Layers of Fear Reviews
Layers of Fear lacks the surprises and subtlety needed to keep things interesting all the way through. It makes a strong first impression, but quickly exhausts its best ideas, making it hard for them to really shine as scary or meaningful moments. It's hard to be terrified when you can see what's coming at the end of every long dark hallway.
Layers of Fear delivers on its promise of a unique vision of gothic horror, but the game leans heavily on cliche genre gimmicks to jump scare players.
Layers of Fear is an intriguing experimental haunted house, but without a proper sense of pacing, it fails to scare.
A gloriously ghoulish horror game with some trippy transformations, held back by what it borrows from other releases.
One of the best horror games ever made, this will scare you in incredibly clever ways and make you question everything you see.
If you like jump-scares, this is for you. If you like horror titles that effectively establish an atmosphere, this is not for you
Colouring your world with intense shades of terror.
Layers of Fear almost feels like two different games smashed together to make up a single experience.
Layers of Fear is an effective scare 'em up but the sense of dislocation and the lack of character development left me feeling as if I'd enjoyed a thematically messy series of shocks rather than a cohesive horror story. It's a collection of scary things that are tangentially related to the idea of creative blocks and familial cruelty rather than an exploration of the artist or his personality flaws. By the time the credits rolled, I knew very little about this particular painter that I couldn't have learned by reading a brief synopsis.
Nintendo Switch finally has its first great horror game in Layers Of Fear: Legacy. The creativity in its scares helps to keep you guessing about what's around every corner, and even then, its unique set-pieces will most certainly surprise you anyway. Slightly lacklustre gameplay aside, the plot's descent into madness, the title's dedication to messing with your expectations to set up a scare, and the simple fact that this is a solid Switch port, means that this is horrific experience is one you won't want to miss out on.
Wonderfully mischievous visual tricks and grim environments can't stop Layers of Fear from falling flat with its hellish pacing, framerate issues and scares you can spot a mile away.
Layers of Fear is a fun ride. If you can live with the poor frame rate you'll find a horror game that relishes the chance to mess with your head.
In a game that has a lot of fresh ideas on how to build suspense and let your mind do most of the work, it's disappointing to see frequent usage of those tautologies (it's scary because it's scary).
Layers of Fear sits somewhere between the pejoratively classified 'walking simulators' and a full game experience, as for the most part you are simply wandering around and solving the odd puzzle. Despite the clichés and obvious jump scares, I rather enjoyed my time exploring the mansion and I'm looking forward to having another play through to see what I missed the first time round. If you enjoyed the Silent Hills teaser P.T. and want more of the same, then Layers of Fear is well worth a look.
Layers of Fear wasn't as frightening as I thought it would be based on early impressions, but I was still entertained by its mind-bending haunted house even when the jump-scares fell flat.
If you are looking for a nice atmosphere, gashes visions and a clever narrative that unfolds room after room, Layers of Fear is the game for you.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Team Bloober's horror game piles on its attempted shocks so heavily you'll grow numb to them before the adventure is half over
Layers of Fear is well made, but commits a potentially greater sin than a game that's simply bad. It's dull. It's dreary. It's got as much bite as a beach ball. Perhaps for those who have only the lightest experience with horror games, it could be seen as authentically and astutely terrifying. For me, it's nothing new at all, and its presentation is so railroaded it might as well have been a ghost train.
What Layers of Fear lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for with atmosphere. It's a bizarre and thrilling ride that doesn't even considering letting up as you traverse a truly broken mind. The concept is incredibly novel and well portrayed, the wellbeing of your limping vessel never coming into debate as he works on his masterpiece. It's just a shame that, even with all the literary influences, the phenomenal and thought-provoking ambience isn't backed up by the writing or voice work that can both feel flat and uninspired more often than not. The dodgy frame rate that's becoming depressingly synonymous with Unity on PS4 adds to the issues here and pushes it that bit further away from truly hitting the mark P.T seems to dominate, even if it's now starting to pass into gaming mythology.
An excellent horror experience for both seasoned and newbie gamers. Despite some minor shortcomings, Layers of Fear brings some classic elements while adding new depth, creating a unique and fear filled journey that you won't be able to tear yourself away from.