The same goes with specifically Resident Evil 7. It also backs up the Silent Hill element, especially in the scenes that support it. This can all be addressed with patches, most certainly, as this was a pre-release build.Īs mentioned earlier, the music in the game ties the psychological horror element into a nice bow. It’s worth noting that the game looks great in 1080p, as well. There were also times where the frame rate would drop into the forties in strange places like entering a closet. There were times where I wouldn’t get any frame drops, but the rendering seemed sluggish. About 75% of the game ran at 60 FPS at the highest setting. Running this on my PC at 4K with a GTX 1080ti ran mostly smooth, but there are some optimization problems. The colors are gorgeous and every visual about the game is mind-blowing. The lighting in certain scenes is beyond lifelike and colorful scenes that are meant to be vibrant are just that. Layers of Fear 2 is stunning thanks to the Unreal Engine 4. Fans of the first will be pleased to know that this same visual prowess exists in the sequel. The psychological horror element in Layers of Fear 2 is excellent and while it may lack the tension and adrenaline of a survival horror title, it makes up for that with the obscure art direction. All these aspects tie into a wonderful mess. This is something the director or narrator actually preaches as he wants the player to know that he already knows what the choice is going to be. Players will find themselves using their instinct for choices and situation. The difficulty isn’t that high, at least on the first playthrough. Trial-and-error will be mostly used to progress throughout the ship whether it be with obstacles or puzzles. There’s a threat that lurks on the ship as there are just enough jump scares to keep the player on their toes. The ship is full of tin-men straight out of Wizard the Oz that are used to signify people. At times, Layers of Fear 2 feels like a combination of Bioshock, Resident Evil 7 and Silent Hill. The psychological aspect exists with the mind tricks, but the atmosphere itself is uncanny. The more the game progresses, the more the ship changes. Players will also collect projector slides and movie posters to help with the story. There are puzzles to complete, but they aren’t superbly complex. Environments will change to mess with the player’s head and all that can really be done about it is laugh. Most of the time, I found myself in areas looking for doors or items to interact with. Paths are usually lit as to where the player needs to go, so generally if an area is dark, it’s pointless going in that direction. Each act is fairly linear as there is no direct backtracking. There are five acts to play and while the game sits at around ten hours, each individual act is time consuming. This allows for a lot of replay value as Layers of Fear 2 includes a New Game+ mode after beating it the first time. The game also takes player choices into account that will help decide various endings. Voiced by Horror Cinema Legend Tony Todd, Layers of Fear 2 consists of a director that tells a deep narrative that is slow burning but will eventually come together. The sequel takes place on a cruise ship as the player is put in the shoes of an actor who wakes up to an empty environment. The Layers of Fear series falls into this category and while the first game put you in the madhouse of an artist, Layers of Fear 2 completely rewrites the story. Psychological horror focuses on messing with the player’s mind as weapons are generally nonexistent. While action horror is still around, the horror genre has branched off in a new direction. Ten years ago, survival horror was dying and action horror was amping up. Developer Bloober Team has released the sequel with Layers of Fear 2 and while the setting may have changed, fans of the original will dig the sequel just as much. The success of the original Layers of Fear may still sit in a cult status, but its mark on the culture is widely understood. Series like Resident Evil, Outlast, Amnesia and Layers of Fear have propelled horror games forward and even further split the genre. Due to the state of technology (and especially virtual reality) the horror genre is as lifelike as it can get at this point. One of the most underrated genres of this current hardware generation is the horror genre.
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