You can try the Layers Of Fear collection today, thanks to a chilling UE5 demo

Final brushstrokes before its release next month

After giving us a release window for horror collection Layers Of Fear, developers Bloober Team have now set a concrete date: June 15th, 2023. The game previously changed its name earlier in the year, dropping the pluralisation of Layers Of Fears. Presumably, it'll still explore more than one fear, though. You can see for yourself as the game released a new demo today, available on Steam until May 22nd.

Despite sharing a name with the original game, this new one is neither a simple remake nor a reboot of the series. Instead, this collection remakes the first Layers Of Fear, Layers Of Fear 2, and all of their DLC in Unreal Engine 5. Ray tracing and other fancy tech features are also here in full force, making it easier to get spooked in the dark.

On top of the creepy facelifts, the collection adds a third chapter to the story called The Writer, aiming to tie the whole series together with a new framing device. The Writer joins the workaholic stories of The Painter and The Actor from previous games, closing out this tortured artist trilogy. The demo features sections from The Writer and The Painter's chapters, giving us a taste of what's new and kinda new, respectively.

Our Rebecca previewed the collection earlier this year, where she explained that The Writer is “a more modern (although still not present-day) artist, and her seemingly biographical novels about the protagonists from the first two games have brought her to an isolated lighthouse retreat.” Lighthouses aren’t creepy at all. Troubled writers who isolate themselves and seemingly manifest their horrifying texts are normal, too. I’m sure we’ll be just fine.

Rebecca also said, “it’s clear that Bloober Team are ready to wrap up their work on this series as they move into their long-awaited remake of Silent Hill 2”. Sounds like a loving swansong for the first-person horror series then.

Layers Of Fear will be available to buy on Steam and GOG come June 15th. For now, you check out that aforementioned Steam demo.