18 months ago PT appeared on the PS4. A runaway success and probably the most talked about demo/teaser of all time the project to make the next Silent Hill game was cancelled when Kojima left Konami last year in soap opera fashion.
Enter Layers of Fear a horrific gothic walking simulator that sees you explore the house of an insane painter that borrows a lot of its style from PT and a lot of its basis from “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.
As the game begins you wander the house with the idea of finishing your Bacon inspired painting but pretty soon the shit hits the fan and things start getting terrifying. Not sure if the bizarre goings on are supernatural or simply the protagonist losing his grip and perception of reality.
As you continue through the game a story is told through notes and findings in a similar vein to Gone Home albeit in a more linear fashion. There is a genuinely creepy atmosphere throughout backed up with some excellent jump scares that really get the heart racing.
Layers of Fear is a walking sim with some minimal puzzle elements that normally involve searching the room you are in, finding and interactive object or sifting through some draws. At no point do you get lost and the game is pretty much on rails but to be perfectly honest this is why the game shines. It is well crafted and a game with a more open play style would not have been paced as well.
There is no combat in the game just puzzles. One thing I was not keen on was the physics based opening and closing of doors. A minor quibble but I always dislike when games do this and this one does not improve the design.
The first hour of the game definitely shines with a little bit of repetitiveness setting in as you progress. While all of the jump scares are good after a while you begin to spot when they are coming. The artistic themes in the setting and design are outstanding but eventually the jump scares become samey and predictable.
The game is relatively short running at about 3 hours and while that may be a tough pill to swallow for some seeing the game’s £15 price tag it is definitely polished enough to warrant a play through if you are a horror fan. Not perfect but definitely one of the best true horror games in recent years.
