Layers of Fear

Layers of Fear: Horror gets a New Destination

‘Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter'.

 

The words from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray introduce you to the first visuals of the interactive horror game- Layers of Fear 3D. The game developed by the Bloober Team SA was already a runaway success in the bigger platforms including Windows, Linux, PS4 and Xbox. Picking up from its successful run, the game made itself available in the App Store since October 18th this year.

The psychedelic horror game is a First-Person Shooter exploration game where you portray a painter wandering in an abandoned Victorian mansion. The game has a creepy atmosphere. It is full of changing environments, insane levels of interactions, endless loops and much more. It reminds you of the psychological horror game P.T. but with freakier jump scares. *Inserts not for the faint-hearted tag*. 

The real winner in this game is the gameplay where you live through the mind of a painter and traverse inside a large, desolated mansion with the Layers of Fear Monster lurking around and scaring you out of your wits at random points. Your objective is to complete one final masterpiece which was left unfinished. The horror game app surely has some interesting features which you will unravel while playing. MAD investigates the thrills from their expertise in reviewing. 

About Layers of Fear App

Logo:

The creepy, ghoulish face is an age-old tactic to arouse the player’s interest but once you play the game, the scenarios and events are even murkier. 

Features: 

To progress in the Layers of Fear game, you need survival instincts and patience. The game is full of scrolls, messages, items which will help you to keep moving ahead. Of course, you need to find them first. The following are the distinctive points to note-

The House- As mentioned earlier, the barren Victorian house (a standard setting in horror games) serves as the cursory aspect of the storyline.

Changing surroundings- The game’s full of instances where your surroundings will (suddenly) melt and turn morbid. 

The clues- You’ll have to find clues and solve puzzles to advance in the game. There are a lot of artefacts too, and by clicking on them, you’ll get voiceovers that narrate incidents related to those objects. WARNING: Some of the past stories can be too dark!

Use of artwork- The game introduces something new- inspire fear with the use of artwork. You’ll find them aplenty and hardly pleasing. 

Jumpscares- There are quite a number of them, and some will definitely take you by shock rather than surprise. Again, put every step with precaution, and remember- DON’T LOOK BACK! (you’ll get this once you play the game).

Paid Subscriptions- Unfortunately, the Layers of Fear app is not for free. It costs $9.99 for a premium release (half the price of the PC version in Steam). But guess what? The app has the Family Sharing option enabled where you can share it with 5 more people if the feature is turned on. The game’s marvellous, and once you start playing it, you won’t regret a single penny. Imagine enjoying scary moments from Layers of Fear with the entire fam together. 

Hits and Strikes

Hits

• Disturbing and eerie settings
• Plenty of Jumpscares
• Changing scenarios add a gothic layer to the game

Strikes

• Not free
• Could be a bit too scary for users below 18  

Fast Facts

• The Layers of Fear app has been developed and maintained by Bloober Team SA. 
• The estimated annual revenue of Bloober Team is $281.2K.
• It participated in the E3 2019 and was one of the exhibitors. 

The Verdict

Design- 3.5 stars
Storyline- 4.5 stars
Usability- 4 stars
Features- 4 stars

MAD rates: 4 stars

The Layers of Fear horror game app is a total scare-fest on your iPhone. Interactive games like Layers of Fear are best played at night, in a dim-lit room, with your Airpods on. And ALONE... 
The game is full of frightening moments, eerie wails, weird subplots and interesting explorations that will help you understand the dark, sadistic and tragic past of the artist in the story.