I am keen on the unique Layers of Fear. While it is a far cry from the extra widespread survival horror style and is firmly a story psychological horror (what some could negatively describe as a “strolling simulator”), it did not take me lengthy to fall in love with its twisted, visceral world and haunting story of the load of trauma, the consequences of obsession, and the results of dependancy, all wrapped in a macabre shell of layered paint and desolation.
Bloober Team could also be seen as hit and miss as a horror developer, however I nonetheless keep that Layers of Fear is a particular sport. Bloober Team determined to reimagine 2016’s Layers of Fear in Unreal Engine 5, full with the present Inheritance DLC, a brand new The Final Note DLC, Layers of Fear 2 (the 2019 sequel), and a brand new The Writer DLC to tie all these spooky tales collectively. It’s an formidable anthology of artwork and horror, and it completely shines on the newest and biggest gaming {hardware} and consoles. It’s not excellent, although, each due to lackluster new additions and lingering flaws of what already was.
Disclaimer: This overview was made doable by a overview code offered by Bloober Team. The firm didn’t see the contents of the overview earlier than publishing.
Layers of Fear: Visuals and efficiency
From the second you start enjoying, Layers of Fear (2023) begs to have its image taken. Repeatedly. Bloober Team and its co-developer, Anshar Studios, introduced all the sequence to life in Unreal Engine 5, and the dedication to creating this one of many best-looking horror sequence of all time reveals in each second of gameplay.
Layers of Fear (2023)
Developer: Bloober Team, Anshar Studios
Publisher: Bloober Team
Genre: Narrative-horror
Install measurement: ~18GB
Playtime: ~17 hours
Release date: June 15, 2023
Price: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PS5
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
You do not simply need to take my phrase for it. My Windows Central colleague, Miles Dompier, wrote that Layers of Fear (2023) correctly demonstrates the facility of Xbox Series X|S. Whether you play in Performance Mode for the slick 60FPS or in Quality Mode for extra pixels and lovely ray-traced lighting and reflections, Layers of Fear is correctly gorgeous. This is particularly true for the unique Layers of Fear and its surrounding DLC, which continuously impresses and amazes from each graphical and artwork design standpoints.
These visuals and steady, dependable efficiency assist Layers of Fear (2023) in constructing a morbid, terrifying environment. The near-abandoned mansion that is residence to the Painter, his household, and all their collective trauma oozes persona and horror in equal measure, with every picket panel and stroke of paint driving residence the horrible tales contained inside these twisted partitions. Bloober Team is exhibiting the potential of each Unreal Engine 5 and the Xbox Series X (on which I performed this sport).
While the unique Layers of Fear is darkish and resplendent in its maze-like stage design and big, physics-defying set items, Layers of Fear 2 — or the Actor’s Story — does not impress to the identical diploma. Yes, it is clear enhancements have been remodeled the unique 2019 launch, however Layers of Fear 2 nonetheless feels separate from the unique sport, all the encircling DLC, and extra content material. With far much less attention-grabbing and cohesive artwork design, a slightly bland setting on a cruise ship that does not fairly meld with the texture of the narrative, and a bevy of cliche or incongruous scenes, no quantity of graphical developments will make Layers of Fear 2 as memorable as its predecessor.
It appears Bloober Team felt the identical, as properly, because the Layers of Fear 2 parts of this remade assortment additionally really feel unbiased from the remainder of Layers of Fear (2023) from a gameplay perspective, however I’ll get to that quickly.
Stunning visuals and steady efficiency assist Layers of Fear in constructing a morbid, terrifying environment.
First, an outline of bugs and general stability. For essentially the most half, Layers of Fear (2023) felt very polished. Performance was implausible, load occasions had been quick (though loading screens had been extra frequent with the Actor’s Story), and I skilled no game-breaking glitches or crashes. However, I did expertise loads of a lot smaller points, like being teleported a couple of ft after a cutscene, or hand and arm animations being damaged (the Musician’s wrists will eternally hang-out me), and minor visible bugs surrounding Layers of Fear’s many shifting ranges and rooms.
I additionally managed to fall by means of the world to my loss of life twice, each through the Actor’s Story; as soon as by being pushed by a transferring wall, and the second time by strolling by means of an open doorway that was alleged to have closed behind me. Several achievements that I knew I earned by no means popped for me, both, like finishing the Daughter’s Story (the Inheritance DLC) or strolling a thousand steps. Finally, I noticed multitude cases the place voiceovers, transcriptions, and word textual content did not match up (any mixture of these three issues).
Layers of Fear: New content material
The advertising for Layers of Fear (2023) was horrible. More than horrible; I genuinely had little or no thought what precisely this sport was till I began enjoying it. So, I felt it could be helpful to explain what this sport is, and the brand new content material or adjustments you may anticipate in it. Firstly, this isn’t a brand new sport within the sequence, neither is it only a remake of the 2016 authentic. It’s extra a reimagined assortment of all Layer of Fear video games and DLC, plus some additional content material on high. Here’s what you get:
- Layers of Fear, or the Painter’s Story
- Layers of Fear: Inheritance, or the Daughter’s Story
- Layers of Fear: The Final Note, or the Musician’s Story
- Layers of Fear 2, or the Actor’s Story,
- The Writer DLC
Out of all of this, solely The Final Note and The Writer are brand-new, with the previous including extra to the unique Layers of Fear story and the latter being the glue that holds all the sport collectively. Beyond that, all the sequence advantages from improved visuals, lighting, and efficiency because of Unreal Engine 5 and current-gen consoles, in addition to extra settings and accessibility choices.
This is not a one-to-one remake — it is a reimagining supported by all-new content material and enhancements.
The authentic Layers of Fear additionally advantages from loads of adjustments. This is not a one-to-one remake — Bloober Team took this chance to take away among the worst acquired sections of the unique Layers of Fear (just like the notorious, meme-worthy second of a doll infinitely working right into a wall) to enhance the sport’s general high quality of horror. There’s additionally plenty of new lore, notes, and voiceover so as to add to the story. Finally, the mansion is now a hub of types that gamers can discover between chapters; as you discover and be taught extra about this tragic household, you populate the mansion with these tales. You can return to these gadgets and notes everytime you need, and in addition gauge what you may be lacking when you’re a completionist or achievement hunter.
The Inheritance DLC looks like nothing greater than a visible facelift, however it does really feel virtually an identical to the remade authentic sport and new DLC content material. I wasn’t as conversant in Layers of Fear 2 earlier than enjoying this sport, however it does not really feel prefer it acquired the identical stage of therapy as the unique, which I’ll element extra within the subsequent part.
Layers of Fear: Story and gameplay
I may discuss at size concerning the tales in Layers of Fear (2023), however I’ll chorus from full breakdowns to save lots of this overview’s wordcount. In common, Layers of Fear is break up into two important tales, the Painter’s Story and the Actor’s Story, with two supplementary tales for the previous (Daughter’s and Musician’s) and one closing story (Writer’s) that ties all the pieces collectively into one terrifying universe.
The authentic Layers of Fear and its DLC nonetheless stays the spotlight of all the sequence, telling a sophisticated and darkish historical past of a household beset by tragedy, psychological well being points, and basic breaks in relationships. You can play as all three family members (with the daddy, or Painter, being the focus of the sequence) to get an entire image of the story. It’s macabre and miserable, and there are not any glad endings right here (contemplate your self warned). Even when you performed the unique sport, The Final Note (which tells the unhappy story of the mom, or Musician), is a good addition to the sequence.
The authentic Layers of Fear and its DLC stays the height of the sequence.
Layers of Fear 2, or the Actor’s Story, lacks the consistency and drive of the unique, sadly. The story is messier, tougher to understand, and lacks that “particular sauce” to tie it collectively. You play because the Actor, trapped on a cruise ship with an eccentric director out to make yet another film. But first, you need to “construct the character” you may play, reliving your tragic previous with an abusive father, adopted by you and your sister working away to dwell as stowaways on a cruise ship. It’s not a horrible narrative, however it drags on too lengthy and positively struggles to check to the unique.
The Writer is the brand new overarching story to convey each Layers of Fear chapter collectively, and it is useful however in any other case brings little to the narrative expertise. That is to say, it succeeds at transitioning the Layers of Fear sequence from separate video games and experiences to 1 epic horror title with a brand new, extra episodic format, however there’s not sufficient substance within the Writer’s personal sections to make it attention-grabbing. There’s not sufficient right here to make since of the Writer’s historical past or the lighthouse wherein she’s trapped; by the top, you are simply left unhappy with what you understand.
Gameplay clever, Layers of Fear (2023) is nearly precisely what I anticipated. It’s a narrative-focused psychological horror slightly than a extra action-packed survival horror, so that you’re principally strolling by means of the rigorously designed ranges. You work together with the world by discovering notes and objects that add to the story, fixing puzzles, and opening doorways and containers. There are additionally loads of secrets and techniques to be present in each story, which may help you discover various endings (together with the “true” endings that usually require a number of playthroughs) or earn achievements.
Bloober Team took from Layers of Fear 2 so as to add a pinch of fight to the unique sport. Now, you may discover a lantern that can be utilized to uncover secrets and techniques and repel the sport’s one enemy, which can hunt you in sure areas. In Layers of Fear 2, you may discover a flashlight that can be utilized to control sure mannequins and freeze the sport’s one enemy, which can chase you down in sure areas. I did not thoughts that there was no fight within the authentic Layers of Fear, however I see why Bloober Team went this route. Just know there’s an choice to make the enemies innocent when you’d slightly not cope with that.
For essentially the most half, although, you are guided by means of the sport’s linear ranges to expertise its tales. Every a part of Layers of Fear (2023) feels totally an identical gameplay clever, apart from small discrepancies in — you guessed it — Layers of Fear 2. For some motive, Layers of Fear 2 lacks audio for footsteps, has a distinct UX for interacting with the world (and smaller home windows for the work together choice to look on objects and doorways), completely different or no animations for holding objects at occasions, and barely completely different motion controls (for some motive). Even the music, one of many highlights of the unique sport, is much less potent and memorable right here. None of this impacts the expertise an excessive amount of, however it’s one other signal that Layers of Fear 2 did not get wherever close to the identical quantity of affection as different elements of this sport assortment.
Image 1 of 6
Layers of Fear: Horror
In common, Bloober Team typically looks like a studio that’s intimately conversant in what scares folks in horror, however does not perceive why these issues are scary, a crucial element to make full use of these terror methods. The moments in Layers of Fear (2023) that genuinely scared me, made my pores and skin crawl, or lingered in my mind minutes later felt much less intentional and extra like Bloober Team threw all the pieces it may on the wall, and a few of it managed to stay (very well).
Layers of Fear 2 suffers from this way more, as a result of the unique Layers of Fear and its supporting DLC massively profit from the cohesion between the setting, the artwork design and environments, and the darker, extra understandable narrative that’s enhanced by all the pieces else. These strengths shore up the unique Layers of Fear’s weaknesses and make it extra terrifying general, even when it nonetheless depends on extra bounce scares than it ought to.
There are loads of scary moments in Layers of Fear, however there are much more moments that fall flat.
As I discussed earlier on this overview, the Actor’s Story struggles with a much less attention-grabbing setting and story, and Bloober Team shoves much more cliched horror moments into these shifting metallic partitions, even once they do not match within the context of the broader sport. The result’s a sport populated by sparse correct scares and lots of “I noticed that coming from a mile away” ideas.
I by no means anticipated Layers of Fear (2023) to be among the many scariest video games I’ve performed, however solely the unique Layers of Fear, or the Painter’s Story, actually embraces its psychological horror tag. The Inheritance and The Final Note DLCs focus extra on the story than the horror, whereas Layers of Fear 2 and The Writer fail to face out within the sea of wonderful horror video games. If you are solely invested within the horror style for the spooky moments, you could be dissatisfied by Layers of Fear (2023).
Layers of Fear: Accessibility
The authentic Layers of Fear was easy each in its gameplay and in its accessibility choices. Accessible and approachable sport design ought to be a focus for any developer, so I hoped to see optimistic strides ahead with Layers of Fear (2023). Fortunately, my hopes had been met; the Layers of Fear remake does not make vital alterations to the sport design, however there are many accessibility choices to customise your expertise.
There’s plenty of methods to customise the visuals and interface of Layers of Fear (2023), together with interplay markers for all interactable notes, objects, and doorways, a persistent crosshair, and toggles for movement blur, movie grain, head bobbing, lens flare, and bloom. There are additionally granular audio sliders, a secure mode to successfully make you immortal in opposition to the sport’s few enemies, and an choice to allow delicate content material warnings to assist gamers who could battle with tough matters like suicide, self-harm, abuse, dependancy, and extra.
Layers of Fear makes nice strides in accessibility and approachability, however there’s nonetheless work to be performed.
As for controls, there sadly is not individually rebindable keys (regardless that the controls are specified by the settings like they’re), however you may customise some controls just like the flashlight / lantern and draggable objects like doorways to be a toggle as a substitute. Finally, there are subtitles and loads of methods to customise these subtitles, and textual content transcriptions for all notes within the sport. There are not any color-blind choices, nor different visible choices like highlighting interactive parts or rising the brightness. There are additionally no methods to make puzzles in Layers of Fear (2023) simpler or to offer hints, however the sport’s puzzles are typically simple.
I’ll say that Layers of Fear 2 feels rather less approachable than the remainder of the sport, if solely as a result of its motion controls are curiously completely different and the realm wherein you are capable of work together with the sport is smaller and extra finnicky than within the base sport, as I discussed above.
Layers of Fear: Should you play it?
You ought to play this if …
- You beloved the unique Layers of Fear and need to expertise the whole sequence at its finest
- You take pleasure in narrative-horror video games with little to no motion or fight
- You desire a longer horror sport with lots of content material and a linked story
You shouldn’t play this if …
- You solely take pleasure in survival horror video games with lots of gameplay parts
- You need your horror video games to be as terrifying as doable
- You’ve already performed each Layers of Fear video games and are not within the new content material
It is tough to ascribe a singular conclusion to my emotions on Layers of Fear (2023). In some ways, that is a powerful remake of a strong narrative horror sequence, with Bloober Team enjoying to its strengths and taking alternatives to enhance its earlier video games. In different methods, this remake did not go far sufficient to unite all the Layers of Fear sequence or to patch the holes within the sinking ship that’s Layers of Fear 2.
The authentic Layers of Fear and its supporting DLC content material continues to be superb, if not terribly scary, and that is definitively one of the simplest ways to play all of it and see a brand new a part of the story for the primary time. On the opposite hand, Layers of Fear 2 is not unhealthy (I’d describe it as common, an excellent ole’ C grade), however it does drag down all the expertise a tad. The Writer DLC additionally does not add sufficient to the sport to justify its existence past connecting all the opposite tales.
Still, Layers of Fear (2023) is beautiful at each flip, and completely full of horror content material. For a penny beneath $30, it is a implausible worth and might maintain you occupied for hours. I used to be shocked by how a lot I genuinely loved enjoying by means of the unique Layers of Fear once more, regardless that I 100% it previously, and I firmly consider that, when you’re in any respect excited about Layers of Fear, that is the quintessential assortment. Is it one of many finest Xbox video games of the 12 months? Not fairly, however Layers of Fear (2023) nonetheless earns my heartfelt suggestion regardless of its weaknesses.
