Layers of Fear
| Layers of Fear | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio |
 Bloober team
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| Publisher |
 Aspyr Media Limited Run Games (physical) |
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| Senior Developer | Eryk Dykiel | ||
| composer | Arkadiusz Reikowski | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
February 16, 2016 February 21, 2018 (Switch) October 5, 2018 (physical) |
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| platform | Linux , OS X , PlayStation 4 , Windows , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch | ||
| Game engine | Unity 5 | ||
| genre | Adventure | ||
| Subject | horror | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse and keyboard or gamepad | ||
| medium | Download , Blu-ray , module | ||
| language | English, subtitles in German, French, Italian and Polish | ||
| Age rating |
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Layers of Fear (German levels / layers of fear ) is a 2016 published computer game of the Polish development studio Bloober team . The developers describe the horror game as a "psychedelic journey into a crumbling psyche that was torn apart by the tragic events of the past". As a player, you steer an artist who is gradually decaying mad from the first person perspective through a large mansion, explore “the ruins of a once enviable life” and fathom the tragic family history “which the artist's delusional thirst for perfection brought about”.
The indie game, which deals with topics such as alcoholism , alienation , paranoia and schizophrenia , received favorable reviews from the specialist press . Layers of Fear shows numerous paintings by well-known artists such as Rembrandt , Joshua Reynolds , Antonio de Pereda , Juan van der Hamen y León , Francisco Goya , Lavinia Fontana , Hieronymus Bosch and Henry Fuseli .
After an expansion in August 2016, the successor Layers of Fear 2 was released in May 2019 . In autumn 2018, Limited Run Games re- released the game as a region-free physical version, limited to 4,000 copies, with soundtrack and poster, for the PlayStation 4 (as Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition ) and Switch (as Layers of Fear: Legacy ) .
action
As a successful and celebrated painter, an unspecified artist led a privileged life, in prosperity, married to a beautiful and musically gifted woman and a young daughter. However, in a devastating fire at the opening of a department store, the artist's wife is seriously injured and disfigured. This plunges the artist into a deep crisis of meaning and his wife realizes that he did not love her, but rather regarded her as a muse and valued her for her masterful piano playing. The artist drowns his grief over the loss of his muse and the artistic descent into alcohol; he only communicates with his wife and domestic servants using notes. Plagued by depression, his wife burns the painting "The Lady in Black", which shows her and was dedicated to her, and eventually commits suicide. The painter's custody of the daughter is withdrawn and she ends up in an orphanage, her further fate remains unclear.
The creative blockade, legal difficulties and the loss of his wife make the artist more and more insane. An imaginary plague of rats in the house, the ghost of his dead wife, family memories and gruesome phenomena in the house all reflect his condition. Between fascination and disgust for himself, the artist uses body parts of his dead wife as painting utensils to complete his masterpiece. He uses her skin as a canvas, her blood as paint and her hair as a brush, which he compared to horsehair brushes.
The artist thus completes his magnum opus, where the player can show himself various paintings, each of which leaves room for interpretation. A portrait of his wife, still in perfect beauty, turns before his eyes into a burnt grimace that mocks him. He declares his attempt a failure and throws it on a pile of other unsuccessful pictures of his wife, which for him only show disfigured faces, but appear flawless to the player. The madness starts all over again and the painter is caught in a loop. A self-portrait of the painter makes him a celebrated artist again and his work ends up in a museum. Yet the artist remains alone. A portrait of a wife and child causes the artist to burn this with other portraits of his wife, as well as himself.
Game principle and technology
The using the Unity - Engine created layers of Fear is a first-person -Adventure, that is, the representation of the action takes place from the perspective of the player. The camera can be rotated freely in all directions. Movement within the game world is done using the WASD keys. With the help of additional buttons, the player can access his inventory and interact with his environment. As a player, you slip into the role of an unnamed artist in the early 20th century (voiced by Eric Braa). From the first person perspective you can explore its huge Victorian mansion. Initially still in good condition, it reflects the unstable condition of the protagonist and is increasingly deteriorating. As a player, you search the premises, fathom the tragic family history and the condition of the painter. The aim is to find six objects (body parts of his dead wife) that will help him create his magnum opus . The game plays with the player's perception and constantly changes the environment in order to illustrate the increasing madness of the artist, while the aim is to create feelings of trepidation and threat in the player. However, there is no fighting or fleeing in the game. The main element remains exploring the property, solving puzzles in order to make progress.
Depending on the style of play and decisions made, which the game does not specifically refer to, the game offers three different endings.
reception
| Magazine / website | Rating |
|---|---|
| 4players | 78% |
| GameStar | 81% |
| Metacritic | 78% |
| PC Games | 74% |
| GamePro | 79% |
| GameSpot | 7 out of 10 |
| M! Games | 6 of 10 |
Dominic Stetschnig from GIGA describes Layers of Fear as " Mindfuck at the highest level", particularly praises the atmosphere of the game, "in which you cannot be sure whether you are the ones who play it or the ones who are played with" , as well as skillfully used jump scares after a successful tension build -up .
“You will be afraid. Promised. I used to get scared when I heard Slender - The Eight Pages . And at Amnesia: The Dark Descent really scary. In the third edition of Resident Evil, when the dog jumps through the window, I still flinch. And when I think of a roaring radio on Silent Hill , little Alma at the end of the ladder at FEAR, or Lisa at the end of the aisle at PT, I wish I had diapers on. But all of that degenerates into an afternoon program when I think of my playing experience with Layers of Fear. "
“The atmosphere, the disturbing situations and last but not least the history of the painter himself are what make us shudder. Anyone can scare players with loud noises. Layers of Fear creates fear with everything that takes place in the corner of the eye. (...) Layers of Fear is not for slasher fans who want to be chased by a crazy killer. (...) Layers of Fear is a great experience that I can recommend to everyone for whom horror works even without monsters. "
extension
The game Layers of Fear: Inheritance was released on August 2, 2016 as an independent expansion . This tells the story from the perspective of the artist's daughter. You play her both as a child, where you live through dark childhood memories as a player, as well as as an adult, when she visits the house again after the events of the main game. In this way, a child as a play figure can also be noticed through play, for example in the deeper first-person perspective. Like the main game, Inheritance has three different endings.
“Fans of the main game should definitely treat themselves to the second visit to the horror house. The daughter's new perspective literally opens up a new view of the house. Instead of horror, the focus is on horror. Inheritance is not a brutal slasher, but a gruesome experience. "
“Aside from its brevity, Inheritance is a successful addition to psychological horror that skilfully combines artistic madness with a family tragedy. You stick to exactly what made the main game so special: exciting moments of shock, disturbing environments and an interesting story, the end of which is influenced by your own decisions. However, the negative aspects that plagued the “big” adventure also remain. (..) But you can not only look at the creeping madness or the drama that is taking hold of the family through children's eyes, but also learn other backgrounds that round off the narrative overall picture. "
Web links
- Official website
- Layers of Fear at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://presskit.blooberteam.com/sheet.php?p=layers_of_fear
- ↑ https://www.playstation.com/de-de/games/layers-of-fear-ps4/
- ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht_fazit/Allgemein/Test/Fazit_WANY/Allgemein/36989/81656/Layers_of_Fear.html
- ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/layers-of-fear/52782.html
- ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/layers-of-fear
- ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/Layers-of-Fear-Spiel-55923/Tests/Test-Horrorspiel-Silent-Hill-1185292/
- ↑ http://www.gamepro.de/playstation/spiele/ps4/layers-of-fear/wertung/53457.html
- ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/layers-of-fear-review/1900-6416355/
- ↑ M! Games , issue 271, April 2016, page 81
- ↑ http://www.giga.de/film/genre-listen/horror/ich-scheiss-mich-an-layers-of-fear-ist-mindfuck-auf-allerhoechstem- level /
- ↑ http://www.giga.de/film/genre-listen/horror/ich-scheiss-mich-an-layers-of-fear-ist-mindfuck-auf-allerhoechstem- level /
- ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/layers-of-fear/test/layers_of_fear,52782,3268055,fazit.html
- ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/layers-of-fear/artikel/layers_of_fear_inheritance,52782,3276614,fazit.html
- ↑ http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht_fazit/Allgemein/Test/Fazit_WANY/Allgemein/38029/81996/Layers_of_Fear_Inheritance.html