Summary
The cult classic horror gamesThe SufferingandThe Suffering: Ties That Bindare being delisted from GOG beginning September 1, making them completely unavailable for PC gamers to purchase. Developed by thenow-defunct Surreal Software and Midway Games,The Sufferingand its sequel were released in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and earned somewhat mixed reviews. However, the originalSufferingwas a big commercial hit and both games are remembered fondly as two of the better survival-horror titles of the PS2 and original Xbox era.
The SufferingandTies That Bindhave never beenremastered or remade for modern platforms. To make matters worse, used copies of the games tend to go for nearly $50, which is how much they cost at the time of their original launch. Luckily, those on PC have been able to get their hands on bothThe SufferingandThe Suffering: Ties That Bindfor relatively cheap, with GOG hosting both games for a mere $9.99 a pop. Unfortunately for classic survival-horror fans, time is running out to buyThe Sufferingand its sequel from GOG, as they will soon be delisted and become completely unavailable for purchase.
It was recently confirmed thatThe SufferingandThe Suffering: Ties That Bindwould be removed from GOG beginning September 1. An exact time for the games to be delisted was not revealed, but it was stated that the games are being pulled due to the “publisher’s request.” With Midway Games no longer existing, the current publisher is Warner Bros. Interactive. It’s assumed that the reason whyThe Sufferinggames are being removed is due to expired music licensing rights, but it’s entirely possible that they are being removed for other reasons. Whatever the case may be, anyPC gamersinterested inThe SufferingorTies That Bindhas until an undetermined point on September 1 to buy the games.
The Suffering and The Suffering: Ties That Bind Are Being Delisted
The Sufferingis set on a prison island that is overrun with all matter of horrific monsters. Players take control of protagonist Torque, who is on death row for the alleged murder of his wife and children. Things get weird when Torque starts receiving messages from his supposedly dead wife, and then the new goal is for players to get Torque off the island alive.The Sufferingtakes a more action-oriented approach to thesurvival-horror genre, but still delivers plenty of creepy visuals.Ties That Bindlets players bring their save data over from the original to continue Torque’s story, which sees him facing off against the monsters from the original in a city setting.
Neither The Suffering nor The Suffering: Ties That Bind are available on Steam at the time of this writing, so interested PC gamers will need to play through GOG.
It’s definitely a bummer to see bothThe SufferingandTies That Bindlost to the void, especially since used copies of the games are so expensive nowadays. However, there is always hope they could be revived for modern platforms. Maybe Nightdive Studios will get its hands onThe Sufferingsimilarly to how it is releasing a remaster ofThe Thing2002 video game. Nothing to that effect has actually been announced at the time of this writing, though, so fans should certainly keep their expectations in check.
The Suffering
WHERE TO PLAY
EXPERIENCE THE TERROR AS YOU FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT OF AMAXIMUM SECURITY PENITENTIARY OVERRUN WITH GHASTLY; CREATURES, YOUR DESPERATE BID TO ESCAPE THIS HORRIFICPRISON AND THE ISLAND THAT SURROUNDS IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING AS YOU LEARN THE TRUTH IN THE SUFFERINGA FULL ARSENAL OF BRUTAL WEAPONSTRANSFORM INTO A HIDEOUS AND POWERFYD BEASTA HORDE OF GHOULISH) MONSTERS REPRESENTING VICIOUS EXECUTIONSEXPERIENCE THREE DIFFERENT ENDINGS BASED ON YOUR ACTIONS
