One of the most underrated genres of this current hardware generation is the horror genre. Due to the state of technology (and especially virtual reality) the horror genre is as lifelike as it can get at this point. Series like Resident Evil, Outlast, Amnesia and Layers of Fear have propelled horror games forward and even further split the genre. The success of the original Layers of Fear may still sit in a cult status, but its mark on the culture is widely understood. 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.

Ten years ago, survival horror was dying and action horror was amping up. While action horror is still around, the horror genre has branched off in a new direction. Psychological horror focuses on messing with the player's mind as weapons are generally nonexistent. 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. 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.

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 game also takes player choices into account that will help decide various endings. This allows for a lot of replay value as Layers of Fear 2 includes a New Game+ mode after beating it the first time. There are five acts to play and while the game sits at around ten hours, each individual act is time consuming. Each act is fairly linear as there is no direct backtracking. 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. Most of the time, I found myself in areas looking for doors or items to interact with. Environments will change to mess with the player's head and all that can really be done about it is laugh. There are puzzles to complete, but they aren't superbly complex. Players will also collect projector slides and movie posters to help with the story.

The more the game progresses, the more the ship changes. The psychological aspect exists with the mind tricks, but the atmosphere itself is uncanny. At times, Layers of Fear 2 feels like a combination of Bioshock, Resident Evil 7 and Silent Hill. The ship is full of tin-men straight out of Wizard the Oz that are used to signify people. There's a threat that lurks on the ship as there are just enough jump scares to keep the player on their toes. Trial-and-error will be mostly used to progress throughout the ship whether it be with obstacles or puzzles. The difficulty isn't that high, at least on the first playthrough. Players will find themselves using their instinct for choices and situation. 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. All these aspects tie into a wonderful mess.

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. Fans of the first will be pleased to know that this same visual prowess exists in the sequel. Layers of Fear 2 is stunning thanks to the Unreal Engine 4. The lighting in certain scenes is beyond lifelike and colorful scenes that are meant to be vibrant are just that. The colors are gorgeous and every visual about the game is mind-blowing.

There is a catch, however. Running this on my PC at 4K with a GTX 1080ti ran mostly smooth, but there are some optimization problems. About 75% of the game ran at 60 FPS at the highest setting. There were times where I wouldn't get any frame drops, but the rendering seemed sluggish. There were also times where the frame rate would drop into the forties in strange places like entering a closet. It's worth noting that the game looks great in 1080p, as well. This can all be addressed with patches, most certainly, as this was a pre-release build.

As mentioned earlier, the music in the game ties the psychological horror element into a nice bow. It also backs up the Silent Hill element, especially in the scenes that support it. The same goes with specifically Resident Evil 7. The voice acting is excellent across the board whether it be characters or the director. The sound effects truly stand out as this game is heavily recommended to be played with a surround sound supporting headset.

Closing Comments:

Fans of the original Layers of Fear or any psychological horror game will truly enjoy Layers of Fear 2. The core and elements of the original remain intact and the cruise ship setting is an improvement over the original. The visuals and art direction will blow your mind as the cruise ship truly comes together when adding in the audio and horror element. The story takes a while to develop and it may not even be understood in the end depending on what ending the player gets based on the choices made in the game. Sure, the game is only ten hours, but it's designed for multiple playthroughs. Besides that and some technical issues, Layers of Fear 2 is another horror masterpiece and improves on what the original accomplished.