Through darkness and suffering … Review of the game The Suffering

Recently, I increasingly began to turn to games 8-10, or even more years ago, especially for horror. And the point is not that I am an ardent opponent of the modern games of the horror genre, just in recent years this industry has been a little wrong, which I personally would like to. Of course, there are exceptions, but their few units, and you will not be fed with these rare exceptions, and therefore sometimes I want to return to those projects that inspired primitive horror in childhood and at a more mature age at the first decade of this century. Today I would like to tell you about The Suffering.

Not 14 years have passed since the release of the game. It was in the far of 2004 that the light saw a new product from the creators of the fight and the fraternity of the Ring – Surreal Software. This time it was no longer the Action-ADVENTURE in the fantasy world, but a completely serious mystical action-chorror, whose action unfolded not in a fantastic world with magic, dragons, elves and orcs, but in prison dungeons.

Meet our protege Tork. In the past, he experienced such a strong shock that he was speechless, but the voices of his dead wives and sons will pursue the hero until the end of the game

The protagonist named Tork arrives in the Ebbot prison on the island of Carnate, in Maryland. He was condemned for the murder of his wife and sons, but he himself does not remember the devil, and is not even able to speak. For all of your own Zadrotsky I have been gaming experience in the skin of dozens of dumb protagonists, and each other, deprived of the speech of speech, the character begins to annoy me more and more, but in this case it is justified by the shock of Tork from the experienced events. As soon as the Glaverorea falls into his cell, when suddenly the prison covers an earthquake, the light goes out, and some terrible mutilated creatures penetrate into the chambers of Tork’s neighbors. The room is filled with screams, moans and prayers for help, which then finally silent. The Torke camera opens and control is transferred to our hands … The task is faced with one thing: to get out of this unfortunate, so to say, place and simultaneously find out what happened here for the devilry. Such a short -lived and not very intricate tie. Nevertheless, the scenario in the game is very solid, and I personally liked it.

Once in the body of Torka, we have to roam not only the gloomy prison corridors, but also in the vicinity of the prison: forests, mines, an abandoned mansion and many other locations, where we will get acquainted with the past of the Hero’s visions and documentaries, as well as constantly destroy the hellish creatures. It is this element that forms the basis of the game process The Suffering.

Although the action part is almost in no way diluted, constant shootouts and meat grinders do not get bored at all

Literally at the very beginning, Tork is armed with sharpening and only with her at the ready is courageously rushing into battle with monsters. But soon a revolver will fall into our hands, and the second one, but here, as in Max Payne, you can shoot with two hands, there is only a slowdown in time … It would seem that it should weaken the tension somewhat, because with the gun it is no longer so scary, but with the advent of new weapons, new creatures appear, and the old ones are becoming more and more, and therefore we are not allowed to relax for a second for a second.

Each fight makes you constantly move: dodging the Fgfox Casino attacks of slaves, hide in shelters when meetings with snipers similar to Nemesis from the monastery from the monastery. Especially the cakes are taken, throwing poisonous syringes and jumping onto the pend to stick an infectious needle to the hero in the neck. In the abundance of blood and meat in The Suffering there is no lack. Moreover, exterminating the enemies himself Tork himself is covered with bloody scraps, which in those years when the game came out very impressive.

Gradually advanced by levels, Tork will find a new weapon: Shotgan, Thompson’s machine gun, fire ax and flamethrower. As you can see, there are not so many weapons in the game, but the hero can also use stationary machine guns sometimes found in some locations, as well as various grenades. In addition, the protagonist has the ability to turn into a huge meat monster, capable of breaking into pieces of adversaries for a couple of strokes of powerful paws. A special rabies scale is responsible for the transformation, replenished during fights.

An interesting detail is that you can play both with a camera from a third person, and from the first for a more convenient aim. If you wish, at least the whole game can be done, although the struggle with some opponents requires more agility and dexterity, and, playing in the first person, it is very inconvenient to dodge, and you can completely forget about somersaults.

In view of the fact that you have to fight with monsters and prison protection, and enemies are thrown on us each time, the cartridges end very quickly, and depending on the level of complexity, the number of ammunition changes that you can detect at the levels. Medications here are banks with pills called zombies. They restore little hits, so be more economical, as with batteries for a flashlight. Although on the complexity of a bandit that medicines, that cartridges, that I always had batteries in abundance and I did not feel the deficit.

You can play both from the third and from the first person, this is done for more convenient aiming, although, if desired, you can arrange a little challeng and go through the game until the end

The Suffering is a contamination of horror culture, expressed in films and games of previous 20 years. I will not list all the references that exist in the game, but I will name only those that I personally celebrated myself. The first thing that catches the eye is the obvious love of the authors for the 1989 Electro-skirmish, this is already evidenced by The Suffering cover itself, and one of the characters of the game is named Horace in honor of the main villain of the film, and it is endowed with the same “electrical capabilities” that Khoras had in the “electric shock”. Coincidence? Don’t think. And of course, without Clive Barker, it was not done here. The game is so saturated with the spirit of the Platter Panku, and the design of some creatures is very much reminiscent of the “rebel” from hell. And for these pleasant, causing warm nostalgia, memories would like to express special gratitude to the authors.

In addition, any of the players may notice that the game is entirely glued from borrowings from other games such as Silent Hill, Resident Evil and even Fatal Frame (aka Project Zero). But I was not in vain that The Suffering is precisely the contamination, not compilation, because, combining the main features of the best representatives of the Survival-Horror genre of that time, it turned into a unique project. Seriously, I cannot remember a single game like The Suffering. But it is worth taking into account that The Suffering is still not Survival, but rather an action-chorror. For the first game, there are not enough tasks and puzzles that would require thoughts over their decision. Of course, there are puzzles in The Suffering, but there are very few of them, literally 5 for the whole game and none of them suggest at least some brainstorming: move the statue so that the door does not close, or move the waterfield so that the water spreads and extinguishes the fire and extinguish the fire. But I repeat, this is still an action-choir, and not Surville, and therefore I will not write it down to record it.

The Suffering has a lot of interesting, memorable heroes. Even the cellmates of Torke, who appear on the stage for only a few minutes, manage to show off the characters and stock up in memory, and I was sincerely sorry when the monsters were torn to pieces by one after another. Of the others, I remembered a lover of tugging over the main character Dr. Killjoy, who appeared in the light of the projectors, I wouldn’t have such a guy who I had already mentioned … already mentioned by Horage, the distraught chief of guard Hargrave, gaseous Hermes Hait. Many random fellow travelers can help help, but this is not necessarily. You can also just pass by or kill. But each of these actions has its own consequences. Helping others, Tork earns karma that will open a positive ending. Passing by, respectively, the ending will be neutral, and killing – negative. Karma will also affect how often the hero will turn to the monster, so be more careful about this. Thus, the fate of the Glavheroro depends entirely on your internal demons, or angels. The ending itself will reveal what really happened to the family of Tork and what will be his further fate.

The atmosphere in the game is transmitted excellent. When you make your way along the dark corridor with only sharpening and hear how somewhere ahead, in the darkness, the mutilated creature scratches the wall with your hand-clinking, goosebumps run along the back and I want to turn the torque and just run where eyes look where. The whole embosses, background music, coupled with a magnificent design, create a sense of constant tension and fear when you do not know what creature will look out due to the next corner or jumps right from under your feet. I think it is not worth reminding him of once again that for a complete immersion in the atmosphere you need to play in the dark, headphones and complete loneliness, otherwise you will not feel all the charm of this game, or rather all the horror with which it can fill you.

Concluding the endless stream of praise of praise, it is worth saying a few words and about the minuses. There are few of them in The Suffering, but how serious they are to judge.

The first, really capable of somewhat spoil the overall impression of the disadvantage – these are technical mistakes. The loss of textures, incomprehensible bugs with monsters, which after death do not fall on the ground, but remain hanging in the air with static figures. Much more terrible glitches are scripting violations that do not allow to advance further along the level. And sometimes sounds also disappear. Each of these bugs may meet you only a couple of times per game, but all together they are already starting to strain.

So, instead of falling to the ground and writhe in the dying agony, this friend decided to “freeze”

The second drawback concerns graphic design. Of course, now Visually The Suffering can push many on my own, although it was as pleasant for me to play as some 9 years ago and the impression of the game did not spoil at all. But, in fairness, it is worth saying that at the time of the exit, but I remind you that it was 2004, the graphics was the main drawback of the game. Here, the creators clearly decided to save money, but for me it is better than a backward graphone than a holey plot or a dull gameplay, so I can safely say that Surreal Software very competently distributed the budget and showed this excellent horror-beer.

Such games can be recalled after 14 years and even more, they will still deliver you. If you missed The Suffering at one time, then it’s time to run to torrents, although I would buy such a game. It is not in Steam, but you can get it in GOG, I only conjure you, in no case put Russian voice acting. Leonid Volodarsky’s voice, although he evokes memories of the old pirate editions of the films, but he completely destroys the entire atmosphere of the game. Just believe me. Put Russian subtitles and enjoy the game.