In Croxel Studios’ retro-style puzzle horror game, Tormenture, we play as a child in the 1980s who is sat down in their dark bedroom, ready to play the titular Tormenture, a supposedly cursed 8-bit horror game that we’ve decided to try out and see if the rumors are true. I’m around half way through this unique horror game and here are my thoughts so far.
Tormentue has a really fascinating concept. We mostly play the 8-bit game Tormenture, heavily inspired by Atari 1980s classics such as Adventure, while the majority of the game’s horror aspects take place in our bedroom as we play the game. We will often switch between playing the 8-bit game to our bedroom where we have our instruction manual, a hand drawn game map, and various other items and collectibles to unlock.
While the scariest parts of Tormenture take place in the “real world” the 8-bit game is also well designed to give off a creepy vibe. Croxel Studios has done a fantastic job at modernizing the 1980s Atari style of video games while also keeping it recognisable to those looking for a nostalgia hit. I didn’t think I would enjoy the 8-bit game as much as I am, but it’s actually turned out to be my favorite part of Tormenture.
The 8-bit game starts out exactly like Adventure. We play as a square and we’re able to pick up special objects and keys to unlock rooms and defeat enemies. Once we’re through the tutorial section, rather than repeating the same castle with varying enemies like in Adventure, the game opens up into a semi-open world with NPCs and side quests. Each area follows a certain theme and some require a specific object to get through most of the rooms. We’ll have to complete NPC quests and gather key objects to get through the map and find the four relics to complete the game. On top of fun Easter Eggs to unlock, there are also multiple endings, so I’m looking forward to see how these unfold. In terms of the puzzles, so far Tormenture has been really challenging and I’ve found myself having to take a lot of notes to stay on top of which objects each NPCs is requiring, or potentially requiring based on their limited dialogue.
As mentioned earlier, just because the 8-bit game mostly consists of blocky graphics doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly creepy to play. The NPCs speak to you in a broken robotic mumbling and the retro-style music also hits that right tone to come off as really unnerving. Pair this up with the constant noises of objects and furniture moving around in our bedroom outside the game and things appearing in the reflection of the TV, Tormenture is a lot scarier than I thought it would be and I’m also very interested to delve further into how this video game is haunted and how that will end for our character.
Jess is playing Tormenture on PC with a review code.
