In April of 2015, game studio Capcom announced that they had cancelled “Silent Hills,” the latest installment of their legendary “Silent Hill” series of horror games. Following this announcement, Capcom pulled “P.T.”, a playable teaser for the game, from the Playstation Network store. However, despite only being a teaser, “P.T.” was already hugely successful and well-regarded in its own right. But the game’s removal cause an outcry among fans of the “Silent Hill” series, it also caused a lot of smaller developers to step up to the plate and decide to try and fill the void left by the removal of “P.T.”. Today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the games born out of that desire, “Layers Of Fear.” Obviously that gives “Layers Of Fear” some pretty big shoes to fill, so let’s see just how well it fills them.
In “Layers Of Fear” the player takes on the role of a painter who has returned to his studio in order to complete what he considers to be his greatest work. Throughout the game, the player explores the mansion which houses the studio, slowly finding out more about the circumstances surrounding the genesis of the painting. The artist apparently used to paint wonderful paintings of his wife, but after she gave birth to his child he began to neglect her and draw into himself. He would lock himself in his studio and drink while obsessing over the rats in the house instead of actually painting. At some point, he begins to beat his wife. The great painting that the game centers around isn’t begun until after his wife’s death. Yeah, I’m not going to spoil the ending, but I’m sure that you can tell where this is going.
The whole visual aesthetic of “Layers Of Fear” can be summed up in a single word, and that word is “dim.” There is a huge emphasis placed on darkness and shadow, but it can sometimes get in the way of actually being able to tell what is going on in the game. The actual graphics are pretty good though, especially for an independent title. As the game goes on, a lot of the imagery becomes increasingly surreal, such as a bed melting into a pool of black ooze when a record player is activated. The surrealism is really the saving grace of the game’s visuals, as they stop it from yet another game which is pretty but lacks any real visual flair.
The music of “Layers Of Fear” is quite good as well. It uses a primarily piano and strings based score, but manages to avoid the usual problems these sorts of scores face by not trying to emulate a film score. Instead, the music seems almost to evoke a sort of bare-bones chamber music. There is some voice-acting in the game and it does leave a bit to be desired. However, given how well the rest of the sound works, I’m willing to let that slide.
Sadly, the actual gameplay is this game’s weak point. Mostly this is because there frankly isn’t a whole lot to it. For the most part, the player wanders down halls that lead them from one spooky scene to another, without a whole lot of real player agency to it. There are occasional puzzles, but frankly most of them are none too complicated. In some ways the gameplay is like that of “Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs” but even further stripped down to basics. Perhaps the game’s biggest fault is something that at first seems like a point in its favor. As the game progresses, the mansion’s hallways twist and turn in nightmarish ways where the same door won’t necessarily lead to the same place twice. I know that seems cool, and it is, but it also means that the player is essentially walking a linear path through the whole game as the doors will pretty much always just dump you where the game wants you to go.
So, “Layers Of Fear” isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s a far cry from it, and it definitely doesn’t scratch that itch for something else like “Silent Hill.” However, it’s still a pretty enjoyable experience (though perhaps a bit pricey at $20). Sure, there are better games out there, but that doesn’t make this one bad, exactly. It’s an ambitious title that doesn’t quite deliver on all of its promises, but is still worth the ride. It left me wanting to purchase its recently released expansion pack.
