Layers of Fear 2 a perverse joy in the narrative thriller genre

If you’ve enjoyed games like Amnesia, Soma or Slender: The Eight Pages — certainly consider boarding the Holly-weird ship to crazy town in Layers of Fear 2 and let the madness pull you along with it.

There’s a genre of game that I just can’t help but be a little bit mad for — the “narrative thriller”.

They’ve often been scoffed at as the experience of playing them is a rather passive one, you rarely encounter other characters, you often don’t even have the agency to fight or defend yourself if faced with threats.

No, rather your number one goal is to move through the environment and observe as much as possible.

This might sound rather dull — and it can be, make no mistake, if the story isn’t a good one. But there’s a glorious sense of suspense and wonder that can come from a bit of good ol’ fashioned sleuthing.

Uncover the strange secrets of Layers Of Fear 2.

Not to mention there’s a perverse joy in just rifling through other people’s things — which is often the main way you’re able to piece clues together.

I can’t tell you how much I love doing this. It’s something you can’t do in real life (well, I suppose you could with some questionable morals) so the joy of opening drawers, reading notes, trying to put a timeline and picture together of someone’s life — it’s thrilling to me. And buried within this genre of game lie all kinds of strange secrets to uncover.

The first Layers Of Fear described itself as “psychological horror”, though this comes across more in the themes and ideas, than any kind of real-time gore.

You took the role of an artist in the 1920s who went on a rather twisted journey of insanity and murder. The story of what happened to his wife and child are pieces of information you needed glean as you made your way through the spooky house where he once lived.

The story is a bit confusing, but not in a bad way.

The story was quite convoluted and tricky to follow, but a paint-by-numbers narrative is hardly any fun when storytelling is the only hook — so an overambitious approach is somewhat understandable.

This time around, it’s 1940s Hollywood, and a famous director has taken his cast and crew aboard a ship where he intends to film his next masterpiece.

It’s fair to say that Layers Of Fear 2 is about as nonlinear and confusing as the first instalment — however that’s not to say it’s not good.

Part of the experience is the overwhelming sense of disorientation and confusion.

You typically arrive in games like this to an empty setting, left alone to roam about and try and piece together the events that occurred.

That’s certainly the case here, too — though it’s unclear who the player is supposed to be — an actor, or the director himself? Perhaps even someone else altogether.

I understand I’m not making this sound very appealing, but stay with me: Speculating is all part of the fun and the story reveals itself to you with a combination of tangible clues and more surrealist fever-dreams.

Let the madness of Layers of Fear 2 pull you in.

It’s madness, yes — but the stories these adventures centre around typically use some form of insanity as the linchpin. A sense of madness that pulls you along with it.

One thing this sequel does particularly well is crafting a truly wonderful sense of time and place.

The 1940s with its old-world glamour is evident in every detail — from the clothes hanging in the wardrobe to the furniture, artwork and old-fashioned dining room.

So too you are reminded of the Titanic as you explore each separate deck with its class distinctions and crew quarters — even if this story takes place some decades later.

Notes and telegrams you find from various passengers start to allude to the fact that not only is the director somewhat strange, potentially disfigured and has bizarre “methods” to his work … but there are these bloody terrifying mannequins all around the place.

I can only assume they were to be used in place of stand-ins as a way to block out scenes, perhaps. But it’s an easy horror-trope that I hate to love.

Layers of Fear 2 nails the glamour and feel of the era.

Yes, it’s not long before the mannequins you encounter will start to inexplicably move when you look away. An arm is in a different pose. Occasionally one will shift into an entirely different position when your back is turned. Or move closer. Spine-chilling stuff.

Another through-line to the story is the discovery that there had been some stowaway children who had the presumably unfortunate fate of choosing this horror-ship to sneak aboard.

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I of course won’t delve any further into the plot, but safe to say there are a lot of moving parts to this tale, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint once it starts to delve into all the wacky weirdness we’ve come to expect from narrative thrillers like this one.

If you’ve enjoyed games like Amnesia, Soma or Slender: The Eight Pages — certainly consider boarding this Holly-weird ship to crazy town.