The game which I will be reviewing today is one of my favorite horror games, it's called Layers of Fear. It's a first person psychological horror game that was released back in 2016 on the PC, PS4, and the Xbox One as well. The game was developed and published by a company called Bloober Team. Bloober Team is a relatively new studio, and has only produced a handful of games over the past 9 years since they're founding. They also recently released another horror title called Observer which I'm dying to try out, and hopefully will be able to review in the future. Anyways, the version of the game that I will be reviewing is the PC version which I got on Steam.
This game starts off very in a very similar tone compared to other horror series such as Outlast and Amnesia, with the first few minutes of game play and atmosphere being what I would refer to as a cookie cutter of modern horror games these days. That in itself isn't a bad thing when being compared to 2 great entries in horror gaming. Now having said that, I also have to say that I was really hoping for something different than a typical survival horror game. Thankfully, however, that quickly changes after the first 7-8 minutes and we're introduced to the start of a wonderfully depraved and creepy psychological horror experience.
The game starts us off by having us play the role of a nameless artist who's currently in the midst of trying to finish his latest and greatest piece of work. The setting of the game is within the home of our protagonist, who lives in an decaying, and run down 19th century manor. The entirety of the manor has a somewhat creepy atmosphere on it's own, even before the horror elements kick in which I think helps with setting the atmosphere. I mean, creepy mansions in disarray have always been a great backdrop in horror games, haven't they?
The main objective of this particular game is hunting down 6 specific objects scattered throughout the characters home during each chapter of the game, which are required for finishing his latest piece of art. The controls for the game are fairly simple overall, where you only use a few keys and your mouse to move things around, walk, and look around the room. Honestly, if you're familiar with Amnesia's controls, then you'll feel right at home with this game. Beyond the exploration of the home for the 6 items, you'll be doing quite a bit of puzzle solving as well.
As we make our way through the game exploring our characters memories from the recent years, we slowly start to see that he has driven himself into madness due to certain events that have transpired over the recent years. After proceeding through the game for a short while, the environment of the manor from time to time begins to warp in bizarre ways and even shifts into rooms that are mindbending at times. This can just be simple things like colorful paint eerily dripping down the walls, all the way down to the entire room you are in melting down to the floor like wax. You'll quickly start to realize that you have to carefully sift through things and figure out what is and isn't real in the eyes of your character, as there's plenty of life like hallucinations and illusions in this game.
I should mention that the game does use the jump scare tactic which games like Outlast or Amnesia have used in the past, and as you proceed further into the game they become more frequent. However, it definitely does not overly rely on this type of scare to make you feel frightened as you play. A lot of the scares and sense of anxiety come from the heavy, oppressing feeling of uneasiness you start to feel while you begin to unravel the story. A big part of the story as well is reflecting on the horrifying and cruel things that your character has been involved in, in some way or form. This also adds a sense of dread to the game as you start feeling uncomfortable with the man you're controlling at times.
There's also a supernatural like element to the game happening beyond the melting rooms, like seemingly infinite objects dropping out of paintings all of a sudden, rats throwing themselves into a firepit after crawling out of objects in the room, or creatures made from objects in the environment coming to life all of a sudden. In reality, these things could just be from our character's obvious insanity, but it does leave you questioning the truth of the situation at hand. With all of this thrown together, the game certainly does a great job at showing the viewpoint of a man who's world has been absolutely shattered.
As you continue on your journey, you will really need to explore every nook and cranny of the rooms you're exploring. The reason for this is so you're able to find the interactable items such as notes and newspaper clippings which greatly help you piece together the story of the artists past, in this way you get an idea of why he is the way he is. There are actual collectibles which you can find throughout the game as well, which are either photographs or drawings of things related to the character. Some of the items which you can interact with will trigger flashbacks of past events. Some of those items that you find will show when the artist was happy and full of joy and contentment with his life, while others will show his darker, damaged side that has been slowly getting worse over time.
Even the smallest details can help to piece together and tell parts of the story as a whole. Details like the protagonists daughters drawings on the walls for example are an important item for the narrative. There are many symbolic things within the game that hide extra details that can show you even more into the characters broken world. In a way, the levels themselves in a way can show a symbolism to the mental and physical issues the character has, such as how you'll find many dead ends then turn around only to find yourself trapped in a room with no door all of a sudden. Much like how the protagonist feels trapped and lost with no way out, due to his writers block which keeps him from finishing his work.
One of my favorite, and maybe the greatest thing about this game, is how they've managed to combine the atmosphere of the game itself into the narrative in a way. You'll often notice small things that grab your attention while you play which help to make you feel nervous, things that aid a feeling of anxiousness because you've no idea what's happened in these areas or why things are the way they are. They also help to expand the narrative a bit, and make you wonder what has previously happened in the rooms you've entered.
The type of things I'm talking about are small things like shattered glass on the ground that crunches while you walk over it, the boom of thunder while you hear the wind coming in through a window, or sinister paintings or items on the walls that make you question if you're in reality or not. These small details will continue to feed and build up your feelings of distress and uneasiness which only further fuels the fear you feel when things go nuts all of a sudden. You're not sure why that glass is broke, why the window is letting in rain and wind, or who has left these creepy messages behind along the damaged walls.
I should also probably mention that there are 3 different possible endings to this game, a good ending, a bad ending, as well as a neutral ending. I personally believe that the bad ending fits the best with the themes of the game overall, which I'm sure might sound a bit strange to hear. However, the other endings still work with the themes and premise of the game quite well too. The graphics for the game are beautiful, to say the least. I love the color palettes that were used, and the art style of the game is great, especially for the mindbending sections.
Even the art direction for the little collectible pieces of paper and other items have a great style to them, albeit it can get somewhat creepy at times as the artists madness shows it's influence on some of the clues you find. I guess you could expect this considering that the game is centered around an artist. I definitely won't boast that this game is the most gorgeous looking game to be released in recent times, but the level of details that went into the environment are just simply impressive and only helped to add on to the already dark, and unnerving designs.
The only negative point to this game that I would like to bring up and talk about is how short it is for the price, when it's not on sale that is. I ran through the game on my first try after about 4 or so hours, and on my second try I did it in just about 3 hours. For the $20 this costs new, I would expect to get at least 7-8 hours of actual gameplay for the price. This isn't to say the game isn't great, which it is, I just feel that we should have gotten a bit more out of the story for what they expect us to pay.
At $20, I can still recommend grabbing it if you're desperate for a great psychological horror game. However, I would urge you to wait until it's on sale for $10 or under during a winter/autumn/summer sale or some sort of other Steam sale. I personally think at $10 or under it would feel much more fair for the short playthrough time that we get out of it. But, maybe this is just me being nit picky since I'm slightly spoiled with steam sales. I'll leave that up to your judgement on if you're willing to pay or not.
Overall, the best way to briefly describe this game for me is that it's like playing Silent Hill P.T., but if you were on acid while doing so. The artist's mind will not follow the rules of reality, nor should you expect it to at any point. Layers of Fear throws you into the mind of an insane artist and creates a unique and wonderful horror game experience that focuses on atmosphere and exploration. If you're into psychological horror games at all, I would be shocked if you didn't get enjoyment out of it. I would definitely recommend this one to any fan of the horror genre, if you don't play it you're missing out.
Thanks for checking out my review! Hope you've enjoyed it!
Silent Hill P.T. but on acid? Damn, sign me up! :)
Also, @originalworks should give this an upvote too, I think. :)
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this reminds me of bio-hazard 4, men what a Game this will be.......
Nice work
I like (as well as fear) the psychological horror.. that's why I felt attracted to this game as I read your review... I'll take note of it and maybe get it in a sale or a bundle.
This made me remember "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" a game I reviewed a while ago... it has 7 endings, 6 of them are bad. and The TRUE ending is one of the worst ones, but it still suits the theme of that game so much...
Hahaha!! I feel exactly the same... I almost never buy anything at the full price.
Great input.
With this review I think 20$ is a token.
I'll check it out.
Thanks for sharing
This post has received a 2.76 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @deadspace.