I've been unfairly accused in the past of being "biased" against Unity games and the Unity engine itself. Well, let me put that rumor to rest with beginning this review by saying that Layers of Fear is a Unity based horror game... and it's one of the absolute best horror titles that I've played in the last five years. In fact, it has easily entered into my top ten favorite horror games of all time. Layers of Fear easily stands strong along side current-era favorites such as The Evil Within and Stairs, and it brings along its own unique brand of psychological horror.
You will take on the role of an unnamed painter, and you quickly find out that he has a wife, a daughter, an unsettling obsession with rats, and a taste for the sauce. The game starts out ordinary enough, you wander through your rather large mansion, pick up notes that give glimpses into the story, and then you grab the key to your painting study and enter. However, once you unveil your unfinished Magnum Opus, things start taking a turn for the wild, weird, and eerie. Once you exit your studio, your entire mansion has transformed; you will traverse from claustrophobic corridors to wide open rooms, through radical hallucinations and segments that will truly make you second guess yourself.
If you have seen the Silent Hills Playable Trailer that released a few years ago, many elements within Layers of Fear will seem familiar; in fact, Layers of Fear truly is an incarnation of the gameplay we've seen in the now defunct Silent Hills PT. Sometimes you will wander through the same area, only to have it gradually change over time, or you'll come to a dead end and look behind you, only to have something new appear. Every twist and turn that you make potentially sets off a new string of events, each more horrific than the last. Though this is not all for the glory of horror, there is a deep, grim, and depressing underlying story that everyone should take the time to understand; through gathering and reading notes, of course. It seems that so many horror games of this era have an unbridled obsession with note collecting, and while that is present in Layers of Fear, it's never the primary focus or goal; it simply enhances the few dialogue driven sections.
The performance of the game is outstanding, and it has given me renewed hope in Unity based horror games. In fact, as far as my memory can recall, this is the only Unity based horror game that I've played that has not suffered from blasphemous performance. A solid 95% of the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS, with graphics cranked to full max, while the very small 4% sees the game dipping into the mid 40's, and 1% where the game will go down to roughly 38. The latter issue is found in the very tail end of the game, and is hardly worth mentioning; but it is still there. Layers of Fear is beautiful, though, the graphics are outstanding and well polished in all areas; even the paint-soaked, gore-ridden parts.
This game is one that is better played while wearing a headset, as the ambiance is very subtle. Using my 7.1 Surround Sound Corsair Void headset, I noted that the sound is incredibly clear and uncompressed. Everything from the dialogue, to eerie laughing, crying, to more natural sounds such as the ongoing storm outside of the mansion. Layers of Fear could probably have used a slight bit more in the way of atmospheric ambiance, as many times it seems that the only thing that there is to focus on are the sounds of your own footsteps; which sounds like a heart beating, at least in my opinion.
If you're looking for one of the best horror experiences of this year, or even in the last decade, I recommend Layers of Fear with all of the fiery passion that one who loves horror so much can. Not only are all of the right horror elements there, aside from Silent Hills PT and perhaps Stairs, this is one of the earliest incarnations of this type of psychological horror; one that changes and shifts each time you enter and exit a room. There's even a hint of Rose Red laying within the developer's inspiration. I have played tons and tons of horror titles over the years, and Layers of Fear is one of the extremely few that have actually made me question myself and what I'm doing at certain points. If it can trick me, you're sure to be astounded with it. If you need one more thing to set you off... it also doesn't rely on jumpscares. Now, go press the "add to cart" button.
Rating: 5.0/5.0 - An astonishing achievement, this game must be played.The Horror Network
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