2023 has been an amazing year for games! We got great remakes like Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, awesome sequels with Tears of the Kingdom and Street Fighter 6, and even games being localized for the first time like Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse and Like a Dragon: Ishin! And while we’ve also had some bad experiences like the performance issues of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and just the everything that was Redfall, I feel like, at least for me personally, there hasn’t been a really bad game this year! And then Layers of Fear came out…

Normally I like to try and look for the positives in a game I review. For example, while Jedi: Survivor is a mess of a game with game breaking bugs and glitches, some of which still haven’t been fixed yet, I could still say that it was a good game at it’s core when it actually ran the way it was suppose to. But I can’t do that for Layers of Fear. I’m sorry to anyone who actually enjoys this game and series but it’s bad. Like really bad!

Let’s back up a bit though since I imagine a few people are confused why I’m commenting on Layers of Fear now of all times. And that’s because a remastered version of the entire series was released and they called it just Layers of Fear, which isn’t confusing at all. Especially since this version has both games and DLC all bundled together and remastered with Unreal Engine 5. So it’s not just Layers of Fear 1 but also the sequel as well. Something I didn’t realize from the title at all! But let’s forget the terrible name for now and actually talk about the game. Because there is a lot to talk about.

So, just to be up front, I picked up Layers of Fear with very low expectations. Not only have I watched playthroughs of the original version, it’s also a game from a team of creators I haven’t enjoyed in the past, that team being Bloober Team. And the game of theirs I played and did not like was The Medium. But with these guys being the ones to be making the Silent Hill 2 remake, I figured I should check out some of their other work before I get too upset about them remaking what might be my favorite horror game of all time. And with a new remaster dropping for the series that put them on the map, now seemed like the perfect time to give it a go! And despite those low expectations I had coming in, the game still managed to surprise me with how bad it is.

Despite this Layers of Fear having the first and second games in the series and all the DLC and a whole new story that’s meant to tie the series together, I only played the first game in the series and it’s first DLC. Does that mean I’m not qualified to review this game? Maybe. But I think the fact that I couldn’t make it passed the first game and it’s DLC should tell you a lot about my experience! So feel free to take this review with a grain of salt but I still feel very much justified in giving my opinion on this.

The most scathing thing I can say about the Layers of Fear is that it almost put me to sleep. I’m not exaggerating here. I literally had to take breaks in the middle of playing through the game in order to get up and walk around to make sure I did not fall asleep in my chair. This is the exact opposite response you want to your horror game! People should be sitting up straight in their chairs, completely on edge, worried and scared. You do not want someone slumped back, eyes half open and yawning as they walk the halls of the creepy house you created! While I haven’t enjoyed every single horror game I have played before, this is the only time one has bored me to this degree. For example I think Outlast is a boring and bad horror game too, but at the very least I didn’t need to fight to stay awake while playing it! And it all comes down to the kind of horror game Layers of Fear is.

Layers of Fear is “the series that defined narrative-focused first-person psychological horror”, which isn’t true I’d probably give that credit to Amnesia if anything, but that description, which comes straight from the store page for this game, does tell us what kind of game Layers of Fear is trying to be. And it fails at all of that. This game is very much one of those “haunted house” kind of horror games. Games that are all about walking from one area to the next with jump scares and spooks in between without much freedom. While I do think there might be different paths and there are plenty of collectibles to pick up, you do not have much freedom when it comes to what to do and where to go. Meaning the game is walking you towards it’s scares, you are constantly moving toward them and as such they very rarely feel earned and certainly don’t have a lasting impact! It feels like the game is built around these scares rather than having them feel organic in anyway. Just like going through a haunted house attraction which is made for the sole purpose of having you walk through a creepy place for a few minutes while people jump out and scare you. And while that is scary and will get a fright out of anyone, they aren’t meant to do more than that. You’re meant to walk out and go, “Man, that was so scary!” and move on. They aren’t suppose to be memorable. Which does not feel like what Layers of Fear wanted to go for but did anyways.

Now, as you probably can guess, I generally don’t like these kinds of horror games, I usually prefer more survival in my horror, but they aren’t inherently bad either. Normally these kinds of games have a really good narrative, fun puzzles, or interesting mechanics that will either affect the story or the game play. And despite the fact that this is clearly the kind of game Bloober Team is going for, Layers of Fear has none of these things. Let’s start by talking about the narrative though, since it honestly gives me the most to talk about.

The story of the original Layers of Fear is about the Painter, a man who is never actually named in the story and as you probably guessed is a famous painter or was at least. The story takes place after the Painter is passed his prime as various notes and newspaper clippings tell us. We’re not given very much information going in meaning you have to piece a lot of the story together yourself. And that’s fine, in fact that can be a great start! Adding mystery to your horror game is always a good thing, it keeps the player going and guessing as to what might happen next curious to see what the story will do. Sadly, the story doesn’t do all that much. I’m tempted to drop a spoiler warning now since the narrative is kind of a big deal to a “narrative-focused first-person psychological horror” game but honestly the story is so boring that you won’t be missing much by reading me talk about it here and just skipping the game. In fact, I hope that hearing about the boring narrative might help you save some money!

Anyways! The Painter is locked in his house trying to finish his magnum opus, one last painting that will prove all his critics wrong and finally put him back on the map. If you’ve played any horror game before, or experienced any horror thing, you probably can guess that this leads to him going crazy and ruining his life for something that ultimately won’t be worth it. There is a touch more to the story though in the form of the Painter’s family. He had a wife and daughter, also unnamed, who he loses during his pursuit of this painting. His wife was once a famous pianist before a terrible accident left her burned and unable to use most of her body. This is suppose to be where things start to go wrong for the Painter as his true colors are shown when he can’t bring himself to look at his wife much less care for her after awhile. She takes the form of a monster that chases you throughout the game actually. This could be kind of an interesting aspect of the story! Having the Painter fear his wife rather than hate her for an accident she had no control over. This could get the player to ask “Why would he fear his wife in such a way? Maybe his feelings are a bit more complex and there is something else going on!” Which is what you want your player thinking for this kind of game. But after finding some notes from said wife where she talks about her plans to kill him it kind of removes that interesting perspective and provides a super boring reason for why the Painter should be afraid of her. Like, is the game trying to make us sympathize with the Painter after showing him as such a monster for the way he treats his wife and daughter? Abusing and neglecting them in his pursuit of this final painting? Seems like a very odd choice and like they didn’t know if they wanted the player to hate or sympathize with this guy.

And on that note, yes, the two did have a daughter before the accident! However she isn’t as much of a focus in the game as the wife is. We mostly hear about how terrible of a father the Painter is after his wife’s accident and how hard he was on her while basically trying to force his talent for painting on to her. Hearing about all of this while trying to finish that magnum opus is basically how all the story is told to you. Which again, is fine but it’s also just depressing, cliche and more importantly it’s not scary. There isn’t enough mystery or tension in the story to make it work for a horror game like this. Now like I said before I have watched playthroughs of this game when it was originally released meaning I knew the narrative going in which some might argue is the reason I didn’t enjoy it or the game as a whole, but that’s not really have narratives work. An enjoyable narrative can be experienced way more than once despite if someone knows what is going on or not. People re-read books all the time, watch shows again, or even playthrough narrative driven games more than once. I’ve certainly done that before! So no, just because I knew the narrative going in doesn’t mean I’m set up to hate the game. If anything, that shows just how bad the story is! And sadly, the story isn’t even an interesting set up for the game play.

The story, beyond explaining why you’re trying to finish this painting, doesn’t do much for the actual game play. Some of the game’s spooks certainly are centered around the family but there isn’t much of a reason why beyond the idea that the Painter is just crazy. And while there are lots of paintings in the house you explore, none of them are used in particularly interesting ways? There was literally a single puzzle that I thought was cool. It’s a puzzle where you need to look through different picture frames that all showed different things around the room. Looking at them in the frames would bring them into the room. So you have to go from frame to frame looking at what you need next and basically pulling them from the frames into the room. That’s a cool idea! And while it isn’t exactly painting themed, it uses picture frames! That’s kind of close to paintings! This however is the one and only time I remember enjoying a puzzle. Beyond that most of them are basically go find this key item or items in order to progress. Or look around for a code to unlock a lock or call the right number on the phone. Uninspired is the best way I can describe these puzzles which is bizarre given that the game has a pretty clear theme with painting and family. You’d think that would help inspire plenty of puzzles but it really doesn’t and it makes the game a complete slog to get through. And no, adding in the wife to slowly chase you does not add any tension to any of the puzzle moments, especially when you can shine a light at her and have her fade away for a bit.

So we have a boring narrative and uninspired puzzles. How about any cool and interesting mechanics that make exploring the house fun? Well I’m pretty sure you know the answer by now but go ahead and humor me by letting me explain.

I’d say the main big mechanic that Layers of Fear uses is trying to make you feel disoriented by having rooms and the lay out of the house not make sense as you move through it. After you enter the Painter’s workshop and find out your objective is to finish this final painting you go to leave the workshop, which should lead into the main room of the house but instead leads you into an unfamiliar hallway that wasn’t there before! This is basically a constant from here on out. The layout makes no sense and there is always a good chance that going through a door will lead you somewhere completely new and lock you out of going back. This mechanic is clearly inspired by P.T. the playable teaser for the now cancelled Silent Hills by Hideo Kojima. And in that playable teaser, it’s a very effect mechanic! It makes you feel trapped, it takes away any feeling of familiarity you have in that hallway you are in. The moment you open the door that should lead you into the basement only for it to lead you back into the hall you started in is one of the most effective scares of all time. And Layers of Fear captures none of this.

Bloober Team strikes me as the kind of people who really enjoy something but don’t understand why. They know they really enjoy that mechanic for switching around rooms, they know it’s scary, but they fail to realize why. This mechanic works so amazingly well in P.T. because it’s used sparingly. Kojima himself talked about how he thought up that mechanic for the teaser because he realized the scariest feeling is losing that sense of familiarity, that lack of normalcy. That’s why it works so well for that teaser and for that one hallway that is the whole teaser! Bloober Team took this mechanic and didn’t realize why it was so effective and simply added it in to the entire house. Because of this, because of how often it happens with just about every door you walk through, you get use to it! You become familiar with it! It’s no longer a weird thing because it keeps happening! If anything, it’s a reassuring feeling when the room changes in Layers of Fear since at least then you know you’re progressing. So in the end, not only is it not scary, it also just reminds me of how great P.T. was and how much I wish I was playing that instead of falling asleep to this! And maybe this wouldn’t be so bad if there was a compelling narrative or fun puzzles, but as we’ve already said there most certainly is not. There really is nothing redeemable here! Same goes for the first DLC for the game where you play as the Painter’s daughter all grown up. I’d go into that but I’d just be repeating myself so why bother?

And after all that, after hours of boredom struggling to stay awake, I just couldn’t. I could not force myself to play anymore. Yeah I know there is one more DLC for the first game and then there’s the entire second game as well as the new story added in for the remaster, which seems to suggest that maybe all of the characters in these stories aren’t insane but are being manipulated by some kind of demon? While also hinting that the games are being written by an all new character and aren’t actually happening…? That’s a whole other can of worms that I am not opening right now though. Because I value my time a little more than that.

While stopping here and not playing anymore might not make me the most qualified person to review this game or remaster, I feel like the fact I couldn’t bring myself to play anymore is still something worth sharing. I very rarely find nothing of value when I review games. I always like to try and look at things from other perspectives. Like, I usually will come to the conclusion with some games that they aren’t for me rather than being bad. I may not like a certain game but for most games I can imagine someone liking them. But not with Layers of Fear. This is a bad game. A game I do not recommend in the slightest. And with all the great games out now and coming out soon, you should just spend your money on them instead of wasting it here.

Man… The Silent Hill 2 remake is doomed.

But those are just my thoughts! What are some of yours? Have you played Layers of Fear? If you have, did you enjoy it? _{If so please speak up because I really can’t understand someone enjoying this game.} I’d love to hear your thoughts so don’t be shy!

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