Layers Of Fear Review – Not An Onion

<p>I jump at the bit anytime I hear of a new survival horror game&semi; I&&num;8217&semi;m like a crack addict with very little crack for my survival horror addiction&period; Last year&period; I got a little rock in <em>Resident Evil&colon; Revelations 2<&sol;em>&comma; and the year prior I was gifted with a huge bag in <em>The Evil Within<&sol;em>&period; This year was starting to look a little lean&comma; that was until I heard of <em>Layers of Fear<&sol;em>&period; This survival horror&sol;adventure game by Bloober Team is one of the scariest titles I have played in awhile&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve not jumped in my chair at high noon while playing a game for quite some time&semi; <em>P&period;T&period;<&sol;em> was the last one to do that to me&period; Layers of Fear does take a lot from <em>P&period;T&period;&comma;<&sol;em> but that isn&&num;8217&semi;t a bad thing&comma; this is what <em>P&period;T&period;<&sol;em> and <em>Silent Hills<&sol;em> could have been had Konami not been against making money and good games&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m glad that Bloober Team took a chance on fear&comma; and it turned out to be one scary ride of a game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is a lot of story in this game&comma; but at the beginning you really have no idea what is going on&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m not going to delve too deeply into the story because what makes the game so good is the fact that you read notes&comma; newspaper clippings and experience memories as you go throughout the house&period; It would be a shame for me to ruin the story&comma; so I will say this&comma; you are a painter who is having a rough time at the moment and you are desperately trying to finish a painting&period; The period is that of the early 20th century&comma; the house&comma; clothing like the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bitsybugboutique&period;com&sol;collections&sol;funny-baby-onesies">funny baby clothes at Bitsy Bug<&sol;a> and music relay that to you&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s all you need to know&comma; what is revealed to you as you quest to finish your painting is mind-blowing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;99906" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-99906" style&equals;"width&colon; 869px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-99906" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235410&sol;Layers-of-Fear-2-min&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Layers Of Fear 1" width&equals;"869" height&equals;"478" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-99906" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Layers Of Fear&comma; Bloober Team&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The controls in this game are quite simple&period; It is a first person that is almost on-the-rails&semi; you move with the left joystick and look around with the right joystick&period; To open a drawer or a door&comma; when prompted you hold down the right trigger and make an appropriate action with the right joystick&period; It is very simple&period; What isn&&num;8217&semi;t simple is knowing what to do&period; I start to investigate the house that I woke up in almost immediately and then I got trapped in the first room due to the fact I had no clue what to do&period; I restarted once because I thought I missed a key item during my search&comma; but I was wrong&semi; the answer to the puzzle is generally in the room you are trapped in&period; I say generally due to the fact that I encountered two safes where I didn&&num;8217&semi;t have the combination&comma; so I need to replay and find those clues&period; One of the few negatives I found in this game was the length of it&comma; I finished up the story in two sittings which saddened me&semi; I enjoyed my time in this addled world and wanted to see more of it&period; It probably took me three hours at best to finish the game&comma; and the replay value is very low&period; Do I want to open those safes up&quest; I do&comma; but I don&&num;8217&semi;t feel the need to do it right away&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The atmosphere is what really sells this game&semi; the house you wake up in has the most amazing detail&period; It is a beautiful mansion that slowly deteriorates before your eyes&period; The wood engraving looks great&comma; the pianos&comma; the furniture&semi; everything looks amazing&comma; until it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t&comma; and then it looks downright scary&period; This whole atmosphere can seriously make you jump out of your chair&semi; there were three good scares that made me pause the game and walk around the house for a bit&period; Psychological thriller would be the best way to describe how Bloober Team makes you jump&period; Imagine being in a room that changes around you as you stand there&comma; the lights flickering off and on&comma; and then a ghastly painting comes suddenly in your vision as the music pipes up&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s how my experience was&semi; I was on the edge of my seat for the scares which made solving the puzzles a little difficult&period; It is hard to concentrate when a baby doll may jump out in front of you and scream&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;99910" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-99910" style&equals;"width&colon; 918px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-99910" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03235356&sol;image&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Layers of Fear 2" width&equals;"918" height&equals;"515" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-99910" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Layers Of Fear&comma; Bloober Team&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I cannot recommend this game enough&period; Fans of the old school point-and-click adventure games will have an amazing time with it&period; Survival horror fans should give this game a good look&semi; there are not many games like this on the horizon and even though it was really short&comma; I enjoyed every minute with it&period; The puzzles were hard&comma; but fair&period; The music would crescendo at the right time to get you to wet yourself&comma; and the atmosphere is just spooky&period; As you get farther and farther into the game&comma; the house just gives you the heebie jeebies&period; I wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t want to live there&comma; nor would I want to wander around there&period; Even the story&comma; once you get it figured&comma; will leave you with goosebumps&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s been a few hours since I&&num;8217&semi;ve beaten the game and it is still on my mind&period; Hopefully I&&num;8217&semi;ll get some sleep tonight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>An Xbox One code for Layers Of Fear was provided by Bloober Team for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;