The original Layers of Fear, for better or worse, is a game that left a lasting influence on the narrative-driven horror genre. Developed by Polish developer Bloober Team, the game was unlike anything seen before, combining unique aesthetics with an art theme inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and a deep dive into madness that left a strong impression on anyone who experienced it, even though themes such as mental illness were maybe not properly handled.
Following the success of the first entry in the series, Bloober Team released Layers of Fear 2, which took everything that made the original successful, such as the art-based themes, and tuned it up to eleven. While the change of setting wasn’t entirely successful, as it did away with the original’s amazing atmosphere, the second entry in the series is still a strong psychological horror game that deserves to be played by all fans of the genre.
With Bloober Team moving on from its franchise with titles like Blair Witch and The Medium, it seemed like the Polish developer was done with Layers of Fear, but that wasn’t the case at all, as all two entries in the series, and the Inheritance DLC, have been remade with the power of the Unreal Engine 5. The visual upgrades, however, are only one of the few things that make Layers of Fear the best way to experience the psychological horror saga by Bloober Team, as the developer, in collaboration with Anshar Studios, went the extra mile to update the games with new mechanics that make them even better to play.
While the stories of the Painter, the Daughter, and the Actor are ultimately the same ones seen in the original games, things have changed quite a bit in Layers of Fear. For starters, all stories are connected by a new story starring the Writer, who is sent to a haunting lighthouse to write stories, whose main characters are indeed the same mad, tortured individuals mentioned above. The Writer herself comments on the characters she is writing about during each story chapter, making all the stories feel like part of a much bigger one, although I feel the Actor’s story feels a little disjointed from the others, despite the callbacks and Easter Eggs scattered throughout.
The fact that the stories are the same ones seen in the original games doesn’t mean that they haven’t received a considerable glow-up. Every dialogue and almost every document scattered around the manor and the ocean liner has been rewritten, and for the best, as everything just flows much better and properly addresses controversial themes, making everything possibly even more impactful. The quality of the tales was always there, but with the new and improved writing, it finally shines like it was supposed to.
Alongside The Writer’s story, which works great as a way to connect all of the stories and adds a little something to the experience, Layers of Fear further expands the Painter’s story with a new story, The Final Note, starring The Wife. While the character features prominently in the Painter’s story, and we learn everything about her tragic life as the madman strives to complete his Master Opus, learning her perspective of the events that transpired adds another layer to the tale, making it even more engaging and hopelessly tragic.
The basics of the Layers of Fear series gameplay are still the basis of the remake’s experience, but just like the story and the writing, they have been updated to make the game much better to play. Instead of being a 1:1 remake, Layers of Fear rearranges a lot of the elements seen in the originals to present an experience that feels fresher. Some things stayed the same, but way more have been changed, and all for the better. Alongside traversing haunting, constantly shifting locations and finding items to piece the stories together, this time around, players will be solving way more puzzles. They are relatively simple since they mostly involve finding keys to open doors or numeric combinations to open locks and safes. Still, they go a long way to make Layers of Fear feel more than a simple gallery of horrific imagery.
The increased interactivity is further enhanced by the introduction of new gameplay mechanics, powered by the introduction of the lantern and flashlight. These items aren’t only used to light up dark places but also to banish echoes, solve puzzles, and even fight off enemies. During the Painter’s story, for example, the ghost of his dead wife still haunts his ruined manor, and sometimes, she will do more than just haunt the place, as she will go after her husband as well, and the only way to keep her off is by using the lantern. The introduction of what is essentially combat may sound disappointing to purists, but I feel like it does more good than bad, as it is limited to certain scenarios, it feels almost like a puzzle and introduces an element of tension that only adds up to the horror experience. Additionally, it is possible to turn off death in enemy encounters, so those who don’t want to deal with combat can pretty much skip it without any repercussions.
For the rest, Layers of Fear is just as immersive as its ever been. While it is possible to shoot straight for each chapter’s main objective, exploring around pays off immensily. To get the full picture of each story, players need to find all the documents scattered around the locations and take a look at items that tell part of the story themselves. In addition, looking around where the player really isn’t supposed to will reveal some nice touches that only increase immersion. Looking up while going down an elevator in the manor or peering through holes in the wall will reveal some very nice touches that make Layers of Fear an even more unnerving experience.
While the gameplay changes are welcome, the visual enhancements are what truly set the remake apart from the original games. Powered by Unreal Engine 5 (it’s the first new UE5 game made by a third-party studio), Layers of Fear is a stunning showcase of what the engine is capable of doing. Lumen global illumination, which gives the game superb dynamic lighting, and Niagara visual effects, which allows for the creation of particle effects in real-time, bring the trademark transitions to new heights. Even in calmer sequences, Layers of Fear looks stunning, thanks to high-quality textures that look amazing at any resolution. With ray tracing and HDR support added on top, Layers of Fear is among the best-looking horror game released to date, no question about it. The excellent melancholic piano pieces are the icing on the cake, further improving atmosphere.
With so many PC ports coming with huge performance issues lately and Unreal Engine 5 being relatively new technology, it was surprising to see Layers of Fear run smoothly, for the most part, on my system (i7-10700 CPU, RTX 3070 GPU, 16 GB RAM) at 4K resolution, high settings. Turning ray tracing on impacts performance considerably, but NVIDIA DLSS support made it possible to play the game with everything cranked up to the maximum and still get an average of 90 FPS at 4K resolution, quality preset. Truth be told, the game does suffer from some minor traversal stutters, but the developer promised they will be fixed, alongside some HDR issues with crushed blacks, when the game launches to the public.
Speaking about upscalers, Layers of Fear also supports Intel XeSS, and AMD FSR, although the latter wasn’t available during the review period, so I wasn’t able to test it out. One option that I feel the game really needs is a FOV slider. While I’m not too sensitive to motion sickness, I did feel some while playing the game, both during regular gameplay and the psychedelic transitions and being unable to change the field of view forced me to get further away from the screen than I usually do, which only solved the issue partially. Keep this in mind if you suffer from motion sickness, as some of the accessibility options, such as turning off camera shake, may not be enough for you.
For better or worse, remakes are always controversial. Still, with Layers of Fear, Bloober Team and Ansher Studios fully delivered on their promises, creating the definitive way to experience these journeys into madness. While playing them back-to-back becomes a little repetitive, there’s no denying that there isn’t a more immersive horror experience to be had in 2023.
PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.
