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Key · 08-03-2016, 11:50 AM

It's not done very often in this journal or any journal that I make for that matter, but when it happens, I feel it's my duty to do such a thing. What am I talking about? I'm talking about a follow up entry on a topic. I've done it only a few times for things that I feel extremely passionate about, and for a follow up entry to happen, I have to have either differing opinions to a topic, or I feel that more information is necessary to get the point across. Luckily, I'm making this follow up post to expand on my thoughts about Layers of Fear.

So, I'm getting further in this game, and I'm starting to realize how much of a masterpiece this game really is. I'll try to describe why that is without spoiling too much, but if you're not really interested in the slightest of spoilers, feel free to click away from this post. The first post about this game doesn't have any spoilers, so read that one instead. Now that i've warned you, i'm going to continue. Basically, I'm starting to realize a lot about my character, but not enough to say for a fact what the story is about. What I have found out is that my character who is an artist (a painter specifically) has been dealing with signs of schizophrenia. He's seeing things appear in front of him which probably leads to why the environment changes as you walk from room to room, and why some rooms come back after he has "an episode". I'm seeing a lot play out about the emotional crisis that him and his wife have gone through with having a child, which has started to play an important role in the story. I haven't learned a lot about what has happened to his wife or his child, but what I've seen has drawn me in, and I really want to know more. The game has thrown hints as to whether the child is still alive or not, and it's thrown hints as to whether the marriage worked out. What I've gathered so far is that the man is a workaholic, and he's missed some important parts of his child's life, like his 5th birthday for instance, given the fact that I picked up a "5th birthday hat" off the top of a teddy bear, and the story basically acted as though he worked too hard, and missed the birthday. There's multiple times where that type of story progression take place, and it's done so well that you really don't feel like the game is rushing you or pushing things right in your face. Again, it gives you the freedom whether you want to learn about that story or not, and it really does a solid job at creating the environment based on how you react to the story. It gives you multiple directions, and you choose which you want to take, and from what I've noticed, you can sometimes end up back where you started during a certain store progression, without feeling like you missed anything. Though, you have to wonder how the story would have played out had you not taken the path that you did.

I'm really getting immersed into this game, to the point that I want to save the game for when it's dark outside, because I did that last night, and I really felt way more immersed into the game. I think I may plan to do that from now on, though as evident from the fact that I just played this morning, I won't be able to help myself. It's really done well, and the game has really shown what can be done when the developer has a good understanding of what a psychological horror game can offer. Again, don't expect the game to throw things at you just to scare you. A lot of my horrifying experience with the game has simply come from what I feel while I walk through dark hallways and listening to the surrounding environment, whether it's footsteps, or something knocking on the door behind me, or just the stormy weather behind me. I hear there are multiple ways to play through this game, so luckily, I won't have to stop playing it anytime soon, and as I mentioned, there is a DLC story to the game, so i'll be excited to get into that once I discover all the endings for this game. I'm still on my first playthrough, and I already feel like I've missed a few things that I could have done, so that warrants another playthrough right there.

Certainly an exciting release, and probably one of the best horror games I've played this year, for sure.

08-03-2016, 11:50 AM	#389 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	It's not done very often in this journal or any journal that I make for that matter, but when it happens, I feel it's my duty to do such a thing. What am I talking about? I'm talking about a follow up entry on a topic. I've done it only a few times for things that I feel extremely passionate about, and for a follow up entry to happen, I have to have either differing opinions to a topic, or I feel that more information is necessary to get the point across. Luckily, I'm making this follow up post to expand on my thoughts about Layers of Fear. So, I'm getting further in this game, and I'm starting to realize how much of a masterpiece this game really is. I'll try to describe why that is without spoiling too much, but if you're not really interested in the slightest of spoilers, feel free to click away from this post. The first post about this game doesn't have any spoilers, so read that one instead. Now that i've warned you, i'm going to continue. Basically, I'm starting to realize a lot about my character, but not enough to say for a fact what the story is about. What I have found out is that my character who is an artist (a painter specifically) has been dealing with signs of schizophrenia. He's seeing things appear in front of him which probably leads to why the environment changes as you walk from room to room, and why some rooms come back after he has "an episode". I'm seeing a lot play out about the emotional crisis that him and his wife have gone through with having a child, which has started to play an important role in the story. I haven't learned a lot about what has happened to his wife or his child, but what I've seen has drawn me in, and I really want to know more. The game has thrown hints as to whether the child is still alive or not, and it's thrown hints as to whether the marriage worked out. What I've gathered so far is that the man is a workaholic, and he's missed some important parts of his child's life, like his 5th birthday for instance, given the fact that I picked up a "5th birthday hat" off the top of a teddy bear, and the story basically acted as though he worked too hard, and missed the birthday. There's multiple times where that type of story progression take place, and it's done so well that you really don't feel like the game is rushing you or pushing things right in your face. Again, it gives you the freedom whether you want to learn about that story or not, and it really does a solid job at creating the environment based on how you react to the story. It gives you multiple directions, and you choose which you want to take, and from what I've noticed, you can sometimes end up back where you started during a certain store progression, without feeling like you missed anything. Though, you have to wonder how the story would have played out had you not taken the path that you did. I'm really getting immersed into this game, to the point that I want to save the game for when it's dark outside, because I did that last night, and I really felt way more immersed into the game. I think I may plan to do that from now on, though as evident from the fact that I just played this morning, I won't be able to help myself. It's really done well, and the game has really shown what can be done when the developer has a good understanding of what a psychological horror game can offer. Again, don't expect the game to throw things at you just to scare you. A lot of my horrifying experience with the game has simply come from what I feel while I walk through dark hallways and listening to the surrounding environment, whether it's footsteps, or something knocking on the door behind me, or just the stormy weather behind me. I hear there are multiple ways to play through this game, so luckily, I won't have to stop playing it anytime soon, and as I mentioned, there is a DLC story to the game, so i'll be excited to get into that once I discover all the endings for this game. I'm still on my first playthrough, and I already feel like I've missed a few things that I could have done, so that warrants another playthrough right there. Certainly an exciting release, and probably one of the best horror games I've played this year, for sure.