As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself wondering just how much my judgement of games is impacted by nostalgia and my likes/dislikes now being long established. I can (and often do) greatly enjoy new games, but I must admit that I seem to have an appreciation for older design styles. This doesn’t mean I blanketly like old design philosophies; I still hate boring, overlong collect-a-thons like “Banjo-Tooie” for example. Yet, I find myself really enjoying games that employ some of the old restrictions nonetheless, even those I never personally experienced back when they were in vogue.

So here’s the question for me (and possibly for you too): are games modeled after older classics really, genuinely good, or are we merely enjoying them for nostalgia’s sake? I want to say it’s the former, but let’s take a look at a game I’ve been playing recently called “Tormented Souls” and see what we can find.

Like Signalis, Tormented Souls is very clearly inspired by the likes of the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill games. Things are done a bit differently though. Signalis uses concepts like limited inventory and item boxes, and revolves around managing inventory/enemies while traversing from one puzzle to the next. Players can also see rooms in their entirety for the most part by merit of a zoomed-out, almost top-down perspective.

Tormented Souls on the other hand doesn’t employ inventory limitations or item boxes, but does use limited save items. It also feels like one big puzzle broken-up into smaller parts. That is, there are many smaller, distinct puzzles but almost all are tied into forward progression in some way. Tormented Souls employs the Resident Evil-style fixed camera angles too. Both games also make very clear call-backs in terms of room design and the like. This is all to say that gamers familiar with the originals will instantly recognize their influence and enjoy the references.

So, in both cases, there is a strong element of nostalgic callbacks that new or younger players won’t necessarily appreciate. Is that a problem for these game though? Does their success hinge on the player recognizing the games’ influences? After all, these older design styles and techniques fell out of use for a reason. Is there any value in them beyond that of nostalgia? I can’t say for certain, but I honestly think there is. In both of these games now, I genuinely enjoyed the actual gameplay on offer. Knowing where it came from has, so far, just felt like an added bonus. That doesn’t mean this isn’t still a bit murky.

What I mean is that I’m not sure if I enjoy what’s on offer here because it’s inherently fun, or if I like it because it’s closer to how things used to be. For example, progressing through Tormented Souls depends on one’s ability to solve a wide variety of puzzles. I don’t mean just being presented with the gaming equivalent of a jigsaw puzzle either. Tormented Souls almost never places solution items in the same room (or even vicinity) as the puzzle they belong to. Heck, it’ll even give you items at the beginning of the game that won’t come into play until hours later. It’ll also ask you to make connections between something physically encountered in the mansion and something you might have read in somebody’s diary.

There’s no hint system either. Your character will not at any point talk to herself about something she noticed earlier or remark about how something might connect to something else. You are solely responsible for remembering things and making the necessary connections. As an older gamer, I rather like this. I remember when games didn’t walk your through their puzzles and all but tell you the solution (like a certain recent God of War game does ahem) Thus, I rather like it when I’m left to mull things over and nearly pull my hair out in the effort to figure out how to arrive at the correct solutions. Would a younger gamer, one who isn’t familiar with that kind of challenge, like it though? It’s hard to say.

Someone who’s only been gaming since, say, the PS3/Xbox 360 era likely wouldn’t have encountered this kind of design before. Games have been very keen on making sure that their players make it through without too much trouble since that era began, so these sorts of challenges might be more annoying than fun.

I’m not questioning whether newer players would be smart enough to do it, I’m certain that many, if not most, are. It’s just that I wonder if an utter lack of guidance would be fun for them. the same goes for old-style mechanics like limited inventories, limited saves and fixed camera angles. Would those things ever be fun for a newer gamer, or are they only enjoyable for someone like myself who remembers them and can enjoy the novelty?

As with everything, I’m sure this all comes down to personal taste. Still I cannot help but wonder if these sorts of games, as good as they are, still at least somewhat rely on nostalgia for their appeal. More than that, if nostalgia is key to the experience, I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. Older-styled games do have their place after all, and they are important to keeping the gaming space from becoming overly uniform. I’ll enjoy them regardless, but I suppose I’m just hoping that they can find some appeal outside of nostalgic 90s kids like myself.

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What do you think of these sorts of games? Are they purely nostalgia-driven or do they have a legitimate place in the modern games industry? Are there any games like this that you’ve been enjoying lately?

Image from the Tormented Souls Steam store page