While Bloober Team has often come under fire for its depiction of complex themes like mental illness in its games, it is undeniable how some of the games from the Polish studio, such as the Layers of Fear series, influenced narrative-driven horror games deeply. They also propelled the studio to unimaginable heights, allowing them to enter a collaboration with Konami to develop the Silent Hill 2 remake.

　　Before we will be able to see if the Polish studio will have done justice to one of the best survival-horror games of all time, we will be able to experience the definitive version of Layers of Fear, the series that put Bloober Team on many's radars. And from what I have played, I can tell that development team Anshar Studio is definitely hitting the mark on pretty much every aspect.

　　The short demo I was able to experience sports a mix of old and new features, with the new feeling almost as if they have always been a part of the Layers of Fear experience. Starting with the very first chapter of the story of the new character, the Writer, which will tie the stories of the Painter, the Wife, and the Actor together, and continuing with two chapters from the Painter's story from the original Layers of Fear, the demo does a great job at showing what the remake will all be about. The linear experience seen in the series so far hasn't changed a whole lot, with players having to move around some spooky, ever-shifting locations like the Lighthouse and the Painter's house, in search of items that will move the story forward while providing new information on current and past events, but some new mechanics make everything feel different, and way more involving.

　　Among these new mechanics are some extremely light combat mechanics. Shortly after the beginning of his story, the Painter will find a lantern that can be used to solve puzzles and fight off a demonic entity: the ghost of his dead wife. The latter, in particular, adds an element of tension that works great. In some ways, this element of tension is not too different from that seen in games like Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, with Mr.X and Nemesis stalking players as they make their way to safety.

　　What truly elevates the Layers of Fear experience, however, are visuals and audio. Built with Unreal Engine 5, the game is among the best-looking horror games released to date. Taking advantage of Lumen and dynamic lighting, Anshar Studio managed to make the Painter's house more haunting than ever. The series' iconic transitions are vastly enhanced by the new lighting system as well, making the experience incredibly immersive. What's even more impressive is how smoothly the game ran even in its pre-release state, as my system (i7-10700 CPU, RTX 3070 GPU, 16 GB RAM) had no trouble running the game at 4K resolution with the NVIDIA DLSS quality preset and ray tracing on at an average of 90 frames per second, with none of the stuttering issues that are plaguing most recent PC ports.

　　Audio is none the less impressive than visuals. Using binaural audio to immerse players even more in the haunting world it has created, the developer took extra care in creating the perfect soundscapes for every moment, with some haunting piano pieces being the highlight of the game's audio elements. As the demo was only a small part of the full experience, I really cannot wait to see how visual and audio elements will come together to provide an immersive experience that promises to be amazing.

　　While the demo was too short to properly judge the game's writing, as everything featured in the demo was pretty much in line with the rest of the series, I have no doubt that, when it comes to atmosphere, Layers of Fear will fully deliver, thanks to the great visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5 and carefully crafted audio elements. Thankfully, we won't have to wait much longer to experience the next step of the series, as Layers of Fear will release on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S in June 2023.