The suffering

The suffering
Studio	Surreal software
Publisher	Midway Games (2004–2009) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Download)
Senior Developer	Alan Patmore (Game Director)
Erstveröffent- lichung	Xbox, Playstation 2: March 8, 2004 May 14, 2004 Windows: June 7, 2004 July 30, 2004
platform	Xbox , PlayStation 2 , Windows
Game engine	Riot engine
genre	Third-person shooter , first person shooter , survival horror
Subject	Survival horror
Game mode	Single player
control	Gamepad , mouse and keyboard
system advantages preconditions	Pentium III 1 GHz, 128 MB RAM, 32 MB graphics card, DirectX 9.0b, 2 GB storage space
language	Text: German Voice output: English
Age rating	USK PEGI
information	German version cut. The unabridged version is indexed (List A). Sales stopped after the publisher went bankrupt . Digital republication 2017.

The Suffering is a survival horror computer game developed by the US company Surreal Software for Playstation 2 , Xbox and Windows . It was released by Midway Games in 2004. The game can be played from two different perspectives , first person perspective or third person perspective , with the latter being the default setting. The sequel The Suffering: Ties That Bind followed in 2005 .

action

Course of action

The story takes place on the prison island Carnate Island (which is strongly reminiscent of the prison island Alcatraz in terms of structure and history ), on which mainly serious criminals are incarcerated. Torque, whose role the player takes on, is admitted to death row at the beginning of the game for allegedly murdering his family. Shortly after entering his cell, the earth shakes. The lights go out and death screams echo through the dark hallways. Torque's cell door is blown open by an unknown force, clearing the way for his escape. It turns out that the island has been overrun by nightmarish creatures, mostly personifications of various types of execution. Torque does not know what is reality and what is madness, but tries everything to escape from the island. In various visions, details of his family drama that led to his condemnation are gradually revealed. In the role of Torque, the player has the freedom in numerous key scenes to decide for good or bad, for example when another survivor asks him for help. The way the player behaves in these scenes affects the progression and the end of the story.

Characters

On his bloody escape, Torque encounters the following people involved in the plot:

• Dr. Killjoy

The spirit of a doctor who ran a lunatic asylum on Carnate Island around the turn of the century and carried out cruel experiments. It appears as a black and white film projection on the walls. Torque is a particularly interesting subject for him and he offers to help him with his rehabilitation. However, this process will be "painful", as he emphasizes.

• The Electro Man (aka Horace)

A being that moves mainly through power lines and is most inclined to torque. It corresponds to a prisoner executed on the power chair who dismembered his wife while he was visiting because he thought she could no longer survive out there without him.

• The gas being (aka Hermes Haight)

A being made of poison gas. Torque first encountered him when he entered the adjoining room of the gas chamber and saw a guard, bound and locked up, die in the gas chamber. The gas system represents Hermes Haight, the former head of the prison, who, after many executions he had initiated, climbed into the gas chamber himself. He likes torque because of the supposed similarities they have. He tries to hold Torque on the island.

Executions

The player experiences different types of execution in the game. This includes lethal injection killing, gassing, shooting, hanging and impaling people. As a rule, this is presented in relatively detail. The plot addresses the inhumanity of the death penalty and the subject of state-authorized violence in general. In Carnate Island's past , slavery , captivity, and violence in psychiatry also played a role.

Gameplay

In The Suffering , the player guides the main character through a 3D world. You have to find your way from a prison complex to freedom and defend yourself against various monsters. This is done with the help of various handguns, but edged weapons can also be used. At a certain point in the game, the player is able to transform himself into a monster for a short time. As such, you can kill your opponents with your bare hands. The main objective is to escape from the prison island where you are stuck in the game.

publication

The German version of The Suffering has been censored. So in the German version you can no longer cut off body parts from your opponents and there is less blood to be seen. Furthermore were in cutscenes hidden certain places where killing acts were seen in close-up. This makes it difficult to understand the plot in many places, but it also simplifies the game, as the head of certain types of opponents has to be cut off so that the opponent does not get up again, which is completely omitted in the German version.

In September 2008, publisher Midway released the full version of the game for free download. In May 2009, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment acquired the trademark rights.

In September 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment published both Suffering parts exclusively on the digital distribution platform GOG.com . Thus, The Suffering is officially available again for the first time in years.

reception

The Suffering received mostly positive reviews ( Metacritic : 80 out of 100 (Win) / 77 (PS2) / 77 (Xbox)). The game sold around 1.5 million times.

Ratings:

• Gamespot : 7.6 out of 10 points
• IGN : 8.5 out of 10 points
• GameStar : 75 out of 100 points (PC)
• GamePro : 80 out of 100 points (Playstation 2), 82 out of 100 points (Xbox)
• Eurogamer : 7 out of 10 points (Playstation 2)

filming

In 2005, MTV Films announced the acquisition of an option to acquire the film rights to the action horror video game. In collaboration with Stan Winston († 2008) and Brian Gilbert from Stan Winston Production and Jason Lust and Rick Jacobs from Circle of Confusion , MTV Films worked on developing the license for a feature film. The story was supposed to tell the story of prisoner Torque, who was sentenced to death for a murder that is not clear if he committed it. The project has since been discontinued.

Web links

• The Suffering at MobyGames (English)
• The Suffering at OGDB

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=3844
2. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ GOG.com - Exclusive new additions: The Suffering and Ties That Bind on 4players.de, accessed on September 8, 2017
4. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-suffering
5. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/the-suffering
6. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox/the-suffering
7. ↑ 'Suffering' sequel worth the pain at CNN website.
8. ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-suffering-review/1900-6091055/
9. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/03/05/the-suffering
10. ^ The Suffering - PC on GameStar.de , accessed on March 9, 2016
11. ↑ The Suffering (PS2 / Xbox) on GamePro .com, accessed on March 9, 2016
12. ↑ The Suffering (PS2) on Eurogamer.net , accessed March 9, 2016
13. ↑ gameswelt.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.