Layers of Fear Review (diabeticcamel)
This game is a very mixed bag. I would not recommend it at full price, but for five dollars or less on a sale, it could be worth it. I'll try to make my thoughts on it as coherent as possible.
Graphics
This game is a pleasure to look at, and it's made all the more impressive by the fact it was created using what, to my mind, has always struck me as a comparatively primitive engine like Unity. The textures are sharp, the unsettling takes on classic art are unsettling as they should be, and the lighting is used to good effect, though on occasion I found some settings a little too dark. This game is a looker, and I've no complaints here.
Sound design
Unsettling, as with the graphical style, in the best sort of way. I enjoyed the ambient sound effects and the horror stinger sounds alike, even though the latter usually has me rolling my eyes. Here, it didn't feel quite as cheap and unearned, since there wasn't any sot of relief associated with the period after jump scares; it often was something unsettling that triggered those sharp sounds.
The voice acting was also wonderful; the artist sounds genuinely disturbed on occasions he speaks, and the voices of other characters are devoid of ham. I enjoyed everything about the sound design of this game.
Gameplay and story
It's perhaps a bit curious I've put these two, but the latter is informed by the former. Perhaps my largest complaint is that I feel there's too little done to draw attention to objects and literature that shape the narrative. I was able to get "the gist" of the story in a single play through, but I missed a handful of fairly crucial details. Perhaps my nearing middle age mind is becoming addled, but I feel there could have been done more to emphasize, if not outright mandate, all of the story details on the way to the end of the game.
Otherwise, the actual game is fairly simplistic, walking from room to room in surreal loops. The atmosphere, visuals and audio are all fairly superb, but I felt like a bit more of a guiding hand would have been warranted. It's also a very, -very- short game. Did I hate it? Absolutely not. But at twenty three dollars with the DLC, I definitely feel I overpaid. Get it on a sale. I purchased Soma for three dollars and felt like I got a steal, and paying eight times as much for this made me feel exactly the opposite.