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Layers of Fear is one of the numerous early access games I have gotten on Steam, but it is the only one I have seen emerge from that process and be released as a full game. Early access sometimes feels like a black hole, and once a game gets sucked in, it will be doomed to remain there until the end of time. I have loved recent games such as Subnautica, The Forest, and The Long Dark, but I’ll admit I’m a little impatient for the games to be completed. I’ve lost about 3 saves of Subnautica, because each moderately-sized update deems my saves outdated and I’ve had to restart a new game. While I understand that this comes with the territory, it still gets old. But I am so very glad I made the decision to back this game early on and support it, all while being able to watch it go from an unfinished preview of sorts, into the fantastic game it is today.

A while back I played Layers of Fear, while still in early access, and I absolutely loved it. It was a terrifying trip, and I would dare say it was one of the scariest games I have ever played. It has almost every element that one both wants and expects in a horror game. In fact, I loved it so much I have played the full release twice after that. It still gets under my skin. It still scares me. It’s still one of the best horror games overall that I have ever played.

Layers of Fear is about unraveling what has led to this artist’s insanity, and helping him create a new masterpiece as you progress. I don’t want to spoil too much of what you’re helping him create, or what happened in his past, so I’ll keep this vague. Layers of Fear is a first person, exploration game through a constantly changing, expanding, and repeating house. This setting is perfect for a horror game; its classic Victorian style lends to the feeling that a ghost may pop out around any corner. But be prepared to open a lot of doors… a lot of doors. Although this may sound repetitive it really isn’t, and every room changes as you go along, even when you enter a loop that you must repeat a few times before you can move on.

The many jumpscares and subtle eerie touches combine to create an atmosphere that is unrelenting. You can never let your guard down. I have to say that I hate when games are just about things popping up in front of you. It feels cheap and lazy, and as a fan of all things scary I almost find it offensive. Horror is not just about something making you leap out of your seat. It can equally, if not more so, be about creating a tension that you can’t escape. A suffocating fear that grows in your chest as your heart races faster. In Layers of Fear sometimes it’s a distant giggle, a shadow dancing on the wall in the light of a slightly-ajar door, or the sobbing of a woman just around the corner. Oh and did I mention the dolls? There are a lot of dolls lying around. This game has every single thing in the horror genre that really gets to me. Ghosts, dolls, the giggles of children, and women crying.

Not to go unmentioned is the fantastic score. The music in Layers of Fear is absolutely amazing. Haunting, beautiful, and unnerving all at once, I love the way they weave it into the game at just the right moments, and still manage to know when to drop the music altogether and keep things quiet. While the game itself is pretty short, it is still well worth the cost even if you pay the full price of $19.99 USD on Steam. I bought it in Early Access so I paid a bit less, but I would have happily paid a lot more for it. Go check it out for yourselves and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I am going to play the recently released DLC Inheritance and I’ll let you all know how it is next week!

Stay scared,
Dark Princess