Layers of Fear

When we humans are struck by fear, our animal instincts kick in. When we get scared, adrenaline and cortisol are released in our brain, which are the neurotransmitters that make our heart work, our blood flows faster and our body prepares to defend itself and quickly get away to safety. The whole body is on alert and it's our instincts that take over. I must be pumped up with adrenaline and cortisol after going through the new Layers of Fear.

Layers of Fear is a psychological thriller, but despite the name, it is not a remake or remaster of the original of the same name - and neither is Layers of Fear 3. It can be best described as a "rebirth" of the series, featuring redesigned versions of the original Layers of Fear and its sequel Layers of Fear 2, plus The Final Note (a new expansion) and The Writer, a new chapter that ties it all together.

You actually start out playing The Writer, which takes place in a seemingly abandoned lighthouse where a writer has barricaded himself in order to get some peace and quiet to write. After a brief introduction in The Writer, you jump into what I remember from the original Layers of Fear, or The Painter, as it's called here. Here you take on the role of a seriously mentally disturbed painter who is about to create his final masterpiece, and his mental state is now in doubt as he moves restlessly around his huge Victorian house as horrific scenes unfold before your eyes. The new expansion, The Final Note, sheds new light on The Painter and his family from his wife's perspective.

Later, you play The Actor (or Layers of Fear 2), where you take on the role of an actor who, on the orders of a demanding film director in the 1930s, hops aboard a cruise ship to find out if he has what it takes to star in the director's upcoming film. However, you soon realise that this is going to be much more than just a regular casting session.

The gameplay is essentially quite simple; you move around the lighthouse, the painter's huge house, the abandoned cruise ship and various alternative nightmare worlds as you explore the surroundings and solve simple puzzles. It's more like a walking simulator with horror and simple puzzles, and as such, it works quite well. As a new feature, The Painter comes equipped with a lantern that can be used to light up the environment to reveal clues to new puzzles, and it can also be used to disable enemies for a short period of time so you can escape. You can do the same with the flashlight in The Actor.

Layers of Fear has always been a very atmospheric game and the same can be said of this new edition. Mysterious things are constantly happening around you and it is often the many little hints and glimpses of, for example, a silhouette or a shadow that are far more frightening than if you were face-to-face with evil itself. You're exposed to traumatising sights; paintings melting, things flying through the air, mannequins suddenly appearing where there were none before, doors you've just walked through being replaced by entirely new corridors, rooms being destroyed in a split second as soon as you turn your back - or entire rooms turning into impossible versions of themselves or rotting before your eyes.

Naturally, sound is very important in a game like Layers of Fear. The most frightening moments are the sequences where there is almost complete silence or where you can only hear something resembling a quiet breath. Or a small bell ringing. Or a faint creaking behind you. But it's so faint that you're not sure if it was there. If you dare, you should definitely play with a good headset, especially since the game features 3D binaural sound, which is really effective here.

The new Layers of Fear is one of the first games to utilise Unreal Engine 5. I can't say whether the game fully utilises the new technologies, but what I can say for sure is that this is a truly beautiful game. Really beautiful and extremely well designed. The designers at Bloober Team really know how to design these terrifying worlds and combined with excellent lighting and other visual delights, we have one of the most beautiful and atmospheric horror games ever.

The only issue with the graphics is that sometimes the contrast is a little odd and it can be hard to see what's going on, but Bloober Team is said to be working on a patch that should fix this before launch. Finally, it's worth mentioning that you can play in two different graphics modes; either Quality at 30fps, which features Ray-Tracing, 4K resolution and improved lighting, or in Performance at 60fps, but without Ray-Tracing and at a lower resolution.

Layers of Fear has always been one of my favourites in the horror genre, especially because it has always been carried by an excellent atmosphere and less by cheap shock effects. The new Layers of Fear takes the creepiness and atmosphere up a notch, thanks to the beautiful new graphics and excellent soundtrack. Layers of Fear may not be a game for everyone because it's more of an experience than a game. The gameplay is very simple, as you more or less just move around opening doors, searching through drawers and cupboards, solving a few simple puzzles and getting scared out of your wits from time-to-time.

If you like this kind of entertainment, Layers of Fear is one of the best of its kind. I can't remember the last time I've experienced a game with such an intense atmosphere and that was as unpleasant to play as Layers of Fear. And in this context, that should be understood in the most positive way.