Review — Layers Of Fear

Layers Of Fear

We Sit Down And Review Layers Of Fear. It’s been labeled as one of the scariest games in a while but is that true? Here’s Our Review Of Layers Of Fear

Last year some of the bold gave Layers Of Fear a chance as it hit Steam in way of an Early Access. Usually these don’t amount to much and given the failure that Bloober Team suffered not long before that with Basement Crawl not many people wanted to go through the horror of another terrible game. Then it was shown to have some great promise and Aspyr Media chose to foot the bill and give the developer another chance at greatness. It has since been claimed to be like other great horror titles out there but did they hit the mark with Layers Of Fear or is it just another jump scare into mediocrity? Here’s our review.

Story

All artists are claimed to be a little mad and you happen to take the role of one who looks like he has finally snapped. Or he snapped before and we are just watching the fast descent into madness he is taking as steps are taken to finish his magnum opus. Could it all be a hallucination? Is he torturing himself for atrocities committed in the past? Or have the dead risen to enact some kind of horror on him until he is able to craft one last portrait? That is what we get to find out as we stumble around his old and odd-shaped home collecting art supplies.

Hated

In Layers Of Fear it seems like pretty much anything can be opened or pulled out in terms of storage space. Most of the time there is nothing to find but little story clues and insights can be found. More than anything I see this as a way to increase tension in the game in the form of “Do you search or should you keep moving ahead to stay alive?” Sadly it would seem that the tension is greatly lost here as the hit areas on everything are so small that one gets more frustrated with trying to open drawers to expand the experience than remembering there are true horrors hunting them down or wanting to make you need to change your pants. I really not sure how Bloober Team could fix this and still leave all of the options in the game but I was constantly pulled out of the immersion set up because I was getting upset that I couldn’t target the drawer handle so I could open it to find nothing inside.

That may seem like a bit of a nitpick more than anything but seeing as the story for Layers Of Fear is pretty much told through newspapers, pictures, and items hidden throughout the sprawling estate it does hold a huge impact. Especially since there is little rhyme or reason to the story by missing certain items. At least that is another one of my take-aways here as I am still not completely clear on what the character’s motivation for anything was outside of a few things picked up in said clippings. I guess what I am saying is that there was enough story mixed in to make you know Layers Of Fear had one but then it felt omitted enough to the point of being upsetting and not adding to the mystery of the game.

Lastly, and this is the nitpick, there was no true indication of death or failing in the game mechanics at all. I know it existed in the game as there is a trophy/achievement for the first time you die but the game picks up at a different section or area to show no indication that anything has happened. The fear of character death is something that helps place the player in the shoes of the character in a game like Layers Of Fear and having him “pass out” and wake up in an area that shows no indication of failure doesn’t show dread to me but more that I did the correct thing as the game is pressing on.

Loved

I am truly blown away with Bloober Team‘s gameplay mechanic and level designs here in Layers Of Fear. Yes there are basic rooms with old creepy stuff in them. That is on the front end. It is the back end stuff that caught my affection here as even minor camera changes and walking in a certain direction could change everything. I am still a little baffled on the design process on how some of the great gimmicks pulled off in Layers Of Fear were done. If I had to give an example of amazing use of triggers and area triggers in gaming this game would be in the top three as each “gag” had to be completely thought out and planned like any magician’s trick that was going to be shown for a global audience. Truly amazing.

Another amazing aspect I found here in Layers Of Fear was that there wasn’t a huge reliance on jump scares to drive the horror. They were in there and some of them were so well planned that I was startled a few times but the atmosphere built in the game is what was the key factor. In all honesty the only way I think that could have been improved is if Layers Of Fear was played in a VR perspective and not just a dark room filled with paintings and an amazing sound set up. It was something that I know many people will use the title P.T. to describe but I would have to say that game could have learned a few things from Layers Of Fear.

Last up, and it is a bit unexpected, would have to be the puzzles mixed into the game and how they were used. I knew there would have to be a few as it is usually the way that horror games get paced but in Layers Of Fear they were used in such a way that they didn’t feel like a pacing structure but another source of the madness and fear we were fighting off. None of them were too difficult but that just let you focus on the true horrors in the game and the panic you would feel while trying to figure out a safe’s combination not know if something was lurking behind the destroyed bookshelf. So simple but so very effective and lowered the “notice” of it also driving a bit of the pacing in the game.

Overview

To claim Layers Of Fear is the next huge thing in horror video games wouldn’t be doing justice to anything; at least in terms of being a game that keeps you up at night. In terms of setting the atmosphere and using the game engine and mechanics to the peak of performance would do it justice. It does what other horror titles have done in the past, improved on things, and then made them a full game instead of a short experience. Layers Of Fear isn’t for everyone though as people will be looking for jump scares and very overt forms of horror to make them scream. While they are in there that just isn’t what this game is. It is fully worth at least one solid play through in my book though as there are some great design choices and elements mixed in that will give us all something new. That is what we all want and Layers Of Fear delivers. You just need to get past the hard to find story and issues with searching. After that you may just be kept up at night.

I give Layers Of Fear 363 seconds on the creepy phone call scale.

Layers Of Fear was developed by Bloober Team and published by Aspyr Media for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 16^th, 2016. A digital PS4 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.