Layers of Fear

I had heard a lot of good things about Layers of Fear, enough good things to warrant buying it in a sale anyway. That said, it was one of those games I had no real intention of playing immediately. However I was getting fed up of spending ages deciding which unplayed game to start next so to get around this, I employed the help of my friends and a number based picking system. Incidentally Layers of Fear was the first to come out of the hat.

Layers of Fear follows the story of some painter who returns to a house with an obscure message – ‘finish it.’ I say obscure but what I mean is obvious. The painter has returned to finish a painting. Duh. Throughout the game you are haunted by images of some family and there is a constant link to the creative psyche and how you need to be fully mentally unhinged to be good at being creative. Essentially what this means is that the storyline is clichéd, pretentious horseshit.

Graphically it’s outstanding. A lot of effort has been put into the visual aspect of the game and there is detail everywhere. I played through the game three times and I can’t remember seeing any graphical cock ups which is massively refreshing especially from an independent production.

The gameplay coupled with the music is where it really works and it’s a team effort here. The slow-paced movements of the protagonist (if you can call him that) work with an interchanging environment that creates an immersive, engaging gameplay experience. There were several times where I did actually jump and some of this was before the game even got going.

Another nice little detail is the fact that the protagonist walks with a limp. As you explore the Layers of Fear universe it becomes apparent as to why as well so it’s well developed, well implemented touch... if not a little frustrating when you want to go somewhere quickly.

Achievements – 1,250 Points – 27 Achievements

So on to the achievements. There are achievements associated with collectibles and for doing certain things throughout the game. There is chapter select which makes getting the collectibles relatively straightforward if you did miss any but there’s no real need to use this as the game requires 3 separate playthroughs for the 100%.

There are two weird ones that require some non-standard behaviour. You have to stare at paintings for an hour. In a painter’s house, not too difficult. You just have to remember to keep turning the controller back on when it disconnects after a lack of activity. There is another one for staring at a specific painting for five minutes which is a secret and was a pain in the ass for me as my achievement tracking stopped working while I was doing this so I probably stared at it for double the time required.

The one that really takes the cake is for getting the three different endings. And the reason is no one really knows how to trigger any of them. There are some videos which I used to get the others after nailing the supposed hard-to-get ending first after faffing about a lot; opening every drawer and cupboard in the game; not knowing what needed doing next; staring at paintings for an hour (that’s right) and dying not quite the maximum amount of times. The other ending guides I’ve seen say to do some of these things which contradicts the ending I got. The last ending I got was apparently the most common one it comes with two additional achievements for the finishing the game.

Downloadable Content

There is one additional piece of DLC where you come back to the house playing as the daughter of the guy from the main game. The storyline is shorter and involves weird flashbacks, less jump scares and a shitty torch.

One addition, which again shows the attention to detail, is the fact that she walks normally whereas the character from the main games walks with a limp. It’s a small thing but it would have been really easy to not bother and make the mechanics the same.

The achievements are essentially a short version of what was in the main game but there is a lot more faffing about needed to collect everything and get some specific endings. I didn’t know about this so I had to play it through it three times whereas if you do it right, you only have to play it through twice. There are another three endings to find but two of them can be done on the same playthough.

There is one annoying glitch in the DLC though. When going for the hidden ending, you have to collect nine pictures which then form a secret message. However, when some people do this, the secret message won’t appear even if you fulfilled all the criteria building up to it. There is a weird work around for this though which involves using the torch I mentioned earlier but this is the only blemish on an otherwise well put together gaming experience.

Layers of Fear is a good game for both narrative engagement and achievements. It didn’t feel like hard work or repetitive despite the requirement for three playthroughs which suggests that the length of the game is about right. For less than £10, it’s good value too.