Other than that, Layers of Fear maintains a rhythm, alternating between chilling moments and calmer moments to relax, without ever leaving the dense and dark atmosphere completely. “Now we hear a baby crying, now we are being chased by a woman’s terrifying ghost.” On other occasions we have to interact with an object in the scene, but we don’t know what and we can spend several minutes looking for that object, which can cause some frustration and annoyance. The puzzles are not overly difficult, but they do take a few minutes of meditation to figure out what to do next. On several occasions the game features puzzles that you need to solve in order to progress. Still, it is not enough to open doors and move on. Most of the doors we find are locked to force us to follow a specific path. Only the feeling of being alone and unprotected is terrifying, and the silence intensifies this sensation to the fullest.Īlthough there are many doors, in fact Layers of Fear is a “straight line” game, with few opportunities to explore. The silence is constant and, most of the time, we only hear the sound of our steps walking through the labyrinthine corridors of this house and the noise of old pieces of furniture and wooden floors.
The poor lighting in the various rooms of the house or the complete absence of it helps to create, together with sound effects, an intense atmosphere. Layers of Fear maintains an atmosphere in which we seem to be scared at any moment, but the scare rarely happens.
As we move forward in history, these sudden changes become more aggressive. Little by little, we begin to notice that certain elements of the scene change when we are not looking, and that sometimes we have to go back and the room we have been in for a while has been replaced by a completely different area.
:: The 10 best games for PS4 for less than 20 ?Īt first this looks like a normal house, decorated with old-fashioned furniture and in a classic style, but after discovering the blank canvas, the game starts playing tricks on us and playing with us. We want to know what happened in that house and what goes on in this troubled artist’s mind. It is through the mystery that Layers of Fear keeps us interested until the end of the narrative. With each object we collect, some of them macabre, the picture changes, getting closer to its final state. Roughly speaking, the objective is to collect objects to transform the painting into a masterpiece. It is from this moment that the chilling journey begins. “They will rarely scream or jump out of the chair, but they will be constantly afraid.”Īfter some exploration of the house, we found the artist’s lair, with a blank canvas in the center. However, one thing is certain: this painter has mental problems and has had a shocking experience. We have to be attentive to the details of the scenarios to understand what is happening, and even paying attention, it is difficult to collect all the information. Until the end, this is how Layers of Fear communicates.
The game does not give us this information directly, but the canvases, brushes and paints scattered around the house are an obvious clue. We know in advance that in Layers of Fear we take the perspective of a painter in his quest to create a masterpiece. You will never feel terror in its pure state, but on the other hand, you will never feel comfortable and you will hardly be able to predict what will happen next, as the nature of Layers of Fear makes it unpredictable. The game does this by playing with us, suddenly changing the scenario and taking control of what is happening. They will rarely scream or jump out of the chair, but they will constantly be afraid. The recurring method of frightening in Layers of Fear is different and more subtle. It is effective initially, but then it becomes predictable and boring. There are several horror games that use this technique to scare. Just catch someone in a dimly lit place and surprise them with a shout. Scare someone is not very complicated, and certainly many of you have done it at least once. Usually fans of this genre expect to be frightened, jump out of their seats and get their heartbeat in the pícaros, and although Layers of Fear has some of these moments, he prefers to spread the fear in a more ingenious way. Layers of Fear is not a horror game in the traditional sense. Layers of Fear does not scare much, but it maintains a chilling atmosphere from beginning to end.