Layers of Fear (2023) Review

Layers of Fear (2023) on PS5

It’s a story as outdated as time: The proficient artist versus their turbulent battle with madness has at all times been inextricably linked collectively. From the deeply twisted expressionism and symbolism of Edvard Munch to the daring and vibrant neo-impressionism of Vincent van Gogh, historical past has lengthy painted gifted creatives in a very tortured, troubled mild.

Conceptually and thematically, that is on the coronary heart of Bloober Team‘s latest release; a remastered double bill of its first two Layers of Fear titles, replete with all DLC as well as some additional content to keep fans busy. But are the duo of first-person horror experiences relics from a bygone era or are they truly worthy of your time in 2023? Well, there’s a lot to debate!

Kicking issues off, I feel it’s price mentioning that I performed the primary Layers of Fear sport again in 2016 and was actually enamored with it. Unfortunately, I skipped the second sport, so taking part in it on this assortment was a primary for me. What I’ll say earlier than actually entering into the meat and drink of this evaluate is that I really feel the sport’s debut is undoubtedly of a better caliber than its barely extra bromidic follow-up. But I don’t need to get too forward of my skis. Let’s start with the remake’s narrative.

As alluded to within the intro, gamers assume the position of a handful of gifted creatives excelling in their very own distinct fields. First, we now have an completed creator and depressed mom who has gained a writing competitors with the reward of a vacay at a distant lighthouse within the center of nowhere. Hooray for isolation and loneliness, huh? Her story punctuates and bookends the overarching narrative of Layers of Fear (2023), with the meta method of her ostensibly performing because the creator of the sport’s earlier journeys.

Next up, we now have an alcoholic painter hellbent on ending his magnum opus on the price of the lives of his family members. His story includes the primary title within the assortment, and it’s simply probably the most participating and fascinating of all of the tales inside Layers of Fear. Meanwhile, rounding out the forged is a well-known Hollywood technique actor filming his newest mission aboard a seemingly haunted cruise liner as he follows the directions of an ominous director, which embody the occasions of Layers of Fear 2.

Moreover, we additionally step into the abused sneakers of the painter’s spouse from the primary sport, who’s each a loving mom and a musical virtuoso on the piano. Finally, it’s good to see the welcome inclusion of the debut title’s Inheritance DLC, which sees you taking part in the position of the aforementioned couple’s daughter. Suffice to say, there are loads of proficient artists, with loads of trauma and nervousness for Bloober Team to faucet into. So, let’s delve a bit deeper and shine a torch on what Layers of Fears does proper.

Atmospherically, Layers of Fears is remarkably robust due to its splendid audio design, mind-bending puzzles and Victorian setting. Some of the art work throughout the sport is completely chic, and there have been a quantity of occasions the place I’d simply cease and gawk at a portray for a couple of minutes simply to drink all of it in.

The eerie echo of footsteps on oak, the creaking of a rusty door opening, even some of the newly added voice work are all price a point out — certain, these components of audio design might sound fairly routine for a horror sport, however these small particulars are essential for immersion, and I’m blissful to report they’re all largely dealt with with care and a spotlight.

Furthermore, some of the horrific set-pieces are very well-orchestrated and a pair made me really soar out of my pores and skin a number of occasions. However, the place the title actually shines brightest is in some of the profoundly disturbing imagery that Bloober Team has managed to cook dinner up. Specifically, one set-piece involving a projector and a wee acrobat strolling on all fours springs to thoughts from Layers of Fear 2. Trust me, while you get to that part, you’ll perceive!

Despite these constructive attributes, nevertheless, the sport feels as if it’s constructed on wobbly foundations, particularly when checked out by means of a contemporary lens. See, whereas the “Walking Simulator” moniker is a quite derogatory time period, it’s truthful to say that it does assist illustrate what you’ll be doing through the title’s second-to-second gameplay. And I’m gonna go on report and simply say it as it’s: the Walking Simulator sub-genre that was all the fashion through the late-noughties/ mid-2010s merely hasn’t aged all that properly. There, I mentioned it.

But this alone isn’t what sinks Layers of Fear (2023) into extra middling territory. Sadly, the general storytelling throughout the board simply feels overwhelmingly uneven. As you’re drip-fed notes and memos throughout exploration, it rapidly turns into clear that the central thriller on the coronary heart of the story is basically at odds with its commendable environment.

Frankly, the disconnected nature of how the narrative is parlayed to the participant is way from supreme, and I misplaced depend of the smorgasbord of anonymous characters who I used to be meant to take care of. Sure, I related on an emotional stage with the myriad central figures I assumed management of, particularly because the thoughtfully designed symbolism of the environments helped to demystify their mysterious backgrounds and origin tales. But, my eyes glazed over by the point I picked up the third letter from the household solicitor, or the fourth memo from the native banker prattling on about funds or different humdrum matters.

Moving onto the puzzles themselves, and whereas a number of are creatively designed, you possibly can’t escape the truth that virtually all of them are ponderously repetitive PT-esque trial and error brainteasers that not often make a lick of sense. For occasion, I used to be caught in a single locked room for ages, and had explored excessive and low, solely to find that if I’d regarded inside a particular bucket, it will teleport me to the subsequent space. Random or what? Every so usually, the tactic of fixing one of the sport’s many conundrums feels fully and totally bone-crushingly arbitrary.

For these unaware, this up to date remake provides two new tales into the combination — the Painter’s Wife and the Writer — which quantity to round a further three-ish hours of further content material, in addition to some brand-new gameplay segments. Without spoiling an excessive amount of, there are actually a number of sequences that see you holding off a spooky outdated woman — who appears ripped straight out of Kojima’s aforementioned failed Silent Hill mission — with the beam of your flashlight. It’s largely a welcome addition, however her appearances do begin to get outdated fairly quick.

Compared to the 2 primary video games within the assortment, this extra content material doesn’t actually add an enormous quantity of significant lore to the general story, but it surely does assist flesh out the painter’s spouse, who is certainly one of the extra sympathetic characters in all the mythos of Layers of Fear. Still, the additional gameplay components and supplemental content material don’t really feel notably important per se, although your mileage might fluctuate relying on how steeped within the overarching “Rat Queen” lore you might be.

Last of all, I’d be remiss if I didn’t name out the quite a few bugs, frame-rate hitches, and usually poor technical issues that Layers of Fear (2023) is plagued with. From my expertise, I’d extremely advocate switching to Performance mode, however even on this mode, you’re more likely to come throughout loads of frame-rate dips, which was fairly disappointing to see.

All instructed, when Layers of Fear (2023) is firing on all cylinders, it looks like a genuinely mind-bending thrill journey as pathways behind you twist and contort within the blink of an eye fixed. These qualities are finest exemplified within the lithe and tight debut title. That mentioned, what really flies within the face of the gathering’s total charms is its uneven storytelling, repetitive puzzles, and buggy technical efficiency. In essence, very like the fractured psyches of the artists that type the soul of these vignettes, Bloober Team’s newest assortment is concurrently lovely, fascinating, and deeply, profoundly… aggravating.

Reviewer: Dylan Chaundy | Copy offered by Publisher.

Pros

• Strong psychological horror environment.
• A handful of profoundly eerie set-pieces and an efficient use of imagery.
• Laudable audio design.

Cons

• Uneven storytelling.
• Some scares don’t fairly land and start to really feel a bit too one be aware.
• A number of puzzles really feel far too trial and error.
• Frame-rate hitches.
• Ran into a number of bugs that required me to restart my console or load to a earlier save.
• An absence of real risk undermines the stakes.

Release Date
June 15, 2023

Developer
Bloober Team

Publisher
Bloober Team

Consoles
PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

About the creator

Dylan is a Senior Writer at Twinfinite and has been with the positioning for over two years, and within the video games media business for over a decade. He usually covers horror, RPGs, shooters, indie titles and films, and loves studying, pizza and skateboarding; ideally, on the identical time. He has a level in English Literature from Aberystwyth University, Wales. He thinks FTL often is the most good sport ever created.