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AG Community Playthrough #59 - Tormentum: Dark Sorrow

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This game freaked me out pretty badly.  And really I think it’s scary.  I played it during the day, and I’m kind of apprehensive about continuing tonight.

My initial reaction was, “Am I old enough to play this game?!”  And then I remembered that I’m almost 30

Don’t feel bad, I’m older than you and still too chicken for this game !:X

     

Member of the NAALCB - (North American Anti- Lobster Cop Brigade) since 2019.

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I have also reached the stopping point, having been tempted in by that humble sale you mentioned Lady K.

Doom - 21 May 2020 05:29 PM

It’s not only about the puzzles, the whole game feels like it - autosaves like Lady Kestrel mentioned, the flashy kind of animation, the protagonist who just stands still while we click around him, the highlighted hotspots… And no depth to the characters who only need something from us.

Completely agree with the whole game having a ‘casual’ feel. It felt like a flash game to me from the beginning too (not that that means it has to be casual).

As well as all that I think the whole thing feels like it only needs a ‘casual’ level of involvement. Although the art style is very well done the game fails to be scary for me somehow, at least not in the way Dark Seed is, which is the obvious Giger influenced AG comparison I suppose. I’m slightly struggling to explain why. I think it is in part that with Dark Seed, there is a very obvious connection between a fleshed out human and the horrors of somewhere else. In Tormentum, there is just some unspecified thing with no depth or backstory and it just doesn’t pull me in to the story or make me really care about the situation well enough. Perhaps it’s the poor dialogue and lack of backstory or maybe I have just become a complete psychopath? Meh

Having said that, I am still quite enjoying the game in a casual sort of way. Puzzles are entertaining enough even if simple and it isn’t a complete ‘click through’.

 

     

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Lady Kestrel - 21 May 2020 10:18 PM

At least you and Doom won’t be tortured for too long. Wink

Can’t say I’m suffering Smile I agree with everyone that the game is enjoyable and atmospheric enough and “casual” doesn’t necessary equal “bad”. Just didn’t know what to expect, thought it would be something like Goetia for some reason.

     

PC means personal computer

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Okay I got to the stopping point then!

I tried to last night, but I had to wait for this morning because I was scared.

One thing that I think is interesting is how there are multiple choices that seem to have differing results.  And some of them, I didn’t fully understand.  I thought it was part of a puzzle, so I just trying to tease out the solution and accidentally “chose.”

But it’s not clear to me how much this will impact future puzzles or scenes.

The other thing I thought was interesting is that puzzles with coherent solutions such as giving an angry beast a bone are easy, but not outright told.  Then the puzzles with the more-loose logic, people just outright tell you what to bring them, or what to do!

I swear I played a game surprisingly like this on newgrounds back when I was in school.  It had a similar story, character, and intro level.  Granted prisoner, hooded figure, it’s not really distinct.  But I’m almost nostalgic for this game.

While the animation style reminds me of chains of satinav (with the art of giger) but I don’t mind the character standing off to the side.  He stays out of the way, and the game has a quickness to exploring and interacting with the surroundings.  Considering how slow-paced most adventure games are, I’m glad to be able to zip to the location where x key fits y lock.

I don’t know if the logic puzzles are challenging enough, but mostly they just seem out of place compared to their surroundings.  yes, one of them results in a pentagram which is spooky i guess, but most of the time, it’s just a completed circuit, or it matches or whatever.

I’m not familiar with community playthrough procedure.  can we talk about what we chose and all that? or maybe we should wait til the end of the game to compare choices?

     
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I’m glad you’ve joined us, Intense.

Since everyone seems to be awaiting patiently to step through those gates and leave the castle, let’s move on to the second section.  Play until you can take a long journey to your next destination and stop when you arrive there.  I think 4-5 days should be more than enough time to complete the section, so let’s aim for Tues., May 26 to finish it.  We can make adjustments either way. 

I have a couple of discussion points that we can consider for chapter one.  Since we don’t know the name or gender of the protagonist, I will use “he” for brevity’s sake.   

1.  We’ve known since the beginning that our character has been accused of a crime.  Do you think this is a mistake and that he has been wrongfully imprisoned or is it just that he can’t remember what happened that brought him to this place?  What could his crime be?

2.  In this first section, you were given some either/or choices to make.  What were they, and what did you decide to do?

3.  I’ve always liked puzzles in a game, and I like the way the designers made them part of the environment.  Do you have any favorites in this section?  Are there any you wish weren’t there?

Oh, and don’t forget to use spoiler tags for any specific tasks or puzzles you mention.

     

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1 The creature in the cage at the beginning, that is obviously not human, mentioned that their ancestors helped raise their castle but their plans weren’t foreseen. This seems to hint that their captors aren’t human & the purpose of the castle has been corrupted? The crime seems to be having an evil corrupt soul but the creature states that they’re not evil & don’t deserve this.
I’m not sure they’ve been imprisoned by mistake but I did get a vibe of possibly wrongful imprisonment due to persecution by the captors? The jester though does allude to you having committed a far worse crime than killing the ‘witch’ but they could be lying.

2 The only choices I recall are:
Choosing to kill the ‘witch’ or release her - I believed the jester & killed her!
Choosing to release the creature from the cage or impale them on the spikes - I chose to release them.

3 I enjoyed most of the puzzles & the way they were integrated into the gameplay. If there was a puzzle I wish wasn’t there it’s the one where you have to move the hanging cages to the positions marked on the page you find. I don’t know what this kind of puzzle is called where moving one element affects others but I’ve never enjoyed them & gladly skip them if the option exists.

     

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Lady Kestrel - 22 May 2020 01:02 PM

I have a couple of discussion points that we can consider for chapter one.  Since we don’t know the name or gender of the protagonist, I will use “he” for brevity’s sake.   

1.  We’ve known since the beginning that our character has been accused of a crime.  Do you think this is a mistake and that he has been wrongfully imprisoned or is it just that he can’t remember what happened that brought him to this place?  What could his crime be?

It’s not a mistake, but the nature of the so-called “crime” may be as ridiculous as sneezing at the wrong moment. Since the character doesn’t remember anything, it’s possible he’s in a loop, and being forced to relive imprisonment in the castle multiple times until he gets it right.

2.  In this first section, you were given some either/or choices to make.  What were they, and what did you decide to do?

Since you don’t really know what’s going on, avoid doing anything permanent.

3.  I’ve always liked puzzles in a game, and I like the way the designers made them part of the environment.  Do you have any favorites in this section?  Are there any you wish weren’t there?

I didn’t like the one with the cages.

     
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I found the puzzle with the springs the most time consuming.  The character made a comment about finding a clue in the castle, but since I didn’t remember seeing anything that could help, I just muscled through it.

There were two things that creeped me out quite a bit in this section. I really hated hearing the squishy sounds of the man being skewered again and again, and I was very apprehensive about going into the room with the spider.  The reality was such a relief.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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At the next check point.

1) He can’t remember what happened that brought him to this place. His crime I would guess murder.

2) I Choose to kill the ‘witch’. I choose to impale them on spikes.

3) the puzzles are fun so far. They work and you can figure them out without using a walkthrough.

 

 

 

Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Lady Kestrel - 22 May 2020 01:02 PM

1.  We’ve known since the beginning that our character has been accused of a crime.  Do you think this is a mistake and that he has been wrongfully imprisoned or is it just that he can’t remember what happened that brought him to this place?  What could his crime be?

2.  In this first section, you were given some either/or choices to make.  What were they, and what did you decide to do?

3.  I’ve always liked puzzles in a game, and I like the way the designers made them part of the environment.  Do you have any favorites in this section?  Are there any you wish weren’t there?

Oh, and don’t forget to use spoiler tags for any specific tasks or puzzles you mention.

1. Okay well I think it’s interesting that the torturers and inhabitants of the castle heavily refer again and again to “cleansing” of “sin” or some kind of penance inflicted upon the prisoners.  I think most of us could agree that no matter what crime was actually committed or accused that no one would be deserving of such a cruel punishments.  But the use of the word sin is interesting to me because not only does it imply some insult or wrongdoing in the face of god, but also, and innate and natural trait that all people are doomed to.  (often it is thought in christian faith for example, that all people sin, that it is inevitable)  At first this is a thought the player has, but it’s later supported by the door and wall brothers.  I forget what the notes said, but they make reference that being transformed into part of the prison was their punishment.

What do you guys think about the “imprisoned becoming the prison” in the case of the door and wall brothers? 

2. So first, I saved the woman in the cage instead of killing her.  And I instantly regretted it because she seems like a real bad lady.

Next, I lowered the cage instead of opening the bottom and letting the spikes kill the rat friend.  I would like to point out however, that it would be easy to misunderstand these symbols and kill him by accident.  The one that opens the bottom of the cage, does look like he’s being released….

I don’t know if this is a choice at all, but I think it is, and it’s the one I referred to as choosing by accident.
At the spider bas-relief with the red stones you must place into the different parts, and then rotate the discs, I think there is a choice between closing and locking the door (then the guard leaves), which I did by accident,
OR opening the door, and letting the spider eat the guard.
  I couldn’t figure out what it wanted of me, so I just accidentally got the first solution.  Did any of you solve it the other way, or was it not really another path?

3. I’ve gotten stuck a few times, and some of them even seemed unfair, but I’m pretty forgiving since I always got unstuck the next time I came back to it later.  This game would really benefit from a harder mode for logic & inventory puzzles.  Nothing to write home about.

I’m gonna keep playing tonight!

I’m kind of scared though because where we left off before reminds me of this song I once heard about a man that escapes the land of hell, only to find out that the surrounding realm is much much worse (somehow).

EDIT: PS @ Lady K, yeah I tried to just brute force the springs puzzle, and could have figured it out that way, but I stopped myself, and went and found the clue.
And also, I know what you mean about the sounds.  I would not sit on that screen to think about what to do unless the sound was muted. 

In general the sound design in this game is one of the best things about it.  Can’t believe I forgot to talk about it!

     
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Celebreon - 23 May 2020 01:07 AM

EDIT: PS @ Lady K, yeah I tried to just brute force the springs puzzle, and could have figured it out that way, but I stopped myself, and went and found the clue.

I replayed the first section again because I couldn’t remember where that clue was.  As soon as I spotted it, I did a head slap.  I must have been distracted by the mess to miss it completely the last time.  Sick

     

Carpe chocolate.

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I have played some REALLY scary horror adventure games and they are really scary. I recommend Detention for the best at this.

The animation in this game can be best described as stilted and I miss character development I have seen n other horror games like Kathy Rain. So far, a rating of 3 stars and 1 Aggie seem to be generarous for this game.

No bugs or crashes so far so away I go.


Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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I haven’t played many horror games.  Scratches was the scariest for me, and Amber: Journeys Beyond had some unforgetable chilling moments.  I find that first person games raise the suspense for me.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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I think I’m at the next stopping point to just FYI.  AT least I’m pretty sure that I did.

     
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I’ve now reached the next stopping point - again it’s not obvious until you get there but kudos to Lady Kestrel for knowing that so therefore dispensing with the need for a ‘spoilerish’ description!  Thumbs Up

I’d up until this point I’d found the environments & situation very claustrophobic/oppressive, particularly enhanced by the art-style, so it was refreshing in this next part to feel you had a little freedom to roam around outside to specific places as opposed to navigating to the various confined spaces within the ‘castle’ previously.

I very much enjoyed this part, better I think, but had some misgiving about particularly one choice made in part 1.
In this second part on having to make further choices I felt that I was more equipped due to better info to make them.

I did have to seek help right at the end - I completely missed the place near the ‘birdman’ to use the key & earlier than that I didn’t fiddle around with the telescope enough to see the password & then forgot about it. Other than that I’ve enjoyed all of the puzzling in this part.

     

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