REVIEW | Layers of Fear: Inheritance

Layers of Fear: Inheritance review | Layers of Fear: Inheritance expands the plot from Layers of Fear and tells the story of the painter’s daughter, who comes back to her childhood home to face her past. Can she forgive her father, or will she resent all that has happened? Fans of atmospheric horror games will most likely be attracted to this story since it also gives more context from the original. Layers of Fear’s “Inheritance” DLC gives new insight into the life and motives of the painter and how his daughter really felt about him. The multiple endings will help to see this relationship from different perspectives, perhaps even changing your initial opinion of certain characters. Want to hear my full opinion? Read on to find out more.

What we Liked!

• The Graphics | Bloober Team have proved many times that they know how to build decent-looking games, that both appeal to horror fans, and people who like atmospheric games. Layers of Fear: Inheritance looks fantastic in almost every way. The mansion is incredibly detailed, with books, paintings, and furniture covering nearly every aspect of the house. The lighting is perfect, giving it that old creepy, haunted house look that you can almost smell just by looking at pictures of it. There is a lot of room to discover in this game, and each is meticulously crafted with loving care to really sell you the look and feel of the game. Those worrying about performance don’t need to, the game runs flawlessly in such great detail.

• Audio | When creating a horror game, you will need to pay extra-special attention to the audio. It is probably the most important part of ensuring your game captures your attention and helps deliver the tone of how you intended it to be seen and heard. The gentle crack of thunder in the distance, to the larger, closer thunder claps that happen right outside the window. The creek of the floorboards beneath your feet as you carefully walk through the halls of the house. Each noise you hear makes you think twice about walking around the corner, and what you might find there. There is music at certain points in the game, but these are mainly reserved for cinematic moments that happen, and not actual gameplay. I like this approach as I find sometimes music can take you out of the atmosphere.

• Horror Elements | Despite every game following some form of horror guidebook, (this game included) there are some genuinely creepy moments that I found unique and unsettling. For example, learning that each person in the household has somehow contributed to your father’s master artwork was pretty horrific. There is a scene involving a child’s bedroom, and without going into detail, was probably one of the scariest scenes in the game. Layers of Fear: Inheritance, also borrows a lot from P.T. That’s not a bad thing, as I believe they used a better setting overall, and this helps with making the gameplay more appealing than limiting it to one space. But I use this analogy in case people reading this review are interested in a comparison of the type of horror to expect. It does use some of the usual horror tropes, but they aren’t overused and they do make it work in a convincing way.
  
• Replayability | Like the main game, the Inheritance side of things adds multiple outcomes that do add replayability. Since this is a short game, it does give you the added incentive to go back, and try and get a different outcome. For those who like achievement hunting, you will be pleased to know that the game offers an extra 9 achievements to unlock as well.

Mixed Feelings

• Some Repetition | Layers of Fear: Inheritance does suffer from a lot of repetition throughout the game. Expect to be walking from room to room, inspecting objects for context on the story, reading notes for more backstory, and watching scripted events play out before you that reveal much bigger story plots as you progress. Given how short the game is, it can be forgiven, but I think adding more mechanics to the game could have allowed for a better experience overall. Puzzles would have been a good thing to introduce since it is the type of game that is covered in mystery and secrets. Having a puzzle or two in this would have added better pacing and more engagement overall.

• It’s Short | As mentioned above, the game is short. Expect to finish Layers of Fear: Inheritance in 2-3 hours depending on how quick you are to walk around. Now, I am not usually one to complain about the length, especially if you have a good time playing it, but for me, I was left with more questions than answers by the end. Even with fully exploring the house, finding the lore and additional context. Looking back on this experience, I feel it was almost intentional, with multiple games planned before release.

What we Disliked

• A lot of Walking | Be prepared, and know what you are getting into before playing Layers of Fear: Inheritance. There is a lot of walking and very little else in the game. If you haven’t guessed by now, Layers of Fear: Inheritance is a walking sim game, with the horror genre thrown in for good measure. While the two types do usually go well together since it is atmospheric, don’t expect any deviation from this being the main mechanic. At no point does it offer much else past uncovering a story and walking through each room, and experiencing something from your past. It’s very story heavy, like watching a movie but seeing the actors walk from each scene to the next without stopping.

How long to beat the story | 3 hours
How long to get all achievements | 8 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Blair Witch, Amnesia, Slender: The Arrival

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