Gabriel Araneda Quijada - Co-Director of Tormented Souls

Game-News had a chance to speak with Gabriel Araneda Quijada, co-director of the upcoming old-school-inspired survival horror game, Tormented Souls. We asked about the upcoming game, what to expect and what inspired Gabriel and his brother to create Tormented Souls. Read on for a better insight into the upcoming horror game, which is coming out on August the 27th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, as well as coming to Xbox One and PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

1. For the readers who might not know much about your game, what can they expect from Torment Souls as a survival horror experience?

Tormented Souls is a survival horror game that pays tribute to the old 90’s formula so you can expect to find backtracking, limited saves, limited ammo, limited healing, exploration, fixed cameras, and a dark environment full of dangers and horrifying creatures.

2. What inspired you to create Tormented Souls? (Did you feel the style of Golden Age survival horror games needed a comeback?)

Sure, we definitely felt the lack of the old survival horror games formula on the modern games. I mean, I think it’s just natural the way horror survival games have evolved to these days, big companies trying to get as many people as they can. It makes a lot of sense but sadly that means 90’s survival horror fans have been left a little bit aside. Since my brother and I realised we would not get that kind of games anymore, we decided we will make our own game, with survival horror and backtracking. We didn't have a clue on how video games were made so we had to study a couple of years to be able to create our first prototype. Lucky, on Youtube, you can find almost everything related to videogames development. Thanks to all the people out there creating educational content.

3. We know inspirations such as Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Alone in the Dark have played a huge part in Tormented Souls' creation. Where there any other classic survival horror games that help influence the design?

Sure, we take a little inspiration from Clock Tower, Rule of Roses, Fatal Frame and Cold Fear. All really good games.

4. We can see there are fixed camera angles, tank controls, and other classic survival horror elements in the game. Were there any concerns that some gamers might not be able to grasp these elements to the game's design?

Yes, we are trying so that everyone can enjoy the game, but we don’t want the core elements of the classic games to dissolve too much in the pursuit of reaching all kinds of players. So, we understand and assume that there are people who will find the game a bit unforgiving, puzzles may be too challenging and saving progress system through finding recording tapes too much trouble, but we are really compromised with the golden age and we are working really hard to bring the players back to the ’90s. I understand some people are going to hate fixed cameras and I understand this could be a deal-breaker for a lot of them but still, we keep strong our position in bringing back the old classic formula.

5. How were you able to refine these classic elements for the modern gaming market?

The main issue was there are a lot of people that have trouble playing tank control so we created a control scheme that allows players to move Caroline easily with the analog stick, you still can play with tank controls with the pad if you want to though.

6. Were there any difficulties in developing Tormented Souls?

As a matter of fact, almost the whole process has gone smoothly. We met Abstract Digital Works, the game developers a couple of years ago, and together we have been granted with Chile government art funding for three years in a row, so we are really happy and thankful that our country supports this kind of initiative. Of course, we met our publisher, PQube. They have been amazing. I can’t see this project going through the finish line without their support. They have been much more than just a publisher, taking care of a lot of things like localization, marketing, QA, founding, and a lot of other things, thanks to that, we can focus completely on Tormented Souls development.

7. Was there anything you wanted to include, or you had to cut out for the final product? If you can say that is?

Well, we are a very small team, and our budget is really tight, so we don't have access to motion capture technology. We really would have liked to get that on this project so we could get animation smoother, but if everything goes well, we definitely will have motion capture for the next project. We would love to add breakable bases with resources inside, next project for sure.

8. As a fan of older survival horror games, I'm amazed to see Tormented Souls be released. Do you feel we need more classic-style survival horror games on the market?

Tormented Souls has got an amazing reaction from the fans, I guess there is a niche that are eager for the classic-style horror games so I absolutely feel like there should be more games like this. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of people out there waiting to support these kinds of projects.

It was really great speaking with Gabriel and learning more about Tormented Souls and it's creation. Tormented Souls will be releasing very soon on August the 27th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC aswell also Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PS4.