Get a grip on reality
The mind loves to play tricks on us and here in Layers of Fear 2, you will be challenged to identify which memories are real and which ones are not. Players will find themselves aboard a ship as an actor chosen for a mysterious film with no script to follow. If this is not strange enough, wait until you meet the other passengers. As you try to find out why exactly you are called to shoot a movie with no direction whatsoever, you will end up discovering—or rather, uncovering hidden truths—about your character. Just as the title suggests, you will be peeling layer after layer of fear in this horror and adventure game.
Is it all an act?
Layers of Fear 2 will immediately jump at the opportunity to confuse you right at the beginning of the game. Being hired as an actor for a film with no script, production, or any direction to follow, you end up exploring the ship on your own and this will inevitably make you discover more about your hidden past. The question is, which of your memories are real? Are the things that you are seeing real or are they hallucinations? Gradually, you will even start to doubt your own self. Are you really just acting? Is there really a movie to film? The doubts will then start to plant fear in you and your eerie surroundings are not going to help alleviate it. The ship looks like the ghost of the sunken Titanic with its dim yellow lights and antique wallpaper. However, its haunting beauty and creepy atmosphere are not the ones players should be worried about because there is a much darker secret lying in wait and you will get to see them in your flashbacks.
The horror is real
Whether some scenes in the game are hallucinations or not, one thing is for sure, and it is that Layers of Fear 2 is going to be in your nightmares. The game does not use jumpscares that much and yet it might make you back out in the middle of playing. In exchange for the usual scare tactics, it instead paints horrifying scenes that will keep you awake at night. Dead bodies are hanging like chandeliers on the ceiling, burnt corpses litter the hallway, and more dead people can be found in different parts of the ship like morbid Halloween decoration. These traumatizing scenarios come to you in flashes, drifting in between reality and memory. As if the mutilated corpses are not enough to scare you for life, there is also the chasing sequence to watch out for.
Feeds on your fears
You might not be closing your lights anytime soon after playing Layers of Fear 2. It is a game that does not aim to just make you scream every step and turn. Instead, it builds up the fear and leaves it lingering even after you finished playing. Still, despite the horror, its intriguing plot is motivating enough to make you keep going.
