However, there is at least in-game acknowledgement of the former, and the latter is better signposted this time around. ![]() Some of Bloober’s less successful pre- The Medium content staples are present in The Painter’s Story as well – like an over-reliance on scene repeats, and in-the-moment, apparently insignificant choices that will determine the game end. ![]() While the voice acting is over-the-top at times, there is no faulting the game’s sound design, which is 10/10 perfection. Adding to the emotional impact is the immersion created by the next-gen visuals and, especially, the binaural audio. The Painter’s Story in Layers of Fear (2023) runs the full fright gamut, from jump scares to the more ominous terror that comes from walking down a dark passageway of locked rooms, looking back and suddenly seeing one door open a crack. Speaking of Resident Evil, if Village’s House Beneviento chilled you, wait until you reach the retooled child’s rooms and related stage here. And, well, in many player nightmares too. However, they quickly become a highlight, adding the breath-holding tension that only comes from dealing with an enemy that pursues you relentlessly and cannot be stopped, as in the Resident Evil tradition. Initially these new gameplay elements seem shoehorned in, and unnecessary. Layers of Fear (2023) fleshes out the family tragedy chops away a lot of meaningless busywork of opening empty cupboards and drawers in the painter’s decaying manor makes sense of the game’s disturbing rat sketch collectibles and introduces more puzzles and gameplay. The true horror was the awfulness of the protagonist, heralded as an early 20 th Century Caravaggio, who is revealed to have become increasingly unhinged and abusive to his wife and daughter as he struggled to repeat his initial career success. Layers of Fear (2016) felt like a grim walking sim – though there’s nothing wrong with that. Most of the old rough, paint-loaded strokes are gone, smoothed over instead with a seamless blend of oil shades that produce a more polished and emotionally potent impression. A step up all round, this is Bloober literally adding layers to the title that first made them standouts in the psychological horror genre. The remake of Layers of Fear 1 – here called The Painter’s Story – is a legitimate masterpiece. Especially when the story is so rich in potential. And the non-linear, implication-heavy narrative, which players must piece together like a jigsaw, can be incredibly frustrating. That said, like any artist’s oeuvre, its individual pieces are not equal in quality. Honestly, Layers of Fear 1 and 2 still look good thanks to their striking production design and art direction, so the question is whether the new all-in-one rejig is worth your time? The answer is “yes.” Now offering a meaty, 15-hour non-completionist playthrough, Layers of Fear (2023) is absolutely the best way to explore these dark, unsettling tales of artistic obsession turned into desperation, guilt and madness. Layers of Fear (2023) has been built on Unreal Engine 5, so it has all the visual dazzle of a next-gen release, supporting ray tracing, HDR and 4K. It’s not just about content refresh and extension, though. Plus, a further new DLC for the first game, which serves as a fresh, alternate perspective on the events there. ![]() That’s the underlying message of Layers of Fear (2023), developers Bloober Team (and Anshar Studios’) “definitive way” to experience their first-person psychological horror game series, which kicked off back in 2016.Įssentially a hybrid remake-remaster, not dissimilar to what Bloober did with their cyberpunk thriller Observer: System Redux, Layers of Fear revisits the original Layers of Fear, its DLC, as well as Layers of Fear 2 (2019), and bundles them all together with a new overcharging storyline. Art can be beautiful, but the process of making it is almost always ugly and painful sometimes even the stuff of nightmares.
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