Three, now almost four , years ago (holy shit! That’s so long!), I played the original Layers of Fear. It reinvigorated my love for survival horror, which was lacking in the death of Silent Hill, as well as a brand new appreciation for indie horror games. Those things taken into consideration, in the years between then and now, I’ve developed some rose-colored glasses in regards to the game (which I’ll cover in just a moment), so of course I was super excited when Layers of Fear 2 came out this year. Granted, not excited enough to play it immediately, but I finally got around to it at the start of November. I was decidedly less in love with this second game than the first for quite awhile – it took me over a month to actually beat this one, for no better reason that I just wasn’t excited to sit down and play it.
So first of all, the rose-colored glasses were a thing. Before starting to write this, I went back to read my review of the original game, and I couldn’t help laughing to and at myself. A lot of the issues I had with the original (that I then later forgot about) were basically the same issues I had with the this second game. Due to my faulty memory, I wasn’t even aware that I was complaining about all the same things most of the way through. I had complained about the controls for the first one on console, deciding that yes, I probably should have gone the PC route. Well, this time I went the PC route and wound up with similar yet different complaints about controls and was wondering why I hadn’t just gotten it on console. I even eventually hooked up a controller in order to finish the game. Second, the sound design still remains glitchy af. I would interact with memories this time around and sit there for at least thirty seconds before any sound would start playing – a lot of the time I didn’t know if sound was even supposed to be playing. So while it wasn’t necessarily glitchy in the exact same way as the first, it is a gripe that carried on.
With 2 though, I had a couple of other complaints on top of the same-old-same-old. I encountered a lot of general gameplay glitches, things like my screen stuttering or doors not letting me through until I either walked away and came back or waited another thirty seconds for what I can only assume is allowing whatever was on the other side of the door to load. Granted, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt that these were more issues with my computer than actual issues with the game, and at least there is an option to turn off fatal encounters so that this wasn’t as frustrating as it could have been. I honestly never felt any less terrified either as I went through the game with safe mode enabled – if anything, it was sometimes only the knowledge that nothing could really hurt me that kept me going (which is also a lie because fire bad).
Also, for the first few hours of the game, I wasn’t as invested in the story as I was in the first one. In 2, you play an actor on a seemingly abandoned ship. You aren’t given any real insight into exactly what the ship or the spirits of the children you keep encountering on it have to do with you until a few chapters in, at which point you start to finally be able to kind of begin piecing things together. This one also lacked the immediate connection I felt to the house of the first game, as well as my immediate horrified realization at the end of the first chapter when it’s revealed exactly just what you seem to be doing. The second game honestly has no horrifying realization, at least not as far as what the main character is doing. If anything, the story of this game is far more tragic than horrifying, while the story of the first game may have been tragic in some ways but was honestly far more horrifying. So while I was overall curious and determined to finish this one, mostly because I remembered the first so fondly, I didn’t really connect to this game until the final couple of chapters. I will say, though, that after that point, I was incredibly driven to finish the game.
Now, this was all kind of set up to give an idea of my general state of mind and feelings on the game as I played through most of it because what I really want to talk about is the ending. So, spoilers ahoy!
Similar to the first game, there are multiple endings to Layers of Fear 2 based on different actions you make on key choices throughout the game. There are three endings total – one for following the director’s script every time, one for going against the director’s script every time, and one for doing a mix of both throughout the game. I’m going to be focusing on the ending you get when you do a mix of both – A) because it’s the ending I got, and B) because it gave me freaking galaxy brain about how the two games in this series are potentially connected!
(I’m working off of so much memory here, so bear with me.)
In the original Layers of Fear, the most common ending results in a failure, where the protagonist throws the painting into a closet full of other failed paintings in which the wife’s face has melted and she is cackling at you. There is mention of how you were so close this time! Then, in the neutral ending of 2, you find yourself on the floor of a dark room full of candles where a woman is talking to you, telling you that you were unable to achieve your goal, you aren’t ready.
Up until I finished it, I had thought maybe these two games were only linked via similar concepts – something like a Final Fantasy if you will – but when this woman appeared in the ending of 2, I was instantly thrown back to memories of the original game! You don’t get a clear shot of this woman’s face as she walks around you, but you can tell she is somewhat skeletal/spectral – bald, graying skin, bone-thin. I thought immediately of the image in the paintings at the end of the final game – something that back then I just thought was the completely melted form of your wife, but now? Now, I’m not so sure.
Later in 2, it becomes clear that you have made a deal with some sort of dark spirit or entity in hopes of going back and saving your sister. Clearly, this is likely the woman who addresses you at the end of the game, but what if she is also what showed the main character of the first game how to paint a portrait to bring his wife back? On top of that, she looks incredibly similar to the rat woman that exists in various portraits littered around the first game. What if these were not just the works born of the mind of a mad man, but were instead paintings he created after encountering some sort of demon that he made a deal with?
The introduction of this link between the games has me so excited for there hopefully being more to come in the series, and this time for more reasons than just being pumped for a fun horror experience (that may be a bit of an oxymoron….). I’m so incredibly intrigued by the concept of a demon or entity of some kind that targets artists that have gone through traumatic events and offers them the opportunity to rectify their regrets. She also seems to keep them trapped in a loop until they do it “right,” though “right” can seem to mean either succumbing to their darker impulses and desires or finally settling and rectifying their traumas and regrets, given that the other endings of both games seem to bring about a more final end regardless of whether it is the “good ” or “bad” ending.
If that’s the case, is she even truly evil? It seems like more than anything she encourages moving on and cannot abide by indecision. Her methods may be a little suspect, to say the very least, but if she insists on her artists moving on, can that truly be an evil motivation? This character standing as a link between games offers so much more insight into both games, as well as so much opportunity going forward for amazing story-telling. I truly hope that we get to see more Layers of Fear now, and I can honestly see at least one more game – perhaps this time focusing on a writer? I also find myself curious as to whether or not she only targets men or deals only with tragedies that involve the loss of women. Given that she’s a woman herself, or at least appears that way, what could that even mean? Is she maybe even sent by the spirits of these woman as a way of forcing these men to let go and allow their own spirits to move out of the torment and anguish? I think it’s not impossible, given that in both games, the spirits/memories of both the wife and the sister oscillate between loving and spiteful. There are just so many absolutely fascinating possibilities, and the more I think about them, the more it tickles the part of my brain that loves the complexity of the Silent Hill series so much, particularly Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill Downpour. I think there is so much more nuance to the writing and plot of the Layers of Fear series than I initially gave it credit for, and I now eagerly await more.
So, what did you guys think about Layers of Fear 2? Did you also see this potential link or have any thoughts of your own? I would absolutely love to hear them!
Allyssa | Slice of Nerd 