Psychological horror Haunted house Horror walking simulators Surreal horror Horror

Layers of Fear

Rate it

A painter's mansion that changes every time you turn around.

Platforms: PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (79% of 1,769 reviews); Metacritic 75 (PS5, 29 critics); 4.33 of 5 on the PlayStation Store
Length: about 8 to 9 hours for the main story, plus about an hour for each side chapter
Players: 1
Made by: Bloober Team, Anshar Studios
Released: 2023

No. 20 of the lighthouse horror games · No. 16 of the Victorian horror games

Get it on Steam Official site PlayStation Store Xbox Nintendo eShop (Switch 2)GOG Mac App Store

What frightens An artist's Victorian mansion rebuilds itself behind your back: doors open onto rooms that were not there, paintings bleed and melt, and a ghostly figure stalks you through his madness, followed by an ocean liner where an unseen director turns an actor's role into a nightmare.
Content: jumpscares, blood and gore, violence, strong language, alcoholism, domestic violence themes, depression and anxiety.

Layers of Fear (2023) is Bloober Team's remake of its first-person psychological horror series in Unreal Engine 5. It brings together Layers of Fear, Layers of Fear 2 and their DLC with new chapters: you walk through a painter's shifting mansion and an actor's haunted ocean liner as reality bends around you.

About Layers of Fear

Layers of Fear first came out in 2016 and made Bloober Team's name in horror; this 2023 release, built with Anshar Studios in Unreal Engine 5, remakes it together with the 2019 sequel and every expansion, and adds new chapters that tie the stories together through a writer staying in an abandoned lighthouse. It is available on PC through Steam and GOG, on Mac through Steam and the Mac App Store, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and since December 2025 on Nintendo Switch 2 as the Final Masterpiece Edition, which adds motion controls and touchscreen support.

The heart of it is the Painter's story. You walk through his Victorian mansion looking for the pieces of his masterpiece, and the house refuses to stay still: a corridor behind you becomes a wall, a room repeats with something wrong, furniture floats, paintings drip and stare. Notes, toys and memories tell what happened to his wife and daughter. The Inheritance and The Final Note chapters return to the house from the daughter's and the wife's side.

Layers of Fear 2 moves the fear to an ocean liner, where an actor takes direction from an unseen voice (Tony Todd) and the ship turns into film sets and nightmares. Layers of Fear 2023 adds a lantern that can burn away some threats, and a few chases where you must flee.

It is a walking-and-exploring horror game more than a game of challenge: most of the fear is in what the rooms do when you are not looking and in the slow unfolding of the family's tragedy. It suits players who like story-heavy psychological horror such as SOMA or Observer.

The main story takes about eight and a half hours by HowLongToBeat's count, and each of the shorter side chapters adds roughly an hour. The game is rated 16 by PEGI and M by the ESRB, and its store page warns of emotional violence and themes of depression and anxiety. Voice acting is in English and Polish, with subtitles in eleven more languages.

How to play Layers of Fear

Explore the mansion in first person, opening drawers, doors and cupboards and reading notes.
Keep moving forward; rooms change behind you, so look around and take new paths as they appear.
Solve the small puzzles you find, such as codes and objects, to collect the pieces of the painting.
Use your lantern to light the way and drive back some threats, and run when something chases you.

Screenshots

Layers of Fear screenshot: a first-person hand holds up a glowing lantern before a staircase heaped with framed paintings, with a dark tar-like figure in the glow

Layers of Fear screenshot: a tall rain-streaked window lit by two candles, with the dark silhouette of a figure standing behind the glass

Layers of Fear screenshot: a portrait of a dark-haired woman on an easel among hanging chains, with brushes on a stool beside it

Layers of Fear screenshot: a decaying room with melting, overgrown walls around a gramophone on a table, lit by lamps

Layers of Fear screenshot: a red-lit film set corridor lined with crouching wooden mannequins, a silhouetted figure standing at the far end

Layers of Fear screenshot: looking up from rubble inside a vast round tower toward a glowing light, debris floating and a figure raising a knife at a candlelit altar

Layers of Fear screenshot: a film storage room with reels on metal shelves and a wooden mannequin slumped in a pool of blood

Tips

Read the letters and look at the drawings; they carry the story and some puzzle answers.
Turn around often; many of the scares and the way forward appear behind you.
Your choices in small moments decide which ending you get.

Questions

What is included in Layers of Fear (2023)?

Remade versions of Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2, the Inheritance and The Final Note DLC, and new chapters, The Final Prologue and The Lighthouse Chapter.

Is Layers of Fear scary?

It relies on unsettling changes to the rooms, eerie sound and some jumpscares more than combat. There is no fighting, only a few chases.

How long is Layers of Fear (2023)?

HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about 8.5 hours. Each side chapter, such as Inheritance or The Final Note, takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour.

Is Layers of Fear on Nintendo Switch?

Yes. Layers of Fear: Final Masterpiece Edition came out on Nintendo Switch 2 on 19 December 2025, with motion controls, Joy-Con interaction and touchscreen support.

Can I play Layers of Fear on a Mac?

Yes. The Steam version supports macOS, and Bloober Team also sells it on the Mac App Store as Layers of Fear 2023.