The Suffering

Moby ID: 12511
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

You play the role of Torque, a death row inmate with an ambiguous past who has been imprisoned for slaying his ex-wife and children. Shortly after being interred in a new prison on Carnate Island, an earthquake appears to release demonic creatures based on the many modes of execution used in the sordid history of the island. These creatures proceed to eliminate much of the prison population, leaving only you and a scant few other inmates and guards to eliminate the horde and find out what has happened.

Spellings

  • 劫难 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Windows version)

212 People (176 developers, 36 thanks) · View all

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Audio Director and Lead Producer
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[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 35 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 69 ratings with 5 reviews)

Tight horror-shooter that's better than it looks

The Good
Between the gratuitous profanity, the over-the-top gore, and it's obvious console roots, The Suffering is actually a very good horror-shooter. The game's creepy, confined atmosphere and fenced-in gunplay are spot on, and the gameplay has a smooth flow from start to finish. The obstacles, enemies and environments are creative and appropriately ghastly. The few puzzles in the game are coherent and logical enough to prevent the action from screeching to a halt.

The Bad
The Suffering is a PS2-level console port, and it shows. Textures are low-res and washed out. Polygon counts are fairly low. While the game provides opportunities to for the player to "choose the light or dark side" during his travels, the actual impact on the game is fairly minimal beyond some cutscenes and the addition of some hapless allies. The game is completely and utterly linear, a single-player thrill ride that loses all of its charms on further play. Finally, I didn't mind the game's splatterhouse gore and non-stop hard-R profanity, but some might.

The Bottom Line
"The Suffering" is a 1st/3rd-person horror-shooter that takes place in and around a haunted prison. You play "Torque", a death-row hard-case with real anger management problems, and who may (or may not) have slaughtered his family. Put the prison's outer demons and Torque's inner demons together, and you get an amusingly bloody, surprisingly amoral, and brutally satisfying little romp. Highly recommended, especially for the low price you can purchase it for these days.

Windows · by Chase Dahl (5) · 2007

An superb first-/third-person horror shooter packed with atmosphere

The Good
I have always loved TV shows and video games set inside a prison, and The Suffering is no exception. The game was the brainchild of designer Richard Rouse III who took elements from Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, and Half-Life to create an excellent story-driven, horror shooter packed with atmosphere.

The game is set in Abbott State Penitentiary where a death row inmate named Torque is imprisoned for murdering his ex-wife and children. He claims that he doesn't remember what happened due to blackouts he is having. Shortly after his arrival, an earthquake strikes Carnate Island, unleashing strange supernatural creatures that kill everything in their path, including guards and inmates. Torque must find a way to escape Abbott, while fighting for his survival and figuring out what really happened to his family.

The Suffering is comprised of about twenty levels, and most of them are quite long. Each level is spent exploring each of the locations, collecting weapons and items, and fighting the many creature along the ways. You start out with a shiv which is more effective against the first group of enemies you encountered, but as you progress through the game, you can pick up more powerful weapons such as dual revolvers, tommy guns, and shotguns; and can also add grenades to your supply.

Early in the game, you are given the ability to transform into a hideous beast - similar to what was given to Ethan Cole in Area-51 – and you are forced to make use of this ability early on in the game to proceed. It is activated when your “insanity meter” is full, and you do this by killing enough creatures. You have a limited amount of time before you have to change back into a human again. This monster ability is effective when you're facing swarms of creatures or when you are low on ammo. Having said that, Torque's monster transformation is impressive.

What's unique about the creatures Torque encounters is the way that they show various forms of execution. Slayers, for example, were all former victims of decapitation, while Mainliners died due to lethal injection. Mainliners suffered from lethal injections, while Marksman faced death by firing squad. Each of the creatures Torque faces are well designed and animated nicely, and their artificial intelligence is equally impressive. Mainliners lunge at you when Torque is at a certain distance and stab you with a syringe, while Marksman point their cannons at you and fire.

I like how the game uses a morality system, in which your decisions affect the game and determine which one of the three endings you will view; and you are given clues on which path you're going down. For instance, making bad choices will result in flashes where Carmen tells you off. Also, you eventually look inhuman, and the family photo Torque always carries around will get bloody.

Torque will also meet up with non-playable characters who will often tell him what he must do and how to go about doing it. How you treat these NPCs will also affect morality, resulting in different dialogue and whatnot. And as far as NPCs are concerned, you can go ahead and kill as many as you can, but then you won't be able to find out what you need to do.

I like exploring the locations the game has to offer, as fully exploring them gives you the opportunity to stock up on supplies. As you arrive in new locations and meet certain types of creatures for the first time, information is unlocked and stored in the “Archives”. This makes for interesting reading as it gives you an insight of the areas Torque visited and the creatures he encountered so far.

Most reviewers complain how dark the visuals are; but in my opinion, they blend well with the game's theme. The visuals can be so dark in fact that you have to use flashlights to see. There are flashes that happen occasionally during the game, and these flashes keep you on edge. The last horror game that I played was Alan Wake, and as I said in my review of that game, I kept looking back to see if there were any dangers behind me. Same with this one.

Most of the sound was brilliantly done by Erik Aho, who created instruments out of objects and used them for the areas depicted in the game. In the asylum, for instance, you hear screams and cries in the background, as well as the victrola coming from Dr. Killjoy's office. The battle music also blends in with a certain area, and is also unique to whatever boss you are fighting.

The puzzles in The Suffering range from easy to very difficult, but most of them can be solved quite well if you know what you're doing. Some puzzles require you to explore your surroundings or going around and flipping switches. One puzzle is located mid-way in the game where every projector in the asylum to unlock the gates so that you can make your way to Dr. Killjoy. However, some of them are difficult to destroy and require you to get to a different area first. Some puzzles are even based on real-life scenarios, to the point where you could say “Why didn't I think of that earlier?”

Other neat features that I like are the ability to switch perspectives from third-person to first-person, and vice versa. This is especially useful for players who are uncomfortable using the default perspective, but having played Alan Wake I don't have a problem with third-person. Also, I like how Torque gets bloodied if he kills a creature at close range, and the way he slows down when he is low on health.

The Bad
At the beginning of each level, there are handwritten notes from Torque himself, which are interesting to read. Unfortunately for me, the game didn't give me a chance to read it as there was a two-second load. Midway could have asked the player to “press a key to continue”, similar to what happens in F.E.A.R., in case they have fast computers like mine.

The Bottom Line
The Suffering is an excellent game filled with atmosphere, great graphics and sound, and a riveting story that gets you hooked right from the start. The game offers many locations that are worth exploring, and the archives that detail both the location's history and the creatures that Torque will encounter make for interesting reading. The puzzles can be quite easy if you know what you are doing, and the game's morality system means that the game can be replayed again and gain, just to watch different endings and hear alternate dialogue. Two thumbs up, way up!

Windows · by Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚­ă‚ą (43092) · 2016

Survive the terror!

The Good
The Suffering is one of the best games of terror ever made. The game has elements of third-person action permeated with a dark atmosphere and extremely violent, full of aggression.

The sound effects, they are very well produced, causing a terrifying atmosphere to the scenes, always in an atmosphere of suspense and terror. In many scenes, screams and loud noises cause extremely strong impact on the player.

The controls of the game are very simple and intuitive, similar to most action games in the third person. You control your character with the keys W, A, S and D, jump with the spacebar and guide his aim by the mouse, striking with his right button.

The game takes place in a rough place, no fictional elements or too much special effects. At first, you have only a knife and must make your way through the stages with it. Your character will "develop" over the scenarios, gaining new weapons and possibilities.

The Bad
The special effects may cause some discomfort in sensitive players.

The Bottom Line
If you like action and horror games and has spent hours in front of the television playing classics like Silent Hill or Resident Evil, The Suffering was made specially for you. The game has several qualities that stood out in his time, making it a "must download" for fans of horror.

Windows · by Perfil Falso (774) · 2012

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
What's your excuse for not playing this NOW? >:( Slug Camargo (583) Nov 26, 2008

Trivia

Cancelled Port

A GameCube version was already planned, but was cancelled because previous Midway titles sold poorly on the platform.

Development

The creatures and characters in The Suffering were designed by movie special effects master Stan Winston (designer of the Terminator exoskeleton, the Predator, the Alien Queen and the Jurassic Park dinos). The prison of Abbott State Penitentiary in the game was partially inspired by Alcatraz; Alcatraz was originally a military prison and the prison in the game was built from the remains of a WW2 army base.

German version

There are a number of changes in the German version: * The making of feature and a trailer were removed. * There are no mutilated humans to be found. * Several cutscenes were cut. In some just the blood was removed, a few scenes are completely darkened out. * In the PlayStation 2 version, an instrument of torture was removed from a dead guard. * All swastikas were removed (this applies to every version except US)

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

Re-release

The PC version was released as freeware on September 25, 2008.

Awards

Information also contributed by Atomic Punch!, Kabushi and piltdown man.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by ob5idian.

Windows added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, John Chaser, Patrick Bregger, 64er.

Game added March 21, 2004. Last modified March 12, 2024.