Bloober Team·Released May 28, 2019·Single player
Layers of Fear 2 is a first-person psychological horror game with an emphasis on exploration and story. Players control a Hollywood actor who heeds the call of an enigmatic director to take on the lead role in a film shot aboard an ocean liner. Beware, for all may not truly be what it seems.
Layers of Fear 2 is a rather disappointing follow-up to 2016's interesting and effective psychological horror effort. There's a decent premise here, a strong setting and an opportunity to tell an interesting tale, but it feels wasted for the most part. Despite looking and sounding great, predicable scares, repetitive gameplay, disappointing puzzles and a story that just never makes a decent connection result in a game that's pretty hard to recommend overall.
The atmosphere sticks like a sweet, damp odour. As the door swings shut behind you - instantly snuffing out the meagre …
Layers of Fear 2 falls short in one too many areas for us to consider it a classic, but the experience that remains is still well worth your time. Predictable horror conventions aside, spectacular visuals, a haunting atmosphere, and impressive shape-shifting environments are sure to keep you up at night.
Layers of Fear 2 may excel at jolting you with quick scares, but the narrative and stakes are so obscure that real horror can’t take root.
A stirring adventure with incredible writing that consistently subverts expectations.
It’s a pity that the game fails to take advantage of these analogies and delve into their immense potential. Instead, it’s too fixated on traditional jump scares to embrace the twisted, palpitating gut of its story about a flawed protagonist and his struggles with inner demons.
Layers of Fear 2 swaps the mind of a tortured painter for one of a tortured actor, setting sail for the high seas in a sequel that disappoints.
In expanding on its predecessor, Layers of Fear 2 sinks into a state of deep confusion.
