It's certainly unconventional for a game that emphasizes exploration to downplay exploration, but it only serves to help the plot keep moving. The house is constantly changing its layout so there's no need to waste time detailing how and why the Artist is tackling the house. It's relatively minor, but breaking up the plot like this allows for the pace to flow naturally without needing to waste time on new exposition. Puzzles, notes, and the explored rooms take on similar elements within each section, giving the story a clear series of act breaks. Once the first chapter is complete, however, the house starts to take on more hostile elements, transitioning from a relaxed atmosphere to a chilling one.Įvery chapter manages to expand on the overall narrative while also picking a theme and sticking to it. Rooms and paintings change around a bit, but never so supernaturally where it breaks the grounded tone of the opening. Most scary moments up until the end of the first chapter are light jump scares. For a while, actually, this feels like the case. As the game opens with a sombre, yet relaxing, musical piece, it's easy to get lost in the introduction thinking that there won't be any scares. The Artist is obsessed with his work, his wife is becoming increasingly displeased with him, and they're raising their young daughter together. Very little is explicitly defined within the plot, but there are several allusions and hints that illuminate the Artist's house life.Īt the core of Layer of Fear is a family drama. Questions are never raised without the answer close following, but the answers are never so apparent where the mystery loses all its appeal. It certainly helps to have a strong script, of course. The Artist and his wife are both voiced by clearly capable performers who deliver some genuinely chilling performances in the second half. As these moments are rare and tend to reveal the story's more intimate details, it's nice to see that the voice direction is of a fairly high quality. Voice acting is primarily only used during these memory sequences where either the Artist or his wife deliver a quick line or two to hint at what the item might represent in the greater narrative. The story is primarily told through reading notes left around the house or picking up an item that triggers one of the Artist's memories. The gradual disorientation of the setting strips away the safety of familiarity to craft an environment that keeps players on their toes. Minor changes in the setting slowly start to incorporate vile imagery as subjects in paintings are lynched and rat corpses begin to appear with a frequency. The more the manor is explored, the more manic it becomes. Rooms are constantly disappearing or shuffling around. While most of the content in each chapter revolves around exploring the house, there's never a need to sit down and process the architecture of the mansion. Chapters consist of 20 to 25 minutes areas where the Artist must explore his home and find puzzles to solve before finding the next piece of his painting. Forcing the gameplay to go slow develops the skills necessary to tackle the puzzles later on, ensuring no one ever gets too far without understanding exactly what's expected of them.Įach chapter is paced well, with no one section dominating the entire game. The need for constant attentiveness creates a scenario where the player slowly adjusts to the home's layout, recognizing patterns and learning how to approach new scenarios. Much of the gameplay is spent simply walking around, finding scattered notes or keys strewn about, and solving puzzles. Isolated in an artist's old home, the story's progression can feel like a walking tour of the house where each room offers new context for making sense of the backstory. The gameplay may not be conventional, and there's never any real danger, but all that simply means is more time spent on crafting the story and refining the atmosphere. "Walking simulator" is a term that gets thrown around quite often in regards to largely atmospheric and story-bade first person titles that implies an inherent lack of quality and while Layers of Fear: Legacy can be called a "walking simulator," it's hardly indicative of the sheer amount of quality present in the title.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |