Survival Horror Game 'Tormented Souls' Heads to Screen as Three Companies Acquire Film and TV Rights
The survival horror video game Tormented Souls is getting the screen treatment. ZQ Entertainment, Prime Universe Films, and Longevity Pictures have acquired the exclusive motion picture and television rights to the franchise, according to an exclusive report by Deadline.
ZQ Entertainment is financing development and co-financing production of the adaptation. The company's Ara Keshishian and Petr Jakl will produce alongside Adrian Askarieh of Prime Universe Films and Majd Nassif of Longevity Pictures.
The game's creators, Gabriel Araneda Quijada and Germán Araneda Quijada of Dual Effect, will serve as executive producers. Josh Wexler of Pure Imagination Studios rounds out the executive producer roster.
Tormented Souls launched on Steam, the PC gaming platform, developed by Dual Effect and published by PQube Games. It later expanded to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, and spawned a sequel, Tormented Souls 2. The game follows a young woman named Caroline Walker as she searches for missing twin girls inside the abandoned Wildberger Hospital — a classic survival-horror setup with fixed camera angles, limited resources, and puzzles to solve.
For Askarieh, the project adds to a track record in game-to-screen adaptations. Prime Universe Films produced the Hitman feature franchise, and Askarieh previously secured a two-year first-look deal with Constantin Film in 2017, Deadline and TheWrap reported at the time. That kind of deal — a first-look arrangement — gives a studio the right of first refusal on projects a producer brings to the table, in exchange for development funding.
On the legal side, PQube Games represented Dual Effect in the rights transaction. Askarieh was represented by the law firm Lichter, Grossman. ZQ Entertainment and Longevity Pictures were represented by attorneys Patrick Josten and Martin Bareb.
No director, cast, or release date has been announced. The project is at the development stage — meaning scripts are being written or sought, and financing structures are being put in place, before cameras roll.
For fans of the genre, the deal signals another horror video game making the jump to film and television, a corridor that has expanded in recent years as studios and streamers look for built-in audiences and recognisable titles.
