Another Cult Classic btw.
So, this game is a quite interesting one, apparently is fairly obscure as well, its also one of the rare times in which we get to see a prison as a setting, which is surprisingly under utilized in games, sure there are games with prison levels, but rarely one which takes places in a prison in its entirety.
It was published by Midway, so that did help on getting people to play it, I suppose. It did manage to earn itself Cult Classic status, just like the previous series I covered.
Originally, this game was meant to be a mix of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Devil May Cry, although quite a lot of stuff had to be scrapped due to technical limitations, the vision can still be noticed.
It also has quite a lot of interesting ideas, and, its quite surprising it isn’t as talked about, specially taking into account that Stan Winston, a quite renown special make-up effects artist, worked on the creature designs (for this one and the sequel), that man worked in The Thing, Terminator, Aliens, The OG Jurassic Park Trilogy, among many others.
Alright alright, lets get on with it.
Story & Setting
You play as Torque, a silent protagonist, for whom we barely know anything before he was sent to prison.
He arrives at Carnate Island, as yet another inmate of Abbot State Penitentiary, a facility quite storied in human suffering.
Torque, is a death row inmate, his crime, the murder of his wife and 2 children, even though most of the trial consisted of circumstantial evidence, Torque himself doesn’t remember what happened, as, ever since childhood he has suffered from random blackouts throughout his life. Of course, for the court that’s a pretty clear and cut case, therefore, Torque is sentenced to death.
Yet, as soon as he is settled in his cell, an earthquake occurs, and with that earthquake, both inmates and correction officers begin dropping like flies, the cause? Strange and bizarre creatures now roam the hallways, with no other objective than kill on sight.
With all the chaos around him, Torque must escape, he must survive, and discover the truth about his family.
It won’t be easy, as The Suffering has just begun.
He arrives at Carnate Island, as yet another inmate of Abbot State Penitentiary, a facility quite storied in human suffering.
Torque, is a death row inmate, his crime, the murder of his wife and 2 children, even though most of the trial consisted of circumstantial evidence, Torque himself doesn’t remember what happened, as, ever since childhood he has suffered from random blackouts throughout his life. Of course, for the court that’s a pretty clear and cut case, therefore, Torque is sentenced to death.
Yet, as soon as he is settled in his cell, an earthquake occurs, and with that earthquake, both inmates and correction officers begin dropping like flies, the cause? Strange and bizarre creatures now roam the hallways, with no other objective than kill on sight.
With all the chaos around him, Torque must escape, he must survive, and discover the truth about his family.
It won’t be easy, as The Suffering has just begun.
Presentation
Third-person action horror, although you can switch to first-person if you wish (I wouldn’t recommend it, its quite obvious the game is intended for third-person).
Its influences are quite obvious, I mentioned them in the introduction, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Devil May Cry. All of which you can notice, in aspects like vibes, world-building, and some gameplay mechanics.
The human models do have some stiff animations, and their face expressions could be better, as well as some locations which can be a bit bare bones, the game does show its age on these aspects.
A cool detail, is that Torque’s model gets covered in blood the more he fights near enemies.
The real stars of the show, are the creatures, aka the malefactors, they are personifications of human suffering and malice, as I mentioned, the devs received help from a professional make-up artist with quite the career to help them.
Each malefactor, is themed after some form of execution, and, they are also tied to the backstory of Abbot Penitentiary and Carnate Island in some form.
For example, the most common enemies, the slayers are a representation of decapitation, the mainliners are a representation of lethal injection, marskmen of firing squad, so on and so forth.
Its influences are quite obvious, I mentioned them in the introduction, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Devil May Cry. All of which you can notice, in aspects like vibes, world-building, and some gameplay mechanics.
The human models do have some stiff animations, and their face expressions could be better, as well as some locations which can be a bit bare bones, the game does show its age on these aspects.
A cool detail, is that Torque’s model gets covered in blood the more he fights near enemies.
The real stars of the show, are the creatures, aka the malefactors, they are personifications of human suffering and malice, as I mentioned, the devs received help from a professional make-up artist with quite the career to help them.
Each malefactor, is themed after some form of execution, and, they are also tied to the backstory of Abbot Penitentiary and Carnate Island in some form.
For example, the most common enemies, the slayers are a representation of decapitation, the mainliners are a representation of lethal injection, marskmen of firing squad, so on and so forth.
Each variant has its own unique animations, behavior, attack patterns, vibes, and sounds, as well as different ways of having to deal with them, making each one memorable.
One thing that I did think while playing was, that the malefactors are the most Clive Barker creatures I have ever seen in a non-Clive Barker game.
Torque even has a monster form, once you activate his devil trigger.
There are also 3 spirits whom both help and hinder you throughout your journey, Hermes who was an executioner at Abbot, he is themed after gas chambers, Horace who was a prisoner at Abbot, he is themed after the electric chair, and Dr. Killjoy, a man who used to run an asylum on the island, he is themed after medical malpractice (also, his mannerisms are heavily inspired by Vincent Price, making him my favorite of the 3).
After dealing with them for the first time, you unlock entry pages of them in the journal, together with some concept art.
There are many instances of environmental story-telling, and many times in which puzzles are very well conveyed through the design of the backgrounds, objects, and rooms.
On occasion, you will get flashes of various things, which are mostly annoying. There are also instances of hallucinations, and you can see things happening through cameras.
For interiors, the Silent Hill influence is quite obvious, darkness barely illuminated by ambient light and/or your crappy flashlight, it truly is a mood to walk around the prison, you can in fact turn on lights if you wish, they don’t do anything else but give peace of mind.
Exteriors are a bit bare bones, but the designers were quite smart regarding how to use the limited draw distance to the game’s advantage.
One thing that I did think while playing was, that the malefactors are the most Clive Barker creatures I have ever seen in a non-Clive Barker game.
Torque even has a monster form, once you activate his devil trigger.
There are also 3 spirits whom both help and hinder you throughout your journey, Hermes who was an executioner at Abbot, he is themed after gas chambers, Horace who was a prisoner at Abbot, he is themed after the electric chair, and Dr. Killjoy, a man who used to run an asylum on the island, he is themed after medical malpractice (also, his mannerisms are heavily inspired by Vincent Price, making him my favorite of the 3).
After dealing with them for the first time, you unlock entry pages of them in the journal, together with some concept art.
There are many instances of environmental story-telling, and many times in which puzzles are very well conveyed through the design of the backgrounds, objects, and rooms.
On occasion, you will get flashes of various things, which are mostly annoying. There are also instances of hallucinations, and you can see things happening through cameras.
For interiors, the Silent Hill influence is quite obvious, darkness barely illuminated by ambient light and/or your crappy flashlight, it truly is a mood to walk around the prison, you can in fact turn on lights if you wish, they don’t do anything else but give peace of mind.
Exteriors are a bit bare bones, but the designers were quite smart regarding how to use the limited draw distance to the game’s advantage.
Sound wise, as I mentioned before, each creature has its own unique sounds, it is impossible to get them mixed up.
Voice acting is really good, some of those performances are magnificent, Hermes and Dr. Killjoy are the biggest standouts, but, that doesn’t stop each and every character for being memorable in their own right, like Ernesto, or Clem.
The hallucinations of Torque regarding his kids can be a bit annoying due to their voices, but, that is to be expected.
Music doesn’t get in the way, and goes more for ambiance, it isn’t too memorable, but, it gets the job done.
Voice acting is really good, some of those performances are magnificent, Hermes and Dr. Killjoy are the biggest standouts, but, that doesn’t stop each and every character for being memorable in their own right, like Ernesto, or Clem.
The hallucinations of Torque regarding his kids can be a bit annoying due to their voices, but, that is to be expected.
Music doesn’t get in the way, and goes more for ambiance, it isn’t too memorable, but, it gets the job done.
Mechanics
The combat is simple and straight forward at its core, front towards enemy, stab and/or fire at will.
For weapons, you got a shiv and later a fire axe for melee, for guns, you have a revolver which you can dual-wield, a tommy gun, and a shotgun. There are 2 other special weapons, the flamethrower that you have to build by finding its parts around the prison, and the gonzo gun, which is the secret joke weapon, I won’t spoil what it does.
In some areas in which you encounter multiple waves of enemies, the game usually provides you with a Browning M2 Turret which has infinite ammo and doesn’t overheat.
You also get access to throwables, flares for illumination, flashbangs, TNT, molotov cocktails, and shrapnel grenades.
The puzzles usually revolve around searching for alternate paths, pushing heavy boxes, climb things, using nearby interactables, blowing things up, or a combination of at least 2 mentioned, nothing too complex.
Each enemy is quite unique in their strategy and behavior, there are also tricks for effectively dealing with certain enemies. For example, there is an enemy which can be insta-killed if you use an explosive at the right time, and there is an enemy which can only be hurt by either melee or explosives.
Slayers, have an elite variant, which is bigger, tankier, and hits harder.
Human enemies are just that, nothing special.
Torque, also has access to a devil trigger, once the yellow bar (insanity) is filled, you can transform into the creature, which can kill anything with ease, but, it has some caveats, you can’t heal while transformed, and, if you run out of insanity, it will start draining your health instead. Also, the more enemies you kill while in creature form, the stronger the form becomes.
You get access to archives about the malefactors, and the island, both voice acted, you even get to meet the character who wrote the entries about the malefactors at one point.
There are moments in which you can use searchlights to burn enemies, but these moments are extremely rare.
Each one of the 3 spirits has its own boss fight, but, they are mostly puzzle fights, not very difficult.
The game has a dodge roll, but, its actual usefulness is quite niche, the movement speed alone is good enough most of the time.
For healing, you have xombium, which are Torque’s meds, you can carry up to 9 and use them whenever.
The flashlight requires batteries, but, its only use is for illumination, no noticeable gameplay mechanic.
There is monster in-fighting, even when unprovoked some of the malefactors simply hate each other more than you.
For weapons, you got a shiv and later a fire axe for melee, for guns, you have a revolver which you can dual-wield, a tommy gun, and a shotgun. There are 2 other special weapons, the flamethrower that you have to build by finding its parts around the prison, and the gonzo gun, which is the secret joke weapon, I won’t spoil what it does.
In some areas in which you encounter multiple waves of enemies, the game usually provides you with a Browning M2 Turret which has infinite ammo and doesn’t overheat.
You also get access to throwables, flares for illumination, flashbangs, TNT, molotov cocktails, and shrapnel grenades.
The puzzles usually revolve around searching for alternate paths, pushing heavy boxes, climb things, using nearby interactables, blowing things up, or a combination of at least 2 mentioned, nothing too complex.
Each enemy is quite unique in their strategy and behavior, there are also tricks for effectively dealing with certain enemies. For example, there is an enemy which can be insta-killed if you use an explosive at the right time, and there is an enemy which can only be hurt by either melee or explosives.
Slayers, have an elite variant, which is bigger, tankier, and hits harder.
Human enemies are just that, nothing special.
Torque, also has access to a devil trigger, once the yellow bar (insanity) is filled, you can transform into the creature, which can kill anything with ease, but, it has some caveats, you can’t heal while transformed, and, if you run out of insanity, it will start draining your health instead. Also, the more enemies you kill while in creature form, the stronger the form becomes.
You get access to archives about the malefactors, and the island, both voice acted, you even get to meet the character who wrote the entries about the malefactors at one point.
There are moments in which you can use searchlights to burn enemies, but these moments are extremely rare.
Each one of the 3 spirits has its own boss fight, but, they are mostly puzzle fights, not very difficult.
The game has a dodge roll, but, its actual usefulness is quite niche, the movement speed alone is good enough most of the time.
For healing, you have xombium, which are Torque’s meds, you can carry up to 9 and use them whenever.
The flashlight requires batteries, but, its only use is for illumination, no noticeable gameplay mechanic.
There is monster in-fighting, even when unprovoked some of the malefactors simply hate each other more than you.
Finally, leaving the best for last, this game has a morality system.
Throughout the game, you will run into many situations, in which you either help others, or hurt them. At some points, you will even hear an angel (Torque’s wife) and a devil (a malefactor) whisper to you.
There are many unique moments which can net you good or bad karma if you choose to engage with them, as, neutral is also an option.
The most notable ones, are regarding some NPCs, at some points, you get to meet other survivors, be it inmates or COs, and you can choose to either help them and get some company (escort mission) for a while, kill them (for funsies or items), or ignore them (neutral).
Whatever you choose, will move your morality in that direction, sometimes get Torque’s wife to praise you if you do something good, or insult/scream at you if you do something evil.
The fun part, is that depending on the interaction, sometimes it pays off to be good, or sometimes it pays off to be evil, so, unless you are going for a pure good/evil run, you can in fact be pragmatic about it.
Morality has some extra effects, like idle animations changing according to where your moral compass is on at the time, Torque’s model becoming more corrupted and messed up the more evil you become, the photo of Torque’s family in your archives becoming more dirty the more evil you are.
Later on in the game, your morality will affect what Torque’s family say in the hallucinations, and, finally, the ending will change according to your morality, with 3 different endings (good, neutral, and evil).
The game is intended to be played at least twice, if you replay the game after beating it once, you get to see a little extra in the prologue.
Throughout the game, you will run into many situations, in which you either help others, or hurt them. At some points, you will even hear an angel (Torque’s wife) and a devil (a malefactor) whisper to you.
There are many unique moments which can net you good or bad karma if you choose to engage with them, as, neutral is also an option.
The most notable ones, are regarding some NPCs, at some points, you get to meet other survivors, be it inmates or COs, and you can choose to either help them and get some company (escort mission) for a while, kill them (for funsies or items), or ignore them (neutral).
Whatever you choose, will move your morality in that direction, sometimes get Torque’s wife to praise you if you do something good, or insult/scream at you if you do something evil.
The fun part, is that depending on the interaction, sometimes it pays off to be good, or sometimes it pays off to be evil, so, unless you are going for a pure good/evil run, you can in fact be pragmatic about it.
Morality has some extra effects, like idle animations changing according to where your moral compass is on at the time, Torque’s model becoming more corrupted and messed up the more evil you become, the photo of Torque’s family in your archives becoming more dirty the more evil you are.
Later on in the game, your morality will affect what Torque’s family say in the hallucinations, and, finally, the ending will change according to your morality, with 3 different endings (good, neutral, and evil).
The game is intended to be played at least twice, if you replay the game after beating it once, you get to see a little extra in the prologue.
Final Thoughts
This game truly deserves the title of cult classic, yet another victim of being at the same time as the biggest heavy hitters in the horror genre.
Even though it was recently re-released it was also quickly de-listed, whether that means that its gonna get a remaster is still up in the air.
The morality system is simple, yes, at the time many games wanted to do morality systems, but that’s usually a thing for rpgs, thing is, thanks to the game being so short and sweet, it isn’t an absolute drag to do a 2nd playthrough to get a different endings, unlike the typical rpg.
I really like the creature designs, as I said, they remind me a lot of Clive Barker’s stuff, specially the cenobites and the monsters from Jericho, I also quite appreciate having a bestiary that is written from the pov of someone trying to make sense of them, subjective bestiaries are a lost art I tell ya.
Some problems I find, is that the game is quite generous with supplies, even when I was playing recklessly, I rarely ever ran out of healing, ammo, or explosives. Actually, you can run away from most fights if you wish, but, if you keep doing that, you can beat the game in an hour or so.
I quite liked the 3 spirits, well, Horace was the weaker one on his delivery, but he was still alright.
Every character in this game is memorable, even the ones you meet once, to the point that its quite sad to see some of them dead at points in which you have to backtrack.
A very cool detail, is that if you transform in front of allies, is implied that you don’t actually transform, and its all in Torque’s head, cause what the allies see is Torque going berserk and beating monsters with his bare hands.
All in all, The Suffering is very well worth your time, if you want some quick and fun action horror game, with a great atmosphere, amazing monster design, and memorable characters, do give it a try.
It can be a pain in to get running tho, you have been warned.
Even though it was recently re-released it was also quickly de-listed, whether that means that its gonna get a remaster is still up in the air.
The morality system is simple, yes, at the time many games wanted to do morality systems, but that’s usually a thing for rpgs, thing is, thanks to the game being so short and sweet, it isn’t an absolute drag to do a 2nd playthrough to get a different endings, unlike the typical rpg.
I really like the creature designs, as I said, they remind me a lot of Clive Barker’s stuff, specially the cenobites and the monsters from Jericho, I also quite appreciate having a bestiary that is written from the pov of someone trying to make sense of them, subjective bestiaries are a lost art I tell ya.
Some problems I find, is that the game is quite generous with supplies, even when I was playing recklessly, I rarely ever ran out of healing, ammo, or explosives. Actually, you can run away from most fights if you wish, but, if you keep doing that, you can beat the game in an hour or so.
I quite liked the 3 spirits, well, Horace was the weaker one on his delivery, but he was still alright.
Every character in this game is memorable, even the ones you meet once, to the point that its quite sad to see some of them dead at points in which you have to backtrack.
A very cool detail, is that if you transform in front of allies, is implied that you don’t actually transform, and its all in Torque’s head, cause what the allies see is Torque going berserk and beating monsters with his bare hands.
All in all, The Suffering is very well worth your time, if you want some quick and fun action horror game, with a great atmosphere, amazing monster design, and memorable characters, do give it a try.
It can be a pain in to get running tho, you have been warned.
Pros
- + Simple yet involved morality system.
- + Pretty good atmosphere.
- + Great voice performances.
- + Amazing creature design.
Cons
- - Difficult to run in modern PCs.
- - Quite generous with healing and ammo.
- - Annoying use of flashing lights and imagery.
- - Combat sections can drag on a bit.
8
Gameplay
Nice puzzles, the combat is simple, the complexity comes from dealing with each malefactor, and the combination of them, but, melee can be a bit jank, and some of the guns lack umpf.
8
Graphics
The atmosphere is great, and the design of the malefactors is very memorable, it only loses points due to the rough human models, and some uninspired outside locations.
7
Story
Its decent, is cool that its tied to the morality system, it knows how to be a good horror story, never giving you actual explanations, and leaving everything to you to think about.
8
Sound
The music is weak, but everything else is really good, the unique sounds of each malefactor is memorable, and the voice performance ranges from really good to really memorable.
6
Replayability
The game is intended to be played at least twice, the different moral choices do give some variability, since the game is short and sweet, there is actually an incentive to do it.
8
out of 10
Overall
The Suffering is a cult classic for a reason, it has some really good creature design, a great atmosphere, an under utilized locale for horror, as well as quite standout voice performances, with some simple core combat which becomes complex thanks to the situations the player is forced to go through. It has a quite involved and decently thought out morality system which has actual gameplay and story implications, which encourages multiple playthroughs, all in all, its a short and sweet action horror very well worth your time.
