Tormentum II Review - H.R. Giggity

Ole Gamer Joe
Jul 23
5 min read

https://youtu.be/rphlwgcNCa0?si=K7g089h3UCW_fHTG

It’s been over a decade since the release of Tormentum, a grotesque point‑and‑click adventure created by a small team of three. Inspired by the chilling artwork of H. R. Giger and others, the game was successfully crowdfunded and released in 2015. Tormentum – Dark Sorrow earned decent reviews, but more importantly, fans loved its creepy artistic direction, haunting sound design, and solid—albeit familiar—point‑and‑click gameplay.

All of that is to say: loyal fans of the original installment have been waiting a long time for a follow-up, but the torturous wait is finally over. Let’s be honest, some of you enjoyed the pain, didn’t you? Ya lil freaks!! All the creepy art, phallic objects, and fleshy machinery you could ask for return in Tormentum II, this time from a team of two—as if making games wasn’t hard enough already. They say good things come to those who wait, but is that true here?

Much like the original, Tormentum II doesn’t aim to reinvent the fleshy, alienesque wheel, so to speak. Even if you love its twistedly gorgeous hand‑painted visuals and atmospheric sound design, this game won’t convert a non-believer to the cult of point-and-click. You’ll still hunt for clues (now aided by the option to highlight key items), solve standard-fare puzzles, and backtrack through previously visited locations. If that sounds familiar, it’s because beneath its wormy, pulsating exterior lies a classic formula—one genre fans like myself are perfectly fine with. Don’t expect a reinvention or a mind-melting degree of challenge, but fans of H. R. Giger and, to a lesser degree, Lovecraft, will likely stay for the story and artistry, which are executed beautifully.

While we’re on that topic, let’s take a moment for the story, so you’re not as lost as our protagonist appears to be. Tormentum II takes place in the not-so-distant future and follows David, a man once devoted to artistic mediums, now fully consumed by the creation of a simulated world. David’s waking hours are spent toiling away at his work while his sleep is plagued by recurring nightmares of a horrific chest that seems to be calling to him. After receiving an anonymous message from an entity willing to sell him the coprocessor he desperately needs to continue working on his simulation, David is quickly thrust into a quasi-dreamlike state where he begins to lose his grip on reality. What is real and what is simulation? Can he trust the entities he encounters in this world? Does it even matter if he tries to help these other-worldly beings? David will face his waking nightmares to find out. I’ll have you know I just said chest AND thrust in the same synopsis and I didn't even make a single joke about it. Well… I guess I did now, but one thing is for certain: this story is certainly no joke.

The gameplay on the other hand? As I alluded to earlier, it is rather standard fare for a genre that people tend to have very strong feelings about in either direction. This isn’t to dismiss the strides point‑and‑click games have made to appeal to wider audiences in recent years. Pixel‑hunting is less of an issue, verb menus are gone, and hint systems streamline the experience. Tormentum II borrows some of these improvements but doesn’t push the genre forward in the same dramatic fashion as, say, last year’s unmissable point-and-click release, The Drifter. Guiding David through this dark and disturbing world, you will need to make some decisions that will alter the course of the game, which does make for some built-in replay factor as well. Your decisions are literally life or death for the denizens of this hellscape, so choose wisely.

Another interesting feature of this title is the overworld map, which is sketched out like a literal old-timey cartographer’s map. Players can select the compass at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen to enter the map view and essentially fast-travel to various locations. NPCs will also help fill in new locations for you to explore and, inevitably, solve puzzles on.

Mercifully—or disappointingly, depending on your taste—Tormentum II skews on the easier side. Most puzzles can be solved without guides, NPCs offer straightforward clues, and items are often in plain sight. If you forget the cryptically scrawled note with the clue you need, fear not as you can always consult David’s sketchbook, also located at the bottom left of your screen.

Good news for newcomers: there’s no major connection to the original game. While I recommend checking it out, it’s not required reading to enjoy Tormentum II. The lack of voice acting is a bit disappointing, but the game is full of unique and grotesque characters, and I was consistently invested in whatever bizarre spectacle was unfolding onscreen. I wouldn’t call the script genius, but it’s hard not to be at least somewhat drawn in by a game that lets you pet a brain, click the joints of a baby fetus into place, or make pivotal choices that alter your ending.

Tormentum II features over 200 uniquely hand‑drawn scenes, each one just as mesmerizing as the last. With close‑up shots included, the developers say there are closer to 500 background images in total. That’s a staggering amount of haunting artwork spread across this 8–12 hour adventure, and you can feel the love and care poured into every set piece. The game took eight years to develop, and given the tiny team and the painstaking detail on display, it’s easy to see why.

While the lack of voice acting is a bit of a letdown, the rest of Tormentum II sounds suitably spooky. Moody, atmospheric tracks fill these grotesque corridors, backed by sound effects that linger in your head and vocals that reminded me of that one haunting track by Laurie Anderson that was all over everyone’s social media feeds as trending audio a few years back. The eerie synths are evocative, and the clings and clangs of machinery can send chills down any player’s spine. I also appreciated how sound occasionally factored into puzzles, like clicking stone dolls in a specific order to create a haunting melody.

Performance during my review was solid, with just a few notable oddities here and there, such as my in‑game journal refusing to open. That issue eventually fixed itself, but considering notes are sometimes essential for puzzle solutions, this could have been a bigger problem and I can’t rule it out happening to you. Then again, you could always resort to the classic smartphone screenshot method. Anything else was pretty minor, including one glitch where I was still getting dialogue from a character that had been killed off by my reckless decision-making, which led me to question whether the game was messing with me or just a little broken.

Even though Tormentum II doesn’t shatter my reality, it’s a twisted, beautifully crafted point‑and‑click adventure well worth your time. From its spellbinding artwork to its chilling soundtrack, few games offer such a grotesquely satisfying world to explore. There are reasons to replay it—your choices affect the ending, the world is surprisingly large with a full map to explore, and while the puzzles aren’t amazing, a few are clever and most are at least entertaining to solve. The inventory system does its job, and the game gets enough right to earn a well‑deserved Silver Genie Lamp of Approval.