After several anticipation-filled weeks of fan speculation and a mysterious countdown clock slowing ticking down to February 14, Bloober Team, the developer behind the Silent Hill 2 remake and Cronos: The New Dawn, finally unveiled the latest entry in the psychological horror franchise that started the company's journey through twisted tales with Layers of Fear 3. The original Layers of Fear was Bloober Team's first-ever game release, and as that title is gearing up to celebrate its 10th Anniversary, the developer is celebrating with an early teaser for Layers of Fear 3.

Bloober Team has been on a roll in recent years, earning critical and commercial praise for the highly-successful remake of Silent Hill 2 and the brand-new sci-fi horror story introduced with Cronos: The New Dawn. While many had been keeping their fingers crossed for the mysterious Bloober Team countdown clock to unveil the highly-desired Born From A Wish DLC for Silent Hill 2 or perhaps a remake of the cult classic survival horror game Rule of Rose, fans were pleasantly surprised to see Bloober Team returning to its roots with another entry in the mind-bending world of Layers of Fear.

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Layers of Fear 3 "The Sick Rose" Announcement Trailer

When the Bloober countdown expired on February 14, audiences were treated to a Layers of Fear 10th Anniversary Special Event video, which included an unexpected teaser for Layers of Fear 3. The Layers of Fear 3 announcement is titled "The Sick Rose," after a William Blake poem which just so happens to be recited by a live actor in the introductory video. This same poetry was shared on the Bloober Team website prior to the clock expiring, and the rose motif is what originally led many to believe a Rule of Rose remake could be coming. After it was confirmed that the countdown clock was unrelated to any remakes, fans were left mystified as to what Bloober had in the works. Now that Layers of Fear 3 is officially confirmed, many are curious as to how William Blake's "The Sick Rose" could be utilized in a new psychological horror game.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
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The use of a melancholic poem is of particular interest to fans of the Layers of Fear series, which is known to focus on artists and the unraveling of their creative minds. Whether the gentleman and visuals shared in the teaser video, including an ominous red-sand hourglass, give any true hints to the story or visuals of Layers of Fear 3 remains purely speculative, though the clips shown did include a number of graphics and iconography from the first two games in the franchise. The video ends with the phrase "the door won't stay closed," while Layers of Fear 3 itself bears a tagline that matches two lines from William Blake's poem: "Some things never leave the walls. They only learn to wait."

Horror fans have already started putting together a number of theories attempting to analyze what the significance of these lines may be, though only time will tell if Layers of Fear 3 is truly revealing story hints early on or if Bloober Team is, fittingly, playing mind games with players. It is worth noting that there are multiple games in development at Bloober Team, including a remake of the original Silent Hill, the yet-unknown Switch 2 exclusive "Project M," a co-developed "Project F," and now the confirmed Layers of Fear 3. Fans of both psychological and survival horror have plenty of exciting releases to look forward to from Bloober Team, ranging from the recently dropped Cronos: The New Dawn update to the still-mysterious codenamed projects. Interested players can stay tuned for any more updates on Layers of Fear 3, along with the other games being created by Bloober Team.

LayersOfFearTagPage
Top Critic Avg: 74 /100 Critics Rec: 55%
Released
February 16, 2016
ESRB
m
Developer(s)
Bloober Team
Publisher(s)
Aspyr

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

Genre(s)
Horror