The Suffering Ties That Bind Walkthrough: Start Here
The Suffering: Ties That Bind opens with a return to Torque's prison stay, five years before the first game. Here is where to find a full walkthrough and what to expect from the main story.
In this article
You can finish The Suffering: Ties That Bind by following a full walkthrough for your platform, and this article points you to the right one. It is a sequel that adds more action, a darker storyline and more twisted creatures than the original [1].
The game's story is tied to your choices. Player actions and moral choices feed into a multi-leveled insanity mode, and each path gives a different experience [1]. That is why a walkthrough helps: it shows you how to reach the path you want without guessing.
The rest of this article sets up the story and points you to the guides. You can read it without spoilers beyond the opening premise, and then open a full guide when you need step-by-step help.
Where does the story pick up?
The story picks up before the first game, so you can start here without finishing it. The game opens by revisiting Torque's stay in the Eastern Baltimore Correctional Facility prison, five years before the events of the first game [2].
That makes this a prequel-style start. You are not catching up on a plot that has already moved on, and you do not need to finish The Suffering to follow what happens in the opening hours [2].
What the opening puts you in
The first thing you do is get a feel for Torque's life inside the prison. The events of the opening take place five years before the first game, so the setting and the tone are already set for what comes later [2].
Think of it as the backstory that the original game only hints at. If you remember the first game's ending, the opening here shows you how Torque got to that point. If you have never played it, you still get a clear starting point.
How to use this part of the guide
Read this opening for the story setup, then move on to a full walkthrough for your platform when you need help with combat or puzzles. The walkthroughs cover the gameplay that follows this start.
Begin with the prison opening, where the game revisits Torque's stay in the Eastern Baltimore Correctional Facility prison [2].
Everything in the guides builds on the prison opening described here.
How long does the main story take?
Treat that figure as a rough guide, since your pace will vary. If you explore every room and read every note, you will take longer. If you move straight through the levels, you may finish sooner.
Plan a few evenings rather than one sitting. Spreading it out also keeps the horror from wearing you down, and it gives you a natural stopping point at the end of each chapter.
Save at each natural break, such as the end of a level or a chapter, so you can pick up where you left off. That way a busy week does not force you to replay a long stretch. Finishing in a few sittings of about an hour and a half each is a practical way to get through the story without rushing it.
Where can you find a full walkthrough?
Your best free option is the full guide on GameFAQs, written by DEngel for the PlayStation 2 version of the game. It is a complete guide and walkthrough, so you can jump straight to the part you are stuck on. [3]
The GameFAQs page is dated Feb 19, 2023, so you can see how recent the guide is. [3] Older guides often stay online for years, so the date helps you judge whether the page is still the one you want.
IGN is the second place to look. Its walkthroughs page for the game collects playlists and a link to a written guide in one spot. [1] If you want to see a section played out before you try it yourself, the playlists are a handy place to start.
Choose the guide that matches the system you are playing on. Walkthroughs are written for specific platforms, and the steps can differ between them. If you play on PS2, open the PS2 guide first, not one written for another system. Once you have the right page open, search it for the chapter or area that is giving you trouble rather than reading from the top.
Where should you go next?
Start with the opening story setup, then open a full guide for your platform and work through it from the beginning. Reading the setup first makes the early scenes easier to follow, so you won't feel lost when the story picks up.
Keep the guide open as a reference for the moments you get stuck. Use the playlists and guides to jump straight to the section you need instead of reading ahead. That way you solve the puzzle or fight in front of you and keep the rest of the story unspoiled for later.