Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 75 | 97 |
| Creator reviews (3 tracked) | – | 69 | 4 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 79% | 73 | 856 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 77% | 72 | 658 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (Dec 5, 2023) · 299 reviews sampled · 658 total reviews in window · weighted 159.8 up / 48 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (79)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 50
“Layers of Fear is well made, but commits a potentially greater sin than a game that's simply bad. It's dull. It's dreary. It's got as much bite as a beach ball. Perhaps for those who have only the lightest experience with horror games, it could be seen as authentically and astutely terrifying. For me, it's nothing new at all, and its presentation is so railroaded it might as well have been a ghost train.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“The game renders its gory images in detailed and creative ways, never hinging on generic jump scares.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Layers of Fear is a very good horror adventure game with an original story, a great atmosphere and a compulsion that will pull you further and further. However, the game is quite short and can be run through in nearly an hour and a half of gameplay. If you put in a little effort and focus on exploring the various documents that lead more towards explaining the story and your character, you'll get to two hours of pure game time. It should be added, however, that this is only one playthrough. The game offers three different final endings, and therefore different renditions of the final image. So if you want to see all the available endings, then the game will keep you entertained for seven hours of your time.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Nintendo Switch finally has its first great horror game in Layers Of Fear: Legacy. The creativity in its scares helps to keep you guessing about what's around every corner, and even then, its unique set-pieces will most certainly surprise you anyway. Slightly lacklustre gameplay aside, the plot's descent into madness, the title's dedication to messing with your expectations to set up a scare, and the simple fact that this is a solid Switch port, means that this is horrific experience is one you won't want to miss out on.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“It is very good to see that Layers of Fear did not resort to techniques that easily jumpscare the player; the fear comes from the entire atmosphere created, combined with the supernatural visions that the protagonist has during gameplay.”
read full review ↗ - 60
- 50
“Beautiful setpieces and a great atmosphere don't make up for the same old gameplay. While it doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, Layers of Fear should at least aim to do the same old thing as well as it can. It would seem that "as well as it can" is very much a "means justify the ends" approach, and the ends are stale mechanics done just well enough that they work.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Layers of Fear isn't shy about its influences, but if you were impressed by the P.T. demo, then how do you fancy five or so hours more? This is a tidily presented, tantalisingly tense trip through a fractured psyche, it's dark, desperate, and depraved. Bloober Team hasn't concocted the most original slice of horror in history, but it has pulled its inspirations together shrewdly, and the results are both repulsive and rousing.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Sometimes a game comes along that sees a team of people coming together to create something unique and scary all the same. That's Layers of Fear in a nutshell and it scared the living hell out of me.”
read full review ↗ - 60
- 100
“Layers of Fear goes into the mind of an insane artist and creates a horror game magnum opus.”
read full review ↗ - 75
“A gloriously ghoulish horror game with some trippy transformations, held back by what it borrows from other releases.”
read full review ↗
The Jimquisition
Slant Magazine
Gaming Professors
Nintendo Life
Portal E7
The Angry Joe Show
Cubed3
Push Square
ZTGD
Games Freezer
The Escapist
Eurogamer…and 67 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Patch 1.6.1 is liveDec 5, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.3 is live!Jul 31, 2023
- Patch 1.2.3: HDR calibration & Key BindingsJun 26, 2023