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Playing Layers of Fear at a preview event was a first for me. It was the first time I've outright said to any developers: "I am never going to play your game again."
They took it as a compliment.
Layers of Fear is a psychological horror game that is coming to PlayStation 4 on Feb. 16, with a full release on Windows PC replacing last year's incomplete Early Access release. It was released as an Xbox One Game Preview title in the fall.
It's really scary. As stated in Polygon's preview last year, it's "like P.T. on drugs." The player explores a creepy mansion, encountering all manner of frights along the way, including jump scares but also a foreboding environment and a lot of disconcerting shifts in perception.
I played the game for the first time at that preview meeting, which was held in a brightly lit and busy office, and was scared out of my wits. Jeff Ramos is a veteran of the Early Access campaign, but some of these new scenes — not available in Early Access — gave him the willies too. In the video above, we offer some thoughts on the state of horror games, and on this one in particular.
Warning: Includes creepy dolls.