![]() ![]() The latter comes from puzzles, most of which are light and come down to scanning the environment for visual clues. With you cast as the central monster, and a sympathetic one at that, Layers of Fear has to go elsewhere for both challenge and jump scares. This is the story of a man failing to live up to his responsibilities and lashing out. But on the whole it works, lending the narrative and the character a weight of realism. Sometimes this breaks into banality with clumsy nonsense suited to a high-school poet. There are hints of it throughout from deranged messages on the walls to a scrawled drawing of a sad face hidden on a child's toy. The shock came from understanding how ordinary most monsters seem on the outside. But there was just a normal man staring back at me. Shortly after, I found a mirror and gazed on my own reflection, expecting to see a monstrous figure or some other scare. Later, a disembodied voice whispered "you deserve this, all of it," and it felt like I did. After a short time I found myself appalled enough by my own avatar to start mouthing questions at it: what did you do? What did you do? It's down to the player's imagination to colour in the substantial blanks with nightmares of their choice. Many of these show how commonplace your life once was, illustrating how ordinary most monsters must look from the outside. Scraps of text found throughout the house build a fragmentary backstory. Soon it becomes clear that your past contains ghastly secrets, alcoholism and insanity being two of the more palatable ones. "You realise that there is one active monster in the game, and it's the one behind the keyboard." It creates a unique and disturbing environment to explore. The visual style has clear nods to surrealist painters such as Bacon and Goya. Walls bear distorted versions of classical masterpieces. ![]() There is paint daubed liberally over the environment, smears of jarring colours running over the furniture and floors. The time period is perhaps purposefully unclear, but seems to be mid-20th century. Beyond that you must wander the sizeable halls in first-person view, working out for yourself what to do and how to do it. Your only instruction at the start is to "finish it". You play as a painter, who has returned to their house and studio to complete their masterwork. Cruelty, cursing, alcoholism, and jump scares make this the kind of game the very young and faint of heart should avoid but gamers who enjoy being scared are in for a wild ride.What every good horror yarn needs is a unique spin, and Layers of Fear delivers that, quite literally, through artistry. At the same time, a truly dark and affecting story is told of one family's terrible destruction. Lighting, sound, and door placement nudge you along while expertly placed visual cues set you up for jump-out-of-your-skin scares. Soon, you're trapped in a seemingly endless maze where rooms change before your eyes and every closed door fills you with dread. Things start spooky as a violent nighttime thunderstorm rages outside and get increasingly frightening as the house starts to shift and change. The artist's mental state is reflected in the somber, low-lit environments, melancholy piano music, and heartbeat-like cadence of his lurching footsteps. Limping from room to room (the painter's bad leg is indicated in first-person view by a mildly swaying camera) he rummages through drawers, cabinets and closets, trying to understand his role in his own personal tragedy. Upon official release, it will have even more content.) The game takes place inside a 19th-century mansion belonging to a once-successful painter who's lost his wife and child. (Note: this review is of an Early Release version. If your child has frequent nightmares or is not accustomed to the horror genre yet, wait a few years or test the game out yourself, first.ĭare to take on the role of a mentally disturbed artist and a familiar premise - exploring a spooky old house - and you're in for one of the most unique and unforgettable interactive horror experiences you've ever had. I was a little hesitant to let my kid play it due to it maybe scaring her a little too much, but it turned out fine. The game even frightened me a little bit when me and my husband played it the first time around. There is light drinking and some swearing in the game. The game is first person, about a mystery surrounding a murder, and the player is left to explore a haunted house. One minute you walk into a room, turn around and the door is gone behind you, or the hallways continue in an endless loop. Baby dolls creepily smacking their heads repetitively against things, disturbing (though not inappropriate) paintings, creepy noises and lights going out, etc. There are some jump scares, but the game is mostly psychologically disturbing. It really depends on how your child handles horror.
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