This game was an effective, creepy experience. Walking down the dark hallways of the place you explore in this game. The atmosphere is amazing. It was pretty good.
9 Reviews
this is good. It was creepy
merem15 January 2022
Masterpiece!
shyla_19 November 2019
This game is truly a masterpiece and it might be the scariest horror game i've ever played. It's like a 3 hours lasting chase through hell because you are scared all the time you're playing it. The atmosphere is fantastic, the jumpscares are really good and you always get a heart attack when they appear. It's sooo much better than other AAA horror games like Outlast or Until Dawn. Layers Of Fear is definitely one of the best horror games you can play if you want to have fear and goosbumps!
Intense Storytelling
aemmerling-3996331 October 2018
LAYERS OF FEAR: A Dark Narrative Experience
Jinxxa_Wolf21 February 2021
LAYERS OF FEAR was a very cool game, one I was not expecting to enjoy as much as I did. It was a very unique experience, unlike many other horror games I've played in the past. It took a fresh approach to some old, overwrought themes, creating its own style. It was certainly scary but in a mysterious way, blending elements of psychological and paranormal.
Without delving into spoiler territory, I shall say this, Layers of Fear is more of a narrative driven game. It is more like a walking simulator than the usual run-of-the-mill horror video game, but highly visual and artistic, and as the game progresses you get a growing sense of unease and a dark story to warily unravel. While the mechanics are fairly simple, the horror elements come more from a disorienting sense of an ever-changing environment, of madness, psychedelic hallucinations and claustrophobia. The house literally can change every time you turn around, walls shifting and moving, things appearing and rearranging, and the environment grows increasingly darker, stranger and wilder.
Some people may claim it's not scary, well no, not in the traditional, typic sense of the horror genre. It's not your every day zombie shooter, slasher, or haunted house game and does not reply heavily on jump-scares, but psychological suspense and subtly. While there are some jump scares, they usually are spread out and tastefully done, and generally not when expected or not how you're are expecting.
There is a certain brand of creepiness to be found and appreciated in suspense, surrealism, unpredictability, disorientation, delusions, hallucinations, claustrophobia, powerlessness and ultimately madness. I think the fact that this game allows for a bit of a slow buildup helps carry along that tension as well, although some impatient people looking that typical horror genre swill, (nothing wrong with that) will find themselves bored with this, perhaps fairly early on.
All I can say is that I enjoyed it. It gives a refreshing edge to the worn out horror genre. I felt that it was a decent, albeit disturbing change of pace from the usual stuff. I bought the second game soon after playing, though have yet to play it. I would recommend it to fans of horror/suspense genre but just be expecting something different.
(Horror, Suspense, Dark, Psychedelic, Walking Sim, Narrative, Mystery, Explorative,)
STORY: 7/10 GAMEPLAY: 9/10 GRAPHICS: 9/10 ART DESIGN: 8/10 MUSIC: 8/10 OVERALL RATING: 9.5
Without delving into spoiler territory, I shall say this, Layers of Fear is more of a narrative driven game. It is more like a walking simulator than the usual run-of-the-mill horror video game, but highly visual and artistic, and as the game progresses you get a growing sense of unease and a dark story to warily unravel. While the mechanics are fairly simple, the horror elements come more from a disorienting sense of an ever-changing environment, of madness, psychedelic hallucinations and claustrophobia. The house literally can change every time you turn around, walls shifting and moving, things appearing and rearranging, and the environment grows increasingly darker, stranger and wilder.
Some people may claim it's not scary, well no, not in the traditional, typic sense of the horror genre. It's not your every day zombie shooter, slasher, or haunted house game and does not reply heavily on jump-scares, but psychological suspense and subtly. While there are some jump scares, they usually are spread out and tastefully done, and generally not when expected or not how you're are expecting.
There is a certain brand of creepiness to be found and appreciated in suspense, surrealism, unpredictability, disorientation, delusions, hallucinations, claustrophobia, powerlessness and ultimately madness. I think the fact that this game allows for a bit of a slow buildup helps carry along that tension as well, although some impatient people looking that typical horror genre swill, (nothing wrong with that) will find themselves bored with this, perhaps fairly early on.
All I can say is that I enjoyed it. It gives a refreshing edge to the worn out horror genre. I felt that it was a decent, albeit disturbing change of pace from the usual stuff. I bought the second game soon after playing, though have yet to play it. I would recommend it to fans of horror/suspense genre but just be expecting something different.
(Horror, Suspense, Dark, Psychedelic, Walking Sim, Narrative, Mystery, Explorative,)
STORY: 7/10 GAMEPLAY: 9/10 GRAPHICS: 9/10 ART DESIGN: 8/10 MUSIC: 8/10 OVERALL RATING: 9.5
Boring
justintimms23 April 2020
This game is scary if you never ever played a scary game in your life. Graphics are amazing and game play pretty good. Puzzles are too easy, when I mean easy, I mean A kindergarten can figure it out. Short Confusing Game!
About as layered as a Bob Ross painting (SPOILERS)
kreisnoa23 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
No disrespect to Bob Ross, mind you. But this game is about as simplistic as one of his happy little accidents. This game is an accident, if you ask me.
"Layers of Fear" purports to be a horror game. I say "purports", because it isn't actually scary. Startling, yes, but scary? Never. Jordan Peele once said that horror and comedy share a lot of the same ingrediants. They both feature setups and payoffs, with said payoff usually being something unexpected that catches you off-guard for either horrific or humorous effect.
In horror, this usually means atmospheric and tense buildup, with a horrific payoff such as a death or other disturbing imagery. In the worst horror productions, this is in the form of a "jumpscare", meaning the payoff is simply a loud noise. This is not scary. This is startling. What's worse, when it's over, all tension deflates. It's the cheapest, most predictable way to scare an audience. "Layers of Fear" is nothing but jumpscares. All its payoffs are just LOUD NOISES, despite some decent buildup to scares. But it's all buildup. Nothing scary here.
As for the game's narrative, it is much like the game's scares; all setup with disappointing payoff. You begin as a man with a slight hobble, and you explore his dilapidated mansio searching for clues to his past. It's interesting at first, and connecting the dots to find the story for oneself from the enviornment is always fun, but the story to be found here is cliche, a simple story of a father becoming obsessed with painting and neglecting his family, leading to his wife's eventual suicide, and a final twist revealing the whole game has been a dance through the painter's mentally ill mind as he wrestles with guilt and schizophrenia. All the ingrediants are here for a cool story, but it's wasted on tepid reveals punctuated by the aftermentioned jumpscares.
The game looks beautiful, and the sound design is excellent. But this only adds to the feeling that the game is all dressing. Tense setup and atomosphere with little actual horror. Intriguing plot setup with a bland conclusion. Beautiful graphics and sound with nary a fun game to use them on.
"Layers of Fear" shows a lot of potential, and there is obviously talent in the people who created it. But the team obviously didn't know quite how to tie all of its well-doe elements together into a cohesive, satisfying gaming experiece.
"Layers of Fear" is like many paintings: Gorgeous, but ultimately meaningless.
Hopefully now that their feet (brushes?) are wet, the team can improve on the game's formula and be more original with a sequel. But given that said sequel is literally entitled "Layers of Fear 2", somehow, I doubt it.
"Layers of Fear" purports to be a horror game. I say "purports", because it isn't actually scary. Startling, yes, but scary? Never. Jordan Peele once said that horror and comedy share a lot of the same ingrediants. They both feature setups and payoffs, with said payoff usually being something unexpected that catches you off-guard for either horrific or humorous effect.
In horror, this usually means atmospheric and tense buildup, with a horrific payoff such as a death or other disturbing imagery. In the worst horror productions, this is in the form of a "jumpscare", meaning the payoff is simply a loud noise. This is not scary. This is startling. What's worse, when it's over, all tension deflates. It's the cheapest, most predictable way to scare an audience. "Layers of Fear" is nothing but jumpscares. All its payoffs are just LOUD NOISES, despite some decent buildup to scares. But it's all buildup. Nothing scary here.
As for the game's narrative, it is much like the game's scares; all setup with disappointing payoff. You begin as a man with a slight hobble, and you explore his dilapidated mansio searching for clues to his past. It's interesting at first, and connecting the dots to find the story for oneself from the enviornment is always fun, but the story to be found here is cliche, a simple story of a father becoming obsessed with painting and neglecting his family, leading to his wife's eventual suicide, and a final twist revealing the whole game has been a dance through the painter's mentally ill mind as he wrestles with guilt and schizophrenia. All the ingrediants are here for a cool story, but it's wasted on tepid reveals punctuated by the aftermentioned jumpscares.
The game looks beautiful, and the sound design is excellent. But this only adds to the feeling that the game is all dressing. Tense setup and atomosphere with little actual horror. Intriguing plot setup with a bland conclusion. Beautiful graphics and sound with nary a fun game to use them on.
"Layers of Fear" shows a lot of potential, and there is obviously talent in the people who created it. But the team obviously didn't know quite how to tie all of its well-doe elements together into a cohesive, satisfying gaming experiece.
"Layers of Fear" is like many paintings: Gorgeous, but ultimately meaningless.
Hopefully now that their feet (brushes?) are wet, the team can improve on the game's formula and be more original with a sequel. But given that said sequel is literally entitled "Layers of Fear 2", somehow, I doubt it.
Really misses the mark
Hexximi17 April 2022
I bought this hoping it would be anything like Visage or Infliction but oh how disappointed I was. The scares are only visual and don't inflict any true horror to the player. The puzzles are way to easy, story is cliché and weak, and the game is just filled with filler rooms that fill no function. The audio is good and provides tension, and there are a few jumpscares that get you good but eventually even those feel stale. Those who say this is the scariest game ever cannot have played any horror games, or at least very few. I've played plenty and this is like a kid version of the horror games i was hoping it would be like. Wasted money IMO.
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