![]() ![]() "The Formless Man", for example, represents a piece of art that hasn't been properly "researched", and thereby properly "formed". I'm not gonna blot it out, read on at your own risk: Could you elaborate? I'm trying to make sense of the game but my cultural references are limited. As someone with both a film AND drama degree, trust me, almost every metaphor in the game relates to it: not least of all the "formless man" stuff. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that big a fan of its story, and felt like the overall experience lacked in meaningful scares, even with Tony Todd’s growling voice goading me.Originally posted by rjmacready:I might add: the whole thing is drenched in acting and film THEORY. While it’s definitely not on par with the fidelity on other platforms, Layers of Fear 2 ends up looking decent even with the graphics turned down. I’ll always be surprised what that little console can handle. Layers of Fear 2 is a good fit for the Nintendo Switch. I did get borderline motion sick with the field of view being so low, and no option to increase it-but that was only in docked mode playing in front of a big screen TV. This seemed true for undocked mode as well, and even with the smaller screen, Layers of Fear 2 perfectly playable. I initially set it to variable, but found that the game felt smoother when the frames were consistent. There is a good balance between visuals and performance, and you can choose to either leave the game locked at 30 frames per second or set it to a variable frame rate. ![]() Technically, Layers of Fear 2 is a decent port. These objects can be missed, however, and it’s easy to play through much of Layers of Fear 2 without being clued into what’s going on beyond the enigmatic and sinister heckling of The Director. As you explore rooms, you can come across objects that trigger voice overs which reveal just a little bit more of the narrative. Layers of Fear 2 has an intentionally obfuscated story, as the mystery is part of what drives you forward. This wouldn’t be bad if the story was compelling, but unfortunately, it’s a jumbled mess. While the scenes and environments are graphically compelling, even on the Nintendo Switch, the nautical-meets-theatre presentation gets a little same-y after a while. It’s just four to five hours of non-Euclidian corridors that empty out into scenes that would look at home at your town’s annual haunted house. Layers of Fear 2 throws you into the surreal, psychologically tortured deep end right at the beginning, and never lets up. Horror is the most scary when it’s juxtaposed with non-horror. One of the problems with these types of horror games is the tendency for them to feel like a haunted house, and Layers of Fear 2 is one of the worst at this. That’s not really a big deal if the story itself is good, and the scares are plentiful-unfortunately, that isn’t the case for Layers of Fear 2. I would much prefer to be stumped by puzzles with clever mechanics, but Layers of Fear 2 is most often difficult because there aren’t enough clues to direct you to the solution. The puzzles themselves are pretty simple, and I found myself most often stumped by lack of information than being held up by the puzzle itself. Most obstacles will require some sort of puzzle solving-usually by finding a clue in the environment. There are clues scattered about the environment to give you information about your past as you experience whatever new horrific scene or setting. Mechanically, Layers of Fear 2 is pretty baseline for a game in its genre: you walk a mostly linear path, solving puzzles to advance and avoiding monsters you can’t fight. I appreciate a good psychological horror romp. There really isn’t too much setup as you’re immediately thrown into the often surreal horror that is Layers of Fear 2. You have no choice but to explore as you’re goaded on by an unknown entity known as the director, voiced by horror staple Tony Todd. I don’t mean the ship itself is a set rather, it looks like the ship houses a film production. You play as an actor who wakes up on a ship that also has the characteristics of a set. Its Nintendo Switch release seemed like the perfect chance to check out this acclaimed dark thriller. I didn’t play it when it originally released back in 2018, though I’ve always been meaning to get around to it. ![]() Layers of Fear 2 is a first person psychological horror adventure game. ![]() As a result of this, the Switch has a large catalog of horror games with Layers of Fear 2 now adding itself to the Switch’s burgeoning rosters. The system’s popularity has essentially opened the floodgates to third party developers taking popular games and porting them to the Nintendo Switch-and that’s something I can get behind. The Nintendo Switch is a surprisingly versatile console, and it has been home to games that only a few years ago seem like they’d never be on a handheld system. ![]()
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