be brought back into a world where the contextual story through memos was far more engaging that the somewhat predictable progression.

A nice classic survival horror experience! Maybe buy it on sale though? 3 out of 4 from me.

I'll keep this short and sweet for those who have visited the previous installments of The Dark Pictures Anthology~
-Man of Medan was awesome.
-Little Hope was good, though not perfect.
-HOUSE OF ASHES WAS FRIGGIN DOPE! MY FAVORITE SO FAR!

I enjoyed that all of the open world sections weren't too expansive; just big enough to where it'd be relatively easy to miss out on things. I definitely did as I regrettably became impatient at times. "Dungeons" as you progress in the game felt pretty good, tight just as was the charm of the first two games.

The biggest reward to the open world was discovering bits of side-story~ I wasn't too captivated by the weapon upgrades you can discover as I became pretty content with my loadout early on... Though that's not to say I didn't have fun experimenting.

The game did seem to be a little buggy throughout, mostly with vaulting and climbing ledges. Annoying at times, but not enough to ruin the experience. That being said, it didn't feel like that much of an upgrade from its predecessors..?

Sometimes the story delivery felt a little dry but I will admit I was partially impatient as this was a game that I had just been meaning to "cross off of my list". Later on the sections before embarking on to the next area really started to recapture my attention. It was nice to take a long break, set down my controller, and listen. I wont say much about the overall story other than I got what I expected out of it.

Good! But maybe catch it on Sale.

SHORT AND SWEET! I managed to run through this game twice, the second time taking maybe only an hour and a half. AN AESTHETIC LOVE SONG to artists like H.R. Giger whilst keeping from leaning too hard on the influence for all of the environments in the game. The soundtrack was also pleasing.

PLENTY OF PUZZLES, but my only gripe would be that a few of them feel too similar and that we've definitely seen them before everywhere else. Tbh it's hardly a real complaint though, I'm always hyped for the Visual/Auido/Story experience in these sorts of games.

THE STORY? Neat early on and stays somewhat consistent. The ending I found to be disappointing however. Equally disappointing is how binary the Good vs Evil decisions are. My first run I made a few of each type of decision (leaning heaviest on good) and was presented with the same ending when I sped through and did all Evil. I have yet to run through a third time to get the Good Ending (which exists according to the Achievements list).

Overall, Tormentum is worth the experience! But maybe catch it on sale.

DO, BUT ALSO MAYBE DON'T. If you're seeking a game with excellent sound/visuals and a decent thriller then this game is for you. However I had enough issues with it that led me to voice an "Eh, maybe don't?" opinion.

-The constant character commentary on almost every item interaction. It became frustrating pretty quickly, frequently breaking the immersion of the environments and fantastic soundscapes. Not that character commentary is inherently unwelcome in this sort of game, but please, dial it back to about 33%.
-The run and hide gameplay was clunky. I had moments where the pursuing monster would suddenly teleport across from me, then run up and grab me. Character movement most of the time felt muddy and environmental interactions were frustratingly slow.
-I don't think balancing mechanics in a game are ever a fantastic choice, but I'll take it over a QTE.

I'd consider playing a sequel if one comes out because I think the ideas this game has are neat and I'd be interested to see where it goes. But I'd likely just wait for it to go on sale.

Right away after finishing the game I wanna say I'm looking forward to another playthrough to check out the different interactions. Seems there's plenty more to check out with me sitting at 12/26 achievements at time of completion.

This game did feel a bit short, like I wanted it to keep going just a bit more. Couple more puzzles sprinkled in would have been cool. Maybe another stealth section or two? But even with any minor complaints I have, Backbone was an EXCELLENT experience.

Visual/Sound direction of this game was also excellent. Narrative was pretty easy to connect to and how the story progressed was... Interesting to say the least. If I had one complaint about the overall narrative it would be that once or twice I found myself thinking "OKAY, I GET IT ALREADY" like it was pushing a little too hard. But Backbone is a narrative-heavy game so... Mission Accomplished! Worth it.

I dunno, Anime Souls-Like? As advertised? "Decent" would be my word for it.

CONS:
-I didn't find the overall story all that compelling.
-The ending that I got felt very Makoto Yuki in "The Answer", if you know what I'm talking about. I know there are other endings but I wouldn't consider that a reason for me to revisit this game.
-HURRHURR BIG BOOBIE LADIES. Or a Pro if you're into that.

PROS:
-Decent playtime.
-PLENTY of side-story to experience.
-Coming up with your build was neat pretty open ended, it would likely be one reason I'd consider revisiting the game in the future.