LAYERS OF FEAR (2016) 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.
