Layers of Fear (2023) Reviews
All told, when Layers of Fear (2023) is firing on all cylinders, it feels like a genuinely mind-bending thrill ride as pathways behind you twist and contort in the blink of an eye. These qualities are best exemplified in the lithe and tight debut title. That said, what truly flies in the face of the collection’s overall charms is its uneven storytelling, repetitive puzzles, and buggy technical performance. In essence, much like the fractured psyches of the artists that form the soul of these vignettes, Bloober Team’s latest collection is simultaneously beautiful, fascinating, and deeply, profoundly… aggravating.
Layers of Fear 2023 stylishly combines Bloober Team's flagship games into one beautifully terrifying definitive edition. The reimagined and drop dead gorgeous visuals built entirely from the ground up alone are reason enough to revisit these titles, but the added cherries on top are the brand new chapters that wrap all the narratives together. It's a must play for anyone into psychedelic and psychological horror experiences, but may come off a little underwhelming for anyone looking for something truly scary.
Layers of Fear is gorgeous to look at, but its beauty is skin deep. From rudimentary, repetitive gameplay to predictable attempts at scaring you, this definitive reimagining of Bloober Team's horror franchise stumbles too often to be able to make a meaningful mark.
Layers of Fear (2023) is Bloober Team’s magnum opus and a must-play for atmospheric horror fans who have yet to play the originals in the series.
Layers of Fear impressively goes beyond the call of duty of updating both games for modern hardware. It's a remake with significantly enhanced visuals and a strong dedication to creating an immersive atmosphere, while also introducing new content. However, it's regrettable that the newly added content feels lacking in substance and significance. Nevertheless, Layers of Fear remains the definitive way to experience the Layers of Fear series, warts and all.
Layers of Fear serves as a kind of director's cut for the horror series. With lavish visuals, new content, and a new framing device, it proves the definite way to experience the series. Those who've already played the games won't find much they haven't seen before, but The Final Note chapter adds a fun, spooky new layer.
Layers of Fear is a great finale to a frightful series, tying together all loose ends and scaring you at every turn. The staggered story structure is confusing at first, but pays off when the game finally ends. Unexpected jump scares and a dark environment terrify even the most experienced horror veterans. Learning the backstories of each character and choosing different endings gives you control of the narrative. It's also easy to replay stories if you want to see different endings. The note-based storytelling and navigation difficulty can turn away players looking for a simpler experience. But for a psychological game that chills you to the bone, it's hard to find something as good as this.
An impressive remake/reimagining of the series from a technical standpoint, and there are some welcome changes to the way each game plays. It's unfortunate that efforts to tie the individual stories together don't always land, but it generally does the trick.
Layers of Fear 2023 re-packages the first two games with better visuals and sound, but gameplay is a miss.
Layers of Fear is not a new game, nor a remake. it seems like a sort of definitive edition that includes the old games of the series and a new section that ties the two stories together. The passage to Unreal Engine 5 and the mild gameplay tweaks are not so relevant and add nothing to the game experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Layers of Fear is an admirable remaster that uses the fresh coat of paint to bring the series' art direction up to modern standards but the bones of the experience remain fractured. Tedious and exhausting gameplay loops and tasteless writing make even this package a nice frame on an ugly painting.
Layers of Fear really brings a lot of improvements that amplify the game's strongest aspect: its immersive atmosphere. Audio and visuals are almost impeccable in this release, and they're truly worth experiencing. That said, playing through all of the content on offer in this remake/remaster collection does stretch the gameplay a bit too thin over its runtime, and it slowly wears out its welcome. What remains is a repetitive and sometimes tame horror adventure game that's worth experiencing for its presentation alone.
Layers of Fear (2023) is the definitive way to experience this series. The new narrative content helps tie together these previously released titles more effectively, the Unreal Engine 5 visual overhaul is very impressive, and the sound design is top notch.
The definitive Layers of Fear experience revamped for PlayStation 5
It's a good game that everyone who doesn't hate jumpscare and loves psychological horror should give it a chance.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Layers of Fear is truly a disturbing experience that even players of the previous titles need to check out. With the gorgeous Unreal Engine 5 graphics and the amazing binaural sound, this is a game that has to be played.
Layers of Fear is a psychological horror game that is really scary, but as time goes by you start to miss something. That doesn't make it bad, mainly because it contains extra stories to entertain the player. However, a little more action here wouldn't hurt anyone.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Layer of Fear looks great visually and the way it plays with the environments and lighting makes use of that graphical presentation. It adds new content and a few new mechanisms but maintains the same mistakes the original games made.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Layers of Fear (2023) is the best way to experience the series and has enough new content to revisit it.
Review in Russian | Read full review