Tormentum: Dark Sorrow is a game which can be recommended by its aesthetics alone. However the game does offer something more than just gorgeous visuals.

With an interesting world, fun puzzles, an interesting story and great music. This game is certainly worth checking out even if it didn’t have this amazing artwork. It just manages to suck you in and assault you with it’s extremely creative designs.

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”

Dark Sorrow’s plot focuses on a hooded mysterious person awaking in a cage with no recollection of what happened before the capture. The only memory that remains within the hooded individual is that of a statue of a woman surrounded by hands reaching for the heaven. Soon when the game begins the player will be tasked with escaping a menacing castle and finding out the truth as to why you are there and what the meaning is of the sculpture. While the main plot is just covered in the beginning and the end of the game, it’s mainly serves as a motivator to continue your quest. And while the plot seems like it only matters at the beginning and endgame it does stick in the back of the player’s head. Instead of the main plot the focus rather lies in the world of Tormentum and it’s habitants, each having a background and reason for being where they are. When the player meets a new character they will introduce themself and usually ask for assistance. Each and every character and place has its own story to tell, and all of them are interesting. The environment tell tales of events long past, and the inhabitants fill you in on the lore of this universe which is rich and interesting. And the dialogue is written pretty well. Alongside the environments and tortured being of this world there are various note which hint at several events and organisations which inhabit this world . But rarely do they created a clear picture as to what is or has transpired, leaving a lot of dark and ominous mysteries. Another element of the game is the moral choices. Most are purely black and white but some do influence your journey later on, if only slightly. At the end tough these choices will influence the ending you have. the game has two ending both are fairly similar if not the polar opposites. Despite the game having two endings there isn’t any incentive to replay the game. For the most part the game is a one-time play trough.

As my journey continued I kept being haunted in my dreams by the same image of a sculpture with hands rising towards the sky.

Without a doubt the main selling point and attraction of Tormentum is the art style. Art is very much inspired by artists like Zdzislaw Beksinski, H.R. Gigher and other mediums like Dark Souls, darkseid or Berzerk and while Tormentum certainly is a great game it also feels like an interactive artwork. The environment, objects and characters are all expertly crafted and incredibly creative. Anytime a new area is visited you can’t help but stop to take in what exactly you’re looking at. Every screen is an experience and forces the player to bask in its insanely creative and disturbing aesthetics. Even to the point that sometimes it feels like it’s too much and it might make some players feel forced to go back a screen to process it. All characters look and feel like dark and disturbing souls, And environment feel like ancient lovecraftian evils that exude ominous vibes. The world is dark, filthy and nightmarish and feels like it’s a constant threat itself. Event inanimate object look alive and threatening. The Tormentum universe just oozes style and breathes personality. The game is done in a ubiart-esque style to preserve the insane amount of detail that would certainly be lost in 3D.  It can’t be done justice by just talking about it and descibing it. Tormentum is one of the most visually stimulating and aesthetically of the most gorgeous games to come out in recent years if not ever.

Puzzles are relatively easy but fun.

From a gameplay standpoint Tormentum doesn’t perfect or reinvent the wheel. But that’s not what the game is about. Dark Sorrow is a point and click adventure wich tasks you much like ant other point and click games to find specific items and use them on specific objects. The player guides the unnamed character trough screens of gorgeous scenery usually trying to figure out what characters want or how to open a door. Most of the time it’s clear what item goes where and the game never manages to confuse the player with too much items they carry around for to long. Objects of use shimmer and are usually clear to see with the exception of one or two items which got obstructed by the scenery. After using an items or key the game throws a puzzle at the player. these puzzles usually don’t take to  long and arent that hard. So players won’t get stuck on puzzles longer than five minutes before being able to move on and see more of the incredible scenery. That being said the puzzles are traditional puzzles you would see in other games and are still extremely fun to do, simple though it may be. Still it would have been appreciated if the difficulty was a bit higher.

Tormentum has one of the most gorgeous and creative art styles currently out there. The gameplay is solid and while the puzzles are a bit too easy, they are still a lot of fun. Truly the main attraction of the game is its art style which manages to shock and awe with almost every screen. It’s disturbing, nightmarish, grotesque and all the while gorgeous, inspirational and engaging. Tormentum plays great and looks even better. Fans of the point and click genre won’t find anything revolutionary or challenging, but what they will find is a game with an interesting world and characters. Along with its relatively short length Tormentum is something everyone should check out and finish.

9/10

Tested on PC