Layers of Fear: Inheritance Review (Astute)
An addendum to the main game that provides a relatively small story revolving around the daughter of the protagonist from the base game. It's roughly 45 minutes long, so it's a tough recommendation to make. While it's got the same quality level as the base game, given the length and content of the story, you can probably pass on this. If you are a die hard fan, it's worth full price. Otherwise, get it on sale.
The visuals and sound design are in full form here, just like they were in the base game. There isn't much more to say about its presentation that I haven't already addressed in the base game's review. I will make a special mention to sound design.
At one point, the game uses the flashbang ear ringing sound(as many games do) after you lose consciousness. The sound designer decided to dial the volume of that effect down, so it's very subtle but still noticeable. Thank you! I cannot tell you how many times I've had to throw my earbuds out because some amateur game dev decided they needed to annihilate my ears with that overused sound effect ramped up to eleven. Keep up the good work.
Also, I wonder if this DLC was planned after the fact, or if it was originally intended for the main game. In the main story, the wife took a bit more precedence than the child, and a lot of her story had setup and characterization. The child, on the other hand, felt more uncharacterized and static.
The story provided here follows the child from the main game. We get to see the main story with a bit more perspective from the daughter. As an adult, she explores her old home from the first game, while having flashbacks to her past. In these flashbacks, she's roughly five years old, and the house and its denizens tower over her. Her memories of events are more fluid, violent, and somewhat vague, which helps make the "scarred childhood" point quite well. The truth becomes very hazy as a result.
In fact, one of my nitpicks about the base game was the lack of vulnerability of our character. This DLC reverses that trend quite noticeably. Being a small five year old girl in a gigantic house full of threatening persons and things really ups the vulnerability factor a bit. The sound and visual effects also bring home the feeling of assaulted and defenseless.
Initially, one might think that her perspective would be a bit more literal and unbiased, as much of her memories of her father are very real and painful. However, depending on your choices, blame can shift back and forth between the father and the mother. Certain choices cause the daughter to make evasive excuses for her father's actions, or shift blame onto the mother. In other situations, she uses rationalization to try to put some distance between her and the event.
In some ways, the DLC helps cement a lot of vague details or speculation from the base game. However, due to the unreliable narration, it once again becomes difficult to nail down a factual account of what happened.
Depending on one of the multiple endings you reach, the conclusion can be rather unsatisfying. Not that they are necessarily bad(poorly written) endings, but that the outcomes aren't particularly meaningful or transformative. In fact, it's arguable that there is no good ending at all. Perhaps they are trying to be nihilistic, or poetic. I didn't care much for any of it.
While the base game is a rough breakdown of the mind of a tormented narcissist, this story is more a dissection of the childhood of someone who was severely abused. It does a very good job running up and down the spectrum of guilt, abandonment, gaslighting, anxiety, and the delicate nature of a child's perception. In fact, on that notion alone, I imagine it might stir a lot of unpleasant feelings in people who can relate.
Not everyone is a tortured ego-consumed artist, but there are quite a few people who grew up in verbally or physically abusive family. I'm not sure if that's a warning to the customer, or praise to the developer. Child abuse is never a palatable subject, so it's kind of humbling to see it represented in an unapologetic and somewhat realistic fashion.
In conclusion, it's an additional story that probably got trimmed from the base game. It supplements a perspective on the plot that crystallizes some of the vaguer details in the base game, while also providing its own level of unreliable narration. If you are a die hard Layers of Fear fan, then this is more Layers of Fear for you to enjoy. If not, then it's unlikely you need to play this to get a full appreciation for the main story. That, or at least get it on sale.
Steam Curator