The Suffering - Ties That Bind (2005, Playstation 2)

The Suffering - Ties That Bind is an action game developed by Surreal Software and published by Midway. It was only released in North America and Europe. It also came out for Xbox and PC.

The game is the sequel to The Suffering. The game immediately picks up where the first game ended. You play again as Torque, after escaping the events on Abbot State Penitentiary on Carnate Island in the first game. If you have played through the first game and have the save data on the memory card, the game will adapt the intro to fit ending you have reached in part one (good, neutral or bad). In all cases, Torque will eventually be captured by mercenaries and brought to a research facility in Baltimore, led by a woman named Jordan. Just when Torque is approached, power fails and the guards report "specimen" having escaped. Torque can free himself and finds the city under attack by the monsters from the first game. He is getting visions from his ex-wife and his past while traveling through the city, hinting at suppressed details on the death of his family. So while once again fighting his way out of the same misery, Torque needs to find out what really happened.

Ties That Bind plays almost exactly as the first game, albeit with a more linear level design. Two major differences are the facts that Torque can only carry two types of main weapons with him now and need to swap to get a new one, and the fact that you cannot stock the bottles of Xombium to regain health any longer. The Xombium is used on the spot if you lack health, or left behind.