Layers of Fear: Legacy

Genre: First-Person Graphic Adventure / Horror Game

Players: 1

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Review:

Layers of Fear is “Walking Simulator” that seems very much inspired by the beloved horror game/demo PT AKA “the Silent Hills demo”. You play as a painter whose work stresses and family life have driven him to madness, and your experience is fueled by that madness.

What this means in practice is that you’ll be walking from room to room in a massive house that is constantly changing as you move through it. You’ll walk out of one room into another, and when you go back, the door will take you somewhere different… and that’s just the most immediately apparent sign of how your character has gone off the deep end.

As much as “Walking Simulator” implies a lack of interactivity, you’ll actually be interacting quite a bit with your environment, although very little of this will be of consequence. Mostly, it’s to fill in bits and pieces of the story, with an occasional puzzle tossed in. At times, this means you’ll be rifling through multiple drawers in a room like a burglar hunting for something valuable, which can get a bit tedious, but it’s usually completely optional, just for those who want to explore every nook and cranny.

It might be a good idea to do so, though. This game’s story is explained to the player in bits and pieces, and not in chronological order, so to make any sense out of the insanity every little bit helps. Supposedly your choices as you work through the story influence the direction the story goes, but it’s not always apparent exactly how you’ve influenced it.

The game’s graphics aren’t likely to impress anyone. It’s clear that this is a game that was designed on a budget, and it shows. At times, the graphics can look outright archaic. However, to the game’s credit, it is pretty imaginative in how it makes use of what little it has going for it here, with all sorts of interesting situations that crop up due to the protagonist’s madness.

A few things didn’t quite work with this game. The random nature of how you’re guided through it, along with the unclear consequences of your actions often make it feel like you’re being guided through a theme park attraction more than playing a game. “Okay, here’s what the developer cooked up in this room… now see this snippet of story… okay, now solve this puzzle… now read this note…”. This paired with the tedious nature of opening drawers over and over again can get pretty tiresome.

As for what this specific version of the game, the Legacy version includes DLC content from earlier versions of the game, and the Switch version adds Joycon motion control which, while a nice thought, you will quickly abandon for the more responsive traditional controls.

All in all, Layers of Fear: Legacy is a unique and interesting graphic adventure that should please horror fans on the Switch, although it’s not without some glaring flaws. Worth a look.

tl;dr – Layers of Fear: Legacy is a “Walking Simulator” that follows in the footsteps of the beloved PT demo, having you walking through the massive home of an insane painter as his home increasingly reflects his madness. It’s a game with a lot of flaws, but it’s nevertheless a unique experience that horror fans should enjoy.

Grade: C+

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