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Theoria et Historia Scientiarum

Walking through the Past: The Mechanics and Player Experience of Haunting, Obsession and Trauma in Layers of Fear
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Walking through the Past: The Mechanics and Player Experience of Haunting, Obsession and Trauma in Layers of Fear

Authors

  • Katarzyna Marak

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/ths.2017.004

Keywords

Layers of Fear, trauma, exploring the past, player experience, walking simulator

Abstract

Layers of Fear, a 2016 psychological horror game by Bloober Team, is a story-oriented walking simulator. While many walking simulators focus on uncovering the past, Layers of Fear centres on the experience of being haunted by the past. The gameplay narrates a tragic story and the complex relation of the protagonist with his past from which he cannot escape: his fear, his obsession and the endless cycle of his madness. Most importantly, this experience is not constructed in the game by providing the players with journal entries or letters to read, but by allowing them to literally walk through the past, among material representations of memories and emotions, as the house itself shifts through various layers and moments of time both before and after the tragic events that haunt the protagonist. This paper focuses on the unique delivery of experiencing past events used in Layers of Fear, as well as the concept of haunting, trauma and obsession central to both the game and gameplay.

References

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Layers of Fear. (2016). Bloober Team (ported by Aspyr Media Inc.)

Layers of Fear. http://www.layersoffear.com/main.html, 11.02.2017.

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Riley, J. (2017). “Hauntology, Ruins, and the Failure of the Future in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker.” Journal of Film and Video, 69 (1): 18–26.

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Theoria et Historia Scientiarum

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Published

2017-12-21

How to Cite

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MARAK, Katarzyna. Walking through the Past: The Mechanics and Player Experience of Haunting, Obsession and Trauma in Layers of Fear. Theoria et Historia Scientiarum. Online. 21 December 2017. Vol. 14, pp. 55-69. [Accessed 4 July 2025]. DOI 10.12775/ths.2017.004.
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Vol. 14 (2017): Spectrality and Cognition: Haunted Cultures, Ghostly Communications

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