Layers of Fear (2016)

I’ve never written a review before, but this game feels like it deserves a few words. In Layers of Fear, you step into the shoes of a painter trying to complete his magnum opus or his “great work.” As you move through the game, you slowly begin to understand his descent into madness. I won’t say more about the story. It’s something you should experience for yourself. What I will share is a personal realization this game left me with. As an aspiring artist, a writer and a painter, I found something unsettlingly familiar in it. We often talk about the sacrifices required to create something meaningful, but we rarely stop to consider what that truly means. In trying to create something "perfect", we find ourselves pushing our own sanity in isolation. We sacrifice time with the people we love, only to sit and stare at that same creator’s block we’ve faced so many times before. To me, the game doesn’t just portray madness. It reflects something far more personal: the obsession with perfection and the inability to achieve it. The feeling that what you’re making will never be enough, no matter how much of yourself you pour into it. At some point, it felt too familiar. And it stopped feeling like horror.

第一人称，逛街模拟器，找钥匙找碎片，不知道第一步干什么。其实一开始我是拒绝的，直到第一次见识什么叫精彩的设计。 好的恐怖游戏，绝不单是有刺激，而是能看到很多巧思。8G不到的内容涵盖移步换景，回头杀，惊吓引导等等。容量并没有限制b组的大脑，我依然记得那个通过调节唱片曲调来控制平行空间的场景。还有阴森冰冷的婴儿房突然亮起来温馨起来，然后那个走马灯带着屏幕一起强制旋转，转啊转啊转出一个新场景。这就像恐怖电影，由于众所周知的原因，恐怖片预算往往很低，但好的导演愣是能用尽这有限的钱来呈现牛逼的效果。本作也是。狭小拘束的空间，确实一眼看到头，很没劲。但是走到画面前一回头，场景变了。你都不用考虑接下来到底要干什么，往新的场景深处走就是了，因为在那深处，自有一幅刻着数字的画告诉你这密码有用。 然后设计牛逼，剧本也非弱智剧情。虽然我只玩了一遍没收集全，但能估摸个七七八八。整体就是一个酗酒偏执狂的故事，部分信件的写法有点像前段时间刚读过的《呼啸山庄》。 总之，游戏牛逼，b组牛逼。也难怪日后b组能把寂静岭2的重制做到一个相当的高度。 本来想旧版新版一起玩了做个比较再写测评，但是，唉。那些精彩的场景设计在新版仿佛消失了，完全就是另一个故事。

A super thrilling horror game that gives you a very uneasy feeling every time you hear a noise or enter a room. The sound design is top notch, and the artwork is simply amazing. It's fairly short but definitely worth a buy just to experience it once.

I think playing too many horror games has ruined my ability to enjoy this one. It's basically a walking collector simulator with heavy use of the engine quirks. The story was interesting but not that well developed. Jumpscares felt like a lot of ideas thrown at the wall and I found myself laughing a couple of times. Overall not completely wasted time but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Maybe a product of it's time, when it could be appreciated more.

Мрачный мистический сюрреализм. Очень много мрачного мистического сюрреализма

恐怖程度一般，比较公式化，当然不是贬义，很讨厌jumpscare，吓到了也觉得低级。层层恐怖随着剧情推进对于家庭惨剧的回味才是最恐怖的

It’s a short horror game (~5h) where you wander around an ever-changing mansion, piecing together the lore through a mix of notes, leftover scenes, visions, and memories. There’s a sense of madness in the senseless visuals, but they eventually got me to the point of dizziness. The sound was OK. The graphics were good, but the rooms felt very repetitive. Apart from one or two jump scares, I quickly found myself feeling nothing but impatience. Definitely not for me!

This is a pure walking simulator where your primary job is, of course, to walk. There is no real threat in this game. You cannot die (well, technically you can, but the game makes it look like you just fainted, and you can continue anyway). The game, unfortunately, relies heavily on numerous jump scares, so be prepared to experience a lot of them. Overall, the game is just: (1) walk, (2) get jump-scared multiple times, and (3) discover what happens (which is pretty easy to guess around the middle of the game). Normally, I would leave a negative review for a game like this because it has almost no gameplay elements (I usually use Amnesia as the standard for this kind of game). However, I somehow liked the simplicity of this game, so I'll give it a positive review. The endings are tied to collectibles, which makes searching for items feel more meaningful (try SOMA and you'll see how useless the interact button can feel). Well, just buy the game, it's pretty cheap anyway.