Tormentor Review: Running a Torture Prison for Likes

TL;DR

A bold experiment in playable moral bankruptcy that occasionally trips over its own chains.

Tormentor is ambitious, ugly, provocative, and frequently impressive. It’s also uneven, self-serious, and occasionally so desperate to be disturbing that it forgets to be engaging.

A fascinating failure? Not quite. A flawed provocation? Absolutely. A masterclass in moral bankruptcy? On a good day, yes.

Just don’t expect elegance. This is evil with rough edges, questionable pacing, and a mirror held uncomfortably close to your face.

You’re about to manage a torture prison on the darknet. You’ll want the right atmosphere.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEBZmgxdvpo

Becoming the Bastard

You don’t become evil in Tormentor. You spawn pre-evil, already late for your shift at the Hell Office, coffee in hand, conscience in a shallow grave.

You play Ezekiel, a man whose résumé includes trauma, captivity, memory loss, drug dependency, and running a darknet torture prison like it’s a start-up pitch deck. This is not a redemption arc. This is a descension. A graceful swan dive into the abyss, except the swan is on fire and screaming.

The game wants you to feel unwell about what you’re doing. Mission accomplished. Sometimes that discomfort is brilliant. Sometimes it’s just exhausting, like being stuck next to a philosophy student who discovered Nietzsche yesterday.

Choice & Consequence

On paper, Tormentor is a player morality system playground. In practice, it’s more like a morality fog. You’re told your choices matter. You feel like they matter. Then you realise the outcome is usually “do horrible thing A or horrible thing B.”

This isn’t a sandbox of evil. It’s a corridor. A very grim corridor. With stains.

CRIMENET approves of villain protagonists. We just prefer them to occasionally acknowledge the difference between calculated evil and pressing the “sadism” button again because the UI said so.

Writing & Dialogue

The writing is dead serious. Grim. Earnest. Very convinced of its own darkness.

There are moments of sharp, unsettling psychological horror. And then there are stretches that read like someone angrily typing at 3 a.m. while whispering “this is so messed up” to themselves.

It desperately needs more satire. Or at least one character who realises how absurd this entire operation is. Instead, everyone commits fully, like this is a documentary and the camera crew might be watching.

World & Lore

An abandoned prison built into ancient ruins. Secret networks. Dark rituals. Sponsors funding human suffering like it’s Formula 1.

It sounds incredible. Visually, it often is. Atmospherically, it works. But the world sometimes feels less like a living hellscape and more like a very expensive horror-themed escape room that forgot to hire actors with emotional range.

You’ll want more lore. You’ll expect more depth. You’ll occasionally get it. Then the game goes back to sharpening knives.

At this point you’ve realised Tormentor is less “deep psychological study”and more “what if capitalism, but with chains.”

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Combat & Powers

Combat exists. Technically.

It’s clunky. Awkward. Less “sadistic mastermind” and more “angry forklift operator.” When it works, it’s serviceable. When it doesn’t, it feels like the game itself is protesting its own concept.

You’re not executing elegant cruelty here. You’re wrestling with mechanics that seem unsure whether they want to be brutal, cinematic, or just done with it.

NPCs & Reactions

The prisoners are meant to be complex, broken people with secrets.

Sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re just noise generators waiting for the next interaction prompt.

Fear exists, but it doesn’t always land. Too often, reactions feel pre-recorded rather than earned. Which is unfortunate in a game entirely about psychological manipulation. If the NPCs don’t convince you they’re terrified, the whole operation starts to feel like an edgy theme park ride.

Progression & Rewards

You torture. You stream. You earn. You upgrade. Repeat.

Yes, sins pay. Very literally. Donations roll in. New tools unlock. The problem is that the loop wears thin faster than expected. There’s a sense of grinding misery not because the game wants to say something, but because it ran out of ways to say it.

Evil should escalate. Here, it plateaus.

Aesthetics & Soundtrack

Visually, Tormentor knows how to frame a nightmare. Lighting, gore, and set design often hit exactly the right note.

Then an animation breaks. Or a sound cue misses. Or a character moves like they’re late for a bus.

When it works, it’s horrifying. When it doesn’t, the illusion shatters and you remember you’re playing a video game that desperately wants to shock you into submission.

Replay Value

Shock has diminishing returns.

Your first hours are intense. Your second run feels familiar. By the third, the cruelty becomes routine. And routine is the enemy of horror.

Unless you really enjoy experimenting with slightly different flavours of moral decay, this is not a forever game.

Congratulations. You read an entire article about livestreamed tortureand you’re still here. That’s commitment.

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FAQ

Can you be truly evil in Tormentor? Yes. The game encourages it. Then stares at you silently like it’s disappointed you didn’t feel worse.

Is the story reactive? Somewhat. But don’t expect the world to dramatically reshape itself around your sins.

Is Tormentor worth it in 2025? If you’ve ever sided with the villain, questioned your own taste, and laughed nervously while doing it, this one’s for you.