Where an incredibly tense game like Outlast melds together macabre ambiance, jump scares, and genuinely high-stakes gameplay with a sense of purpose, Layers of Fear 2 doesn’t manage to conjure so much as a mildly compelling reason for doing… well, anything. If it was aiming to create even a modicum of fear or anxiety, it certainly failed to succeed on me. If it’s really doing its job, a horror game should never feel like a mere slideshow of weirdness, and yet that’s all Layers of Fear 2 manages to be from its opening moments to its mediocre finale.
It digs into their mind to alarm and disorient, leaving them fearful even in seemingly innocent or peaceful situations. A successful horror game does more than just create strange and distressing imagery for its player.
