Reviews - Dragamyre

Within the next few years the game should f i n a l l y ... be in great shape, perhaps even worthy of The "Game of the Year, Few Years Late" award... if of course someone gives about such awards easily to the creators that delayed their child from being born... and when they did, it was a total abomination, getting patched daily, just to stay alive, surviving & avoiding betraying their loyal and brave fanbase...

After all the hard work, the game is still far away from it's glory days, developers are sometimes seen working on stuff they perhaps should put aside... working more on crucial, absolutely necessary things regarding lack of basic features, devastating crash & bug fixes, modding tools and general support of Mount & Blade foundation... mod creators, who are left alone on thin ice...

We must judge & criticize, or Taleworlds might look the other side... yet I must admit, even while I wasted half the time, trying to play my Campaign without crashing... the other half was worth 10/10 without any single doubt.

God... yes... at last...

Layers of Fear is a below average visual clichéd novel falsely labeled as a fantastic horror adventure.

Thankfully, it never exactly fell apart thanks to its music, visual presentation and short length.
However, it loses what little atmosphere and subtlety it had to begin with as soon as the second hunt for a piece of a painting begins. It manages to run out of its ideas very soon and the "Turn around and now the room/hallway is different" or "Walking through a hallway and a painting will jump off the wall, making a loud noise, or something like it" - tricks get old during the first quarter of the game.

The story should be well-written and impeccable in games that are as repetitive and lackluster gameplay-wise as Layers of Fear, and it is certainly not that. From poor voice acting to random hints on the walls, trying to provide some deeper meaning behind this otherwise very simple story, lacking any sense of mystery or intrigue.
Old creepy paintings are actually perfect for a horror game, but seeing the same paintings scattered all over, probably just for the sake of doing so, dismisses their purpose (for me) completely. I would've preferred if they were used as environmental storytelling method; an actual meaning behind each painting, each reflecting some part of the protagonist's life.

Environment interaction is similar to that of Amnesia, but noticeably clunkier and serves very little purpose. Cabinets have rarely anything worth finding in them and most doors are locked or will be locked after entering a new area. After going through a door, there's no going back since the game locks the door behind you and ditches the room/hallway you previously were in. If the player missed something "crucial", loading the latest checkpoint is required. Also escaping from "the enemy" (who is not a threat whatsoever) can be easily done by entering the next area, although occasionally the doors stay open but the areas disappear nonetheless, making the enemy de-spawn with them.

It has very good music and graphics, despite its inconsistent lighting and anti-aliasing issues back when I played it. It can look very pretty at times and very murky at times due to its lack of colors and the darkness is more of an annoyance. The game's pitch-black darkness is only good at hiding the jagged edges. As for the anti-aliasing, it didn't outright work about eight months ago. Not sure whether they've fixed it or not.

Just like in any other first-person horror game, exploring is a key-activity in Layers of Fear, but lasts only for a moment. As soon as the protagonist goes crazy and the "old spooky house filled with paintings" starts to change, it loses its appeal, especially considering how the hallways and rooms that appear out of nowhere have no significance. Far too often the game insists on playing by its rules, with no real player activity. Too much recycling of the same tricks and too much wandering around aimlessly, not knowing where and when will the next area appear/unlock.

I played through the game multiple times, trying to find all the collectibles and get all the endings. It takes about two hours or less to finish, which is absurd considering the 20$ price tag. I got 10 hours out of it, with no real regrets. Still, not great, or even good.

My childhood memories... lost in ruins of this garbage...