After arriving at PAX South 2018 in San Antonio Texas earlier this year, one of the first things I did was put the Layers of Fear 2 reveal conference on my list. Developers Bloober and publisher Gun Media were set to unveil what they had been working on for the new game and I wasn’t alone in the excitement. Now was the time to see what other spooks and stories we would be getting in to.
Set up to talk to a full room, the Bloober team began by showing everyone the trailer for the game and going straight into the art concepts for what we are now seeing. Most of the theme for this release is based on creative art and the movies. With tension being the main part of their games, the guys decided to take a lot of inspiration from old classic horror films. Personally, I wasn’t sure where this was going to take the plot but all of the information was fascinating.
This time for Layers of Fear 2, the main character is upon a ship and not related to the first game. The ship is hosting a film crew and making movies while guests are gated off to their own part of the ship. As the curious character you are, you get to wander around and start unraveling the mystery. Along the journey, the narrator, a child, and sibling are guiding you along with their own story of adventure. The actual plot of your character is very difficult to put together, however. Are you a child? Or, are you an adult? Somehow this seems to be open to interpretation.
At the time, the Bloober team wouldn’t say much about the plot of the game since there was still more to work on but after playing, the plot is still very much a mess of communication. Part of the games from these developers has to be approached with a sense of “let’s see what happens.” Enjoying the environments along the way are one of the best ways to get into the plot too while waiting for everything to unfold.
From the beginning of the game to the characters and every room and space in between, the imagery is fantastic. Every detail is in place and has appropriate lighting to get you in the mindset of exactly what you need to feel in the moment. Tight corridors lead to fear, darkness leads to mystery and mannequins spark curiosity. In a slight way, Layers of Fear 2 is reminiscent of Bendy and the Ink machine. This may be due to the corridors and quests, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Mechanically, the game is a walking simulator, much like P.T. Objects are easy to see for the most part and puzzles don’t stay undone for too long. Anyone could play this game but you’ll need to be open-minded to the abstract surroundings. A new feature that the first game didn’t have, is the monster creature that chases you. Yes, chases you. You must open and close doors quickly or die. So far, this is the first element where there are consequences to your actions. This actually feels rewarding in a way compared to just walking away. Running or dying, actually makes you feel like there is a concrete reason to doing all of these tasks.
Overall, the abstract plot is interesting but falls a bit flat in execution. There isn’t enough information in between the wandering to piece everything together in a cohesive way. Eventually, you will get to the end but there will still be many questions. Environmentally and mechanically, Layers of Fear 2 lands exactly where it should. Is this game fantastic to look at and explore? Yes. Is it a new adventure that will bring new stories to light? Not really. Creatively Layers of Fear 2 hit the mark which is exactly what I think the Bloober team intended to do with all of their historical research into the film industry.
7.5/10
Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One
