Layers of Fear is a first-person psychedelic horror chronicle focused on tense exploration and immersive storytelling - a new game built upon the foundations of Layers of Fear, LOF: Inheritance, and Layers of Fear 2 with a surprising new story and gameplay direction All stories must come to an end, even twisted and eerie ones. The canvas. The stage. The novel. This narrative-focused psychological horror experience is ready for its final brushstrokes, its curtain call, its final chapter. Are you ready to return and face your fears one last time?
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O que era completo ficou mais perfeito, um remake que além de incluir melhorias gráficas trouxe novas histórias, entra fácil no pódil dos melhores remakes que temos.
[Played on SteamDeck (verified), eats through batterylife, but runs perfectly.]
This game is pretty, I like the atmosphere, the environments, the sound design, and there's some decent ideas thrown in. It feels kind of hollow though, too much style and not enough substance. I didn't dislike the game but I wouldn't say I particularly liked it either, I have very mixed feelings.
This game is pretty, I like the atmosphere, the environments, the sound design, and there's some decent ideas thrown in. It feels kind of hollow though, too much style and not enough substance. I didn't dislike the game but I wouldn't say I particularly liked it either, I have very mixed feelings.
Pep's Season of Spooks - Game 19
I was hoping that this remake/mash-up of the first two Layers of Fear games would fix some of the issues that I have with the originals. Sadly, they still seem to be there, with the new content simply adding new issues.
The framing device that holds the stories together has you play a writer tasked with writing a biography for the tragic Painter of the first LOF game, that is then adapted to a film in which the Actor of the second game plays the painter. Each of the three character’s stories are connected by a mysterious “rat queen” who seems to have granted them success at the cost of their sanity. There are also a couple of side stories included, including the Inheritance DLC (that focuses on the daughter of the Painter) and two new stories. One of these sections is good (the story of the Musician rivals that of the original LOF) and the other is not so good; the Final Prologue DLC, added for Halloween, has you play the director of an increasingly chaotic film set.
While the new Unreal 5 engine give the games a glossy new coat of paint, this is still the same old Layers, for better or for worse. While I’ve always rather liked Layers of Fear’s haunted-house style of storytelling (I’ve said before that I don’t consider “walking simulator” to be an insult), it works much better in shorter bursts. I did find myself getting rather fatigued towards the end of the game. This new remake was an opportunity to trim the fat and remove some of the original game’s more tedious sections but I don’t feel like they did enough and some of the pacing, especially in the Actor’s story, feels a bit too slow. Sadly they did remove that section from LOF’s baby chapter (I blame Jerma).
Some more thoughts on each section of the game:
The Painter/Daughter/Musician’s stories: Still by far the strongest of Bloober Team’s games, with the Musician’s story being added to complete the trio of the family’s tragic tales. As well as being the most narratively coherent of Bloober Team’s games, the original Layers is also still the scariest, with an unmatched atmosphere and some jumpscares that still get me even after several playthroughs. Games where you wander around spooky old mansions/castles are among my favourites so it suits my tastes perfectly. These sections are also the best-paced parts despite the Painter’s chapters being the longest in the game.
The Actor’s story: Layers of Fear 2 was around the time that Bloober Team really started to sniff their own farts with regards to storytelling, which is why the narrative this time around is more “artsy” and “ambiguous”. The entire final chapter of the story is the Rat Queen and the mysterious Director (voiced by the legendary Tony Todd) waxing poetic and it feels utterly meaningless, since by that time the story has gotten so up-its-own-arse that you just want the mystery wrapped up. It’s also nowhere near as scary as it needs to be, with atmosphere and well-crafted scares replaced with long drawn-out walking sections and tedious chase sequences. On the plus side, there are a few neat little movie references dotted throughout, and the fact that you can now defend yourself against the “formless man” that stalks you throughout the game makes the chase sequences a little more bearable.
The Final Prologue DLC is pretty nothing. It feels like it’s comprised of ideas that were cut from LOF2 and doesn’t really add anything to the game’s overall story, without being scary either. It’s also pretty funny how the film set is supposed to be in America but all of the voice actors are quite clearly Polish. One of my criticisms of the whole game is that a lot of the voice acting is quite poor overall. Many of the letters and documents that weren’t voiced in the original Layers of Fear are voiced now, but they really needn’t have bothered.
My other big problem with the game is that the “rat queen” really isn’t a compelling enough villain to care about her. It feels like she’s being set up as this terrifying, powerful supernatural force when all you really see of her is a few flashes in jumpscares, the incredibly confusing neutral ending of LOF2 and the pretty silly painting that is omnipresent throughout the game. She hasn’t been set up enough for us for it to be a big shock that she’s behind the madness of the characters. The Writer's story didn't really interest me in general. You spend very little time playing as her and don't get enough time to know her at all. Even the gloomy lighthouse setting didn't interest me, and a place like that should absolutely be up my alley. The framing device feels tacked on in general and maybe could have even done without it.
To be honest, this didn’t need a remake. It would have been less work and more enjoyable to remaster the two original Layers of Fear games and include The Final Note as a bonus DLC. The changes that Bloober Team made are mostly negative and the new content simply isn’t worth the price.
Scary Rating 6/10 - Overall Rating 6/10
I was hoping that this remake/mash-up of the first two Layers of Fear games would fix some of the issues that I have with the originals. Sadly, they still seem to be there, with the new content simply adding new issues.
The framing device that holds the stories together has you play a writer tasked with writing a biography for the tragic Painter of the first LOF game, that is then adapted to a film in which the Actor of the second game plays the painter. Each of the three character’s stories are connected by a mysterious “rat queen” who seems to have granted them success at the cost of their sanity. There are also a couple of side stories included, including the Inheritance DLC (that focuses on the daughter of the Painter) and two new stories. One of these sections is good (the story of the Musician rivals that of the original LOF) and the other is not so good; the Final Prologue DLC, added for Halloween, has you play the director of an increasingly chaotic film set.
While the new Unreal 5 engine give the games a glossy new coat of paint, this is still the same old Layers, for better or for worse. While I’ve always rather liked Layers of Fear’s haunted-house style of storytelling (I’ve said before that I don’t consider “walking simulator” to be an insult), it works much better in shorter bursts. I did find myself getting rather fatigued towards the end of the game. This new remake was an opportunity to trim the fat and remove some of the original game’s more tedious sections but I don’t feel like they did enough and some of the pacing, especially in the Actor’s story, feels a bit too slow. Sadly they did remove that section from LOF’s baby chapter (I blame Jerma).
Some more thoughts on each section of the game:
The Painter/Daughter/Musician’s stories: Still by far the strongest of Bloober Team’s games, with the Musician’s story being added to complete the trio of the family’s tragic tales. As well as being the most narratively coherent of Bloober Team’s games, the original Layers is also still the scariest, with an unmatched atmosphere and some jumpscares that still get me even after several playthroughs. Games where you wander around spooky old mansions/castles are among my favourites so it suits my tastes perfectly. These sections are also the best-paced parts despite the Painter’s chapters being the longest in the game.
The Actor’s story: Layers of Fear 2 was around the time that Bloober Team really started to sniff their own farts with regards to storytelling, which is why the narrative this time around is more “artsy” and “ambiguous”. The entire final chapter of the story is the Rat Queen and the mysterious Director (voiced by the legendary Tony Todd) waxing poetic and it feels utterly meaningless, since by that time the story has gotten so up-its-own-arse that you just want the mystery wrapped up. It’s also nowhere near as scary as it needs to be, with atmosphere and well-crafted scares replaced with long drawn-out walking sections and tedious chase sequences. On the plus side, there are a few neat little movie references dotted throughout, and the fact that you can now defend yourself against the “formless man” that stalks you throughout the game makes the chase sequences a little more bearable.
The Final Prologue DLC is pretty nothing. It feels like it’s comprised of ideas that were cut from LOF2 and doesn’t really add anything to the game’s overall story, without being scary either. It’s also pretty funny how the film set is supposed to be in America but all of the voice actors are quite clearly Polish. One of my criticisms of the whole game is that a lot of the voice acting is quite poor overall. Many of the letters and documents that weren’t voiced in the original Layers of Fear are voiced now, but they really needn’t have bothered.
My other big problem with the game is that the “rat queen” really isn’t a compelling enough villain to care about her. It feels like she’s being set up as this terrifying, powerful supernatural force when all you really see of her is a few flashes in jumpscares, the incredibly confusing neutral ending of LOF2 and the pretty silly painting that is omnipresent throughout the game. She hasn’t been set up enough for us for it to be a big shock that she’s behind the madness of the characters. The Writer's story didn't really interest me in general. You spend very little time playing as her and don't get enough time to know her at all. Even the gloomy lighthouse setting didn't interest me, and a place like that should absolutely be up my alley. The framing device feels tacked on in general and maybe could have even done without it.
To be honest, this didn’t need a remake. It would have been less work and more enjoyable to remaster the two original Layers of Fear games and include The Final Note as a bonus DLC. The changes that Bloober Team made are mostly negative and the new content simply isn’t worth the price.
Scary Rating 6/10 - Overall Rating 6/10
Es la versión completa/remasterizada que une el 1 y el 2 en un mismo juego. La mecánica está bien, el arte del juego es de lo mejor, pero la historia… O te paras en cada esquina del juego a recoger una nota o un objeto o no te enteras de nada.
Wow. I really thought Redfall was the shoo-in for worst game of 2023. This game is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boring. It commits one of the worst crimes a horror game can do. It thinks it is being clever/interesting/scary/saying something, but it's not doing anything at all. This game is so boring that I am now worried the Silent Hill 2 Remake will be bad. I would still rather suffer through this than Halo: Infinite though.
In typical Bloober fashion, this is a nice-looking game with dull repetitive gameplay and a terrible plot. A few jumpscares got me but I was largely wondering why even bother playing.