The Suffering (video game)

The Suffering is a video game developed by Surreal Software and published by Midway Games, released in 2004 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and the PC. A sequel, called Ties That Bind, was released in September 2005.

Story

You play as Torque, a man who has been sent to fictional Abbott State Penitentiary on the Carnate Island, Maryland. Torque has been convicted and sentenced to death for murdering his wife and two children, although he claims he was blacked out at the time this happened and couldn't remember anything. The night Torque arrives, there is an earthquake, which causes a partial collapse of the prison walls and ceiling. Then the other inmates on death row start getting killed in their cells, and soon monsters appear from out of nowhere. The causes of this are unknown. Torque's cell door breaks and he is freed from his captivity. Now his sole purpose is to escape Carnate Island alive.

Gameplay

The Suffering plays as a traditional first- or third-person shooter, employing the controls of the former but allowing players to switch between the two camera angles. Tightly scripted and linear, The Suffering's most predominant influence is Half-Life. There are, however, a few gimmicks the game employs to distinguish itself.

In the game, there are opportunities along the way to commit good or evil acts. Usually they involve helping fellow inmates or even friendly COs, although the opportunity is not always clear. The decisions you make in regards to these opportunites will affect the ending of the game. The moral progress of Torque will be noted by hallucinations involving his family, and also by how disembodied voices will talk to him. There are three different endings to watch. The first one being good, the second one being evil and the last neutral. The endings you have completed will affect the story line of the sequel.

Another feature of The Suffering is Torque's ability to transform into a monster after his insanity level has been filled. In his beast form, Torque is a slavering monster with large build, faster speed, one arm containing a large clawed hand and the other a sharp impaling blade. In this form Torque can cause far more damage for a limited time. He has three main attacks - a quick 3-slash combo, impaling/stabbing opponents, and a shockwave attack. However, this power comes at a cost. The longer Torque stays within this form, the more damage it will do to his health. Also, he cannot heal himself until returning back to human form. How often he becomes insane does not have an effect on the outcome of the game.

In addition, while transformed, a small experience bar will appear in the lower right corner, and will gradually fill with each foe Torque dispatches while transformed. When it is full, Torque will roar and the "camera" will pan around him (much in the manner as it does when he activates/deactivates his alternate form,) thus signifying that his "smash" attack has been upgraded to become more powerful.

It should be noted that it is revealed by Dr. Killjoy (if your morality is "good") that Torque does not actually transform in the game. Due to his "slight" (per Killjoy) insanity, he simply reaches a state of adreneline rush, where he is capable of tearing things limb from limb with his bare hands. This explains why Torque's human allies never seem to notice anything amiss whenever Torque transforms. The sequel expands on how this has affected his life before incarceration. However, should the player gravitate towards one of the other two moralities, this explanation becomes less solvent.

Other characters

Humans

There are many inmates and C.O.'s (Corrections Officers, i.e., prison guards). Most people forget about their differences when the cataclysm strikes, although some will harbor their old grudges.

Regular C.O.: The first able C.O. Torque runs into, he decides "to hell with protocol" and teams up with Torque for a short time. He is killed when he runs into the Electric Chair Chamber while Horace is reliving his execution again.

Dallas: A cellmate of Torque's from another prison, Dallas is angry that the monsters killed his prison lover, Byron (who made it easier to be on the inside). If Torque can protect him long enough, he can free Dallas from the prison.

Chico and his crew: If Torque meets Chico alone, Chico will attack him because he doesn't trust him and thinks he is a monster. If he meets Torque with Dallas, he will attack Dallas because he is still angry that Dallas sold crack on the inside without giving him a cut. If you couldn't figure it out, unless the player runs, Chico and his "crew" die.

C.O.: Not all of the human survivors of Abbott Prison are willing to put aside old differences. Hargrave has several surviving Corrections Officers helping him in his madness, and there's a couple others on the Island that would see you dead too.

Hargrave: Hargrave is the warden at the prison. He hates the inmates and thinks they should all be killed, although the law has always prevented him from doing so. When the chaos ensues, he takes it as an excuse to murder the prisoners.

Luther: This guard is a coward who appears to have partially regressed into a child-like state from the trauma of the incident. When he first sees Torque, he runs, but if Torque teams up with him they will go to the radio tower together. The guard stays to watch over the radio while Torque goes to the Asylum to find out what is causing the interference that is blocking them from contacting help. When Torque comes back to the radio tower, he is dead.

Sergei: Sergei is hiding in a deserted room in the Asylum, smoking drugs (presumably opium or marijuana). He is too scared to leave, and thinks he should at least spend his last few hours happy, though he wishes the power was back on so that he could listen to his music. He gives Torque some hints on where he should go in the Asylum. You can find a small shack nearby the Asylum with a small patch of green, healthy plants with a sign that says "Sergei's Secret Stash, Live and let Live".

Clem: Clem is a Southern inmate who needs Torque's help to escape, because Festers are blocking the route his raft is going to take. He was going to pull off his escape flawlessly, but the cataclysm stopped that from happening. If you help him, he gets away in his raft, and leaves you a map of the basement of the Prison, with a few helpful supply stashes marked. He is also the recorder of the Monster Archives.

Unknown Guard and Harley: Two guards you find on your second time through the prison. Only one of them (a temperamental, foulmouthed man) is identified by name, by the other one, who is constantly trying to drag him back to relative safety. Torque can save them from the Festers and other creatures. Their fate is unknown, though they do hole up in the base of one of the towers.

Jimmy the Mad Bomber: An inmate named Jimmy that Torque finds near the old fort. Or, more precisely, Torque first finds his sticks of TNT. He thinks you're a guard at first, and tries to kill you. He doesn't believe in the monsters. He thinks the guards doped up the food, and that they're killing the drugged prisoners, with the inmates seeing them as hideous monsters. He is killed by Hermes in the lighthouse basement.

Ernesto: A Latino C.O. who hates the inmates, he thinks they are all scum and should die. He was one of the guards that greeted Torque and escorted him to his cell. When he met up with Torque later, he decides that he isn't so bad. His wife and children went missing, and he goes into town to look for them. It is not known what happens to him, or his family. His wife is Consuela, the woman that wrote the Island Location Archive, and also calls the Prison at one point by radio, trying to get ahold of Ernesto.

Dr. Killjoy: Dr. Killjoy is a depraved psychologist/medical practitioner who worked out of the Asylum in the early 20th century. He used many deplorable methods on his patients, more often than not resulting in their death. No one knows what happened to him, but his spirit now lives on through old film projectors. Dr. Killjoy is extremely interested in Torque's mental condition, and wants to help cure him. His methods will not be painless, though. It is not certain as to how much he wants to help Torque, or if he has his own agenda.

Captain Hermes T. Haight: Hermes Haight was an executioner at the prison for decades, one who enjoyed his job a bit too much. His favorite method was using the gas chamber. Eventually, he became so obsessed with it, he gassed himself. Now he roams the Island, killing survivors he finds with the gas his spirit emits. He is completely evil and tempts Torque give in to the island's nature also.

Horace: Horace is a spirit who is trapped in the prison. He is a famed inmate of Abbott, who seems to have a surprising amount of things in common with Torque. He was driven mad by the evil of Carnate Island, and killed his wife at the end of a conjugal visit. He was executed in the electric chair, and is forced to relive it constantly. He seems to want to help Torque escape.

Torque's Family: Throughout the game, Torque is haunted by the spirits of his wife, Carmen, and two sons. Their spirits will treat Torque differently, depending on how you play the game.

Monsters

These monsters are the reincarnations of the atrocities committed by people against each other during the Island's long, dark history. Each represents a form of execution, although the game documentation suggests that most of the monsters are incarnations of the executioners rather than the execution victims. Some of these creature will sometimes kill each other.

Slayer: Slayers are the incarnation of decapitation and dismemberment. They are the first and most common enemy in the game. Their limbs are held together with metal spikes, and end in razor sharp swords. Their heads are also only attached by spikes, and can (and should) be blown off. Slayers can regenerate later in the game, and can only be stopped from doing this by burning, dismemberment with the shotgun or Torque's monstrous attacks, or taking off their head with a well-placed shot. There are also bigger, tougher masked slayers who can take more of a beating than their smaller counterparts and have more damaging attack combinations, in addition to the ability to deflect bullets with their overzised arm blades. All Slayers can perform a quick mid-air charge, where they jump up and propel themselves at Torque, knocking him down if they hit him. Powerful light, such as from spotlights, will kill Slayers, burning them up. Slayers seem to be designed as an antithesis to the classic zombie. They are agile, are not hungry and a while a head shot will keep the creature from coming back to life, it will do little else than stun the beast.

Marksman: Marksmen are gigantic blind beasts, with a battery of rifles protruding from their back. They are the incarnation of a firing squad that executed 3 innocent German-descended American soldiers during World War II. Marksmen are big, and can move surprisingly fast, but are not very strong. Although they are blind, it is considered that they can hear the heart-beats of their prey. They attack by firing concentrated salvos from their rifles, or occasionally with machine-gun like streams of bullets. If threatened with melee, they have the ability to fire bullets from their multiple wounds in small radius around them, effectively repelling melee attackers. For closer-range prey, Marksmen also have the ability to detonate themselves like land mines, killing themselves and nearby foes in a lethal shower of shrapnel.

Mainliner: Mainliners represent lethal injection. They are pathetic, crippled creatures. Their bodies are covered with needles filled with a toxic green fluid. They throw needles at Torque, and, if they get close enough, will jump up on his shoulders and inject some of their poison into his neck (if he can't shake them off in time). When they die, they emit a gaseous harmful cloud for a short time. They also possess a limited "teleportation" ability, where they will "melt" into the ground and emerge from a puddle of fluid. Look for any pools of water or blood on the floor, as these are the spawning points for Mainliners.

Nooseman: Noosemen are incarnations of the hanging method of execution, more specifically the lynching and skinning of 5 C.O.'s by inmate workers in retaliation for the Quarry cave-in incident. They can drop out of the ceiling on top of people (always from large bloody puddles on the ceiling), where they proceed to strangle them and lift them off the ground. Their body ends at the torso, with their spine and organs trailing out below them. Fighting them can be difficult, as they will quickly retreat up their ropes should their attack be repulsed. Often, it is better to avoid them.

Burrower: Burrowers are the incarnation of inmates who where buried alive, probably the ones buried in the Quarry cave-in and left to die. They are wrapped in a body bag and bound with chains. There are many dangerous steel hooks that the Burrowers use to smash Torque to the ground. Sometimes Burrowers will spin around at high speeds and the chains will hit anyone in their diameter. Like their name suggests, they travel by moving underground. They can be seen by the trails of dirt they leave on the surface. It is possible to throw an explosive into the holes left after they emerge to attack, and doing so will instantly slay them.

Fester: Festers are gigantic, fat beasts, that appear to have been sewn together haphazardly. Though they represent the hideous death of slaves eaten alive by rats, these monsters seem to actually be the slave traders themselves, forced to relive the fate they gave their human cargo. They attack with both a gigantic flail and swarms of explosive rats that erupt from their stomach periodically. They also attack with a ball-and-chain, presumably restraints similar to the ones use to keep their slaves in control. They can only be killed with the axe, explosives, or fire. When they die, they unleash a final group of rats, unless their corpses are burned.

Inferna: Infernas represent three young girls from the 16th century who accused 11 innocent people of in the town of Goodsmouth. The accused were burned at the stake by angry townsfolk, so the girls suffer forever wreathed in fire. When Infernas are in the form of little girls, they are invulnerable, but when they change into their hideous, decrepit flaming form they can be hurt, although they can take quite a beating before they die. If their cinders aren't destroyed after they die, they will resurrect and attack Torque again. Infernas trail fire behind them, and as such they will try to surround Torque before attacking with an expanding corona of flame. In the game's story it is revealed that the three girls mysteriously disappeared after the burnings, and towards the very end of the game (incidentally, almost immediately after fighting the game's final Inferna) a vision of the three girls jumping off some nearby cliffs seem to imply what happened to them.

The Black One: The gigantic monster Torque fights at the docks in the end of the game, a personification of Torque's hate and rage manifested by the Island. It is a gigantic hideous beast, with a miniature Torque bound to it like a phallus, or umbilical cord. It has a point of weakness in the middle of its chest.

Weapons

There are a good amount of weapons in the game, all of which are extremely useful to Torque.

Shiv: Found right at the beginning in the body of a slain death row inmate, the shiv is your last-ditch defense against the nightmarish creatures of Carnate Island. The only use after the revolver is found is to break boxes and chairs blocking the path so ammo isn't wasted.

Revolver: Found on the Head C.O. after he is killed, the revolver is a good all around weapon with six shots. When another is found, single or dual revolvers can be equipped.

Tommy Gun: First found in a guard tower, this gun isn't as strong as the shotgun or revolver, but has a gigantic clip size (248) and a high rate of fire. Recommended for taking down groups of monsters.

Shotgun: First dropped by a dead C.O. in the exercise yard, the shotgun is a more powerful weapon, but is much slower to fire than the other weapons. A blast at close range will blow most monsters to pieces. Otherwise, it is almost useless at longer distances.

Fire Axe: Located in the basement of the Asylum, the fire axe is more powerful than the shiv, but is really only good if ammo is low, or for Festers if there are no available projectiles. There is also a Fire Axe in the Asylum hedge maze.

Flamethrower: The Flamethrower isn't found, but must be assembled with a gas can, a bicycle pump and a flare. It has limited ammo and is used up fast, but it is good for killing Festers.

Flash/Bang grenade: Found in numerous locations around Carnate, Flashbangs are good for stunning monsters and then letting loose bullets while they cannot move.

TNT Stick: Found mainly outside and in the quarry, these are powerful explosives that can take out a few enemies at once, or one Fester.

Molotov Cocktails: A bottle filled with flammable liquid with a scrap of cloth to light with. Especially good for Festers and for burning tightly packed groups of monster, especially Slayers.

Shrapnel Grenades: Found later on, these are more powerful than TNT Sticks, but there aren't as many of them. Again, good for Festers and groups of monsters.

"Gonzo Gun": This bizarre weapon was thought to only be obtainable through the input of cheat codes. However, this is not true. It appears to have been included as a sort of "inside joke" from the game designers, as every game made by The Suffering's production team has included some form of chicken gun. It is, quite literally, a chicken that fires eggs as projectiles. It is similar in function to the revolver, although its "ammunition" is more powerful, almost always a one-hit kill and it cannot be dual-wielded.

Items

Flare: Found all over Carnate, flares are good for lighting up dark rooms if flashlight power is low, and one is needed to make the flamethrower.

Gas Can: A few on Carnate, on is found at the burned house. Used as ammo for the flamethrower.

Bicycle Pump: Needed to make the flamethrower.

Xombium: Pills that restore about 1/5 of Torques health. He can carry 9 bottles at once.

Flashlight Batteries: Needed to power the flashlight. Torque can carry up to 9 at once.

Flashlight: The Head C.O. Directs Torque to the flashlight, which is located in a C.O. lounge next to a bathroom in D-Block (death row).

Notes: Over the course of the night Torque can find some notes that will hint him onward, or shed some light on the background of Carnate and what is happening on the island.

Locations

There are many locations on Carnate, each with its own disturbing, violent past.

Abbot State Penitentiary: The main building of Carnate Island. A Prison with a violent and brutal past, it has one of the highest homicide rate, and the highest suicide rate, in all of America. Many executions have been carried out here, some more unorthodox and inhumane than others.

The Asylum: An old Victorian asylum where Dr. Killjoy operated, experimenting on patients in cruel and violent ways. It is possible that he is creating the creatures that are plaguing the island here, although this has not been proven.

Burned House: A house that burned down 2-3 hundred years ago for unknown reasons. There is also a well nearby.

Slave ship Wreck: The wrecked remains of a 17th century slave galleon. When it was cast onto the beaches of Carnate Island, the slave owners abandoned the place, leaving behind the Negro slaves as well to die from either starvation or from drowning.

World War 2 Fort/ Crash Site/ Bluffs: The fort was a P.O.W camp during World War II. When a German plane crashed (the crash site), the colonel who ran the fort suspected it was there because of spies. Despite lack of evidence, he had 3 most certainly innocent men (who happened to be of German descent) executed by firing squad at the bluffs, where the victims corpses can still be found.

Prison Cemetery: An eerie place where the dead prisoners whose bodies aren't claimed by relatives are buried at. The graves of Horace and Hermes lie here, and the dead seem to whisper continuous regrets and pleas to all who walk on its soil.

Old Cemetery: A forgotten graveyard where the 11 innocent people who were burned at the stake reside.

Quarry: A stone quarry where prisoners were forced to dig out stones to build the prison, which has been closed since the 1960s. At one point, a part of the quarry caved in and buried several inmates alive, but the guards ignored their pleas and left them to die. This caused a riot of inmates and the result was the lynching of 5 C.O.'s.

The Town/The Docks: The docks are the only entry and exit from Carnate, for both inmates and C.O.'s. The town is where the C.O.'s and their families live, practically stranded on the forsaken island.

Sequel

The sequel Ties That Bind was released in the US on September 26, 2005 for PS2, Xbox, and PC.

Trivia: In-game References

Outside the Asylum, when you leave it, there is a small hedge maze. If you go in, you see Torque's youngest son running deeper into the maze. You can find an old, desiccated body sitting with its back against the maze wall with an axe nearby. This seems to be a reference to Stanley Kubrick's movie The Shining.

In the prison area where inmates are rioting/celebrating in their cells, when first approached, they will shout several things, one of them being "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", which is a reference to the song of the same name by Gil Scott-Heron.

When you are in the World War II bunker, you find a desk with three phones. Two of them are green and one is red. Pick up the red phone first and you will hear a girl's voice say "You will die in seven days". This is a reference to the movie The Ring.

On many of the walls you will find the words "If there is a God, then why has he let me die", which is a quote from the song "Hallowed Be Thy Name" by Iron Maiden. Also, on two walls near the beginning of the game, there are the words "This is a world that has gone very wrong for me", which is also from the song.

On the back wall of one of the padded cells in the mansion the words "God help the beast in me" are written in blood. This is the title of a song by Johnny Cash, who is also referenced by the words "The Man in Black never played here" written along a wall in one of a corridor in the prison. More graffiti on the wall reads "Johnny + June RIP" relating to the death of Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash.

On one of the walls in the prison, the words "Abbott Prison Blues" are written, which is a reference to the song "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash.

In some of the cells and in the infirmary later in the game, there are the words "Ticks and Leeches", "Suck me dry", and "I hope you choke". These are references to the song "Ticks and Leeches" by the band Tool.

The character Horace could possibly be a reference to Wes Craven's film Shocker, which stars a serial killer named Horace Pinker who was executed by--and gained powers from--the electric chair.

After you escape from the asylum, if you go along the outer wall of the building on the left side, you'll find a group of trees near the wall which conceal a group of bodies. Besides some supplies and an eerie speech from Dr. Killjoy, there is also a telephone on a box. Pick it up and you'll hear, "Oh God, Mother, No! Blood!". This is a fairly obvious reference to the Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho.

Engine Problems

Shortly after The Suffering: Ties that Bind was released for the PC, numerous players who had bought it and who also owned the PC version of the original faced bizarre graphical glitches in the first game, where models don't appear (but their shadows do), walls are missing, etc. At first it was believed to be a driver issue, but in fact it was caused by the sequel's updated version of the Riot Engine interfering with the original. The solution was to ensure both games were fully uninstalled, then manually go through the Windows registry and manually delete anything related to Surreal Software, The Suffering, or the Riot Engine.

Film

On September 8, 2005, Midway and MTV Films announced that a flim version of The Suffering was underway ^* . The film started production in 2006 and should be released in 2007 or 2008 .

Credits

Project Lead / Lead Designer / Writer: Richard Rouse III
Project Director: Alan Patmore
Technical Director: Stuart Denman
Art Director: Mike Nichols
Audio Director: Nick Radovich
Lead Programmer: Patrick Betremieux
Lead Artist: Beau Folsom, Jerusha Hardman
Lead Animator: Scott Cummings
Lead Sound Designer / Music Direction: Boyd Post
Lead Producer: Nick Radovich
Producer: Chris Klimecky
Lead Level Designer: Andre Maguire
Technology Lead: Tim Ebling
Lead FX Artist: Joe Olson
Associate Producer: Bach Payson
Game Designer: Nathan Cheever, Ben Coleman, Michel Stultz, Jay Fuller
Senior Engine Programmers: Tom Vykruta, Shaun Leach
Senior AI Programmer: Greg Alt

External links

The Suffering | The Suffering | The Suffering

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