The horror game genre has become a bit oversaturated over the last few years, likely as a result of the surprise success of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which helped re-establish the genre as being capable of more than just having gross monsters jump up out at you from the floorboards. Steam Early Access is particularly flooded with horror games, making for a crowded genre in an already crowded market, but Piotr Babieno, CEO of Layers of Fear developer Bloober Team SA, thinks that it is still possible for a horror game to break through the noise.

And he should know. Since hitting Early Access in September, Layers of Fear has managed to earn over 2,000 positive reviews from users on Steam, placing it in the “Overwhelmingly Positive” review category, the highest possible rating on the site.

“There are a lot of horror games that are just jump-scare-fests,” Babieno said in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “There are a lot of horror games that are trying to scare you with survival aspects of gameplay. But on the other hand, we think the most dangerous, suspenseful things are in our minds. So that’s why we’d like to make games based on the mood rather than jump-scares.”

Rather than having monsters jump out as you round a corner, Layers of Fear relies on creepy camera tricks that change the environment when the player is not looking.

This can lead to some subtly creepy moments, such as when an empty wheelchair suddenly moves from across the room to right behind you. At other times, doors appear that were not there before, and shadows vanish when you turn around to see what is casting them.

“If you’re going into the game industry right now, it’s really hard to be noticed,” Babieno admitted. “If you take a look at how many games are arriving each day for iOS, Android, and Steam, unfortunately for many developers, there’s a huge crowd. You can tell right now we have a gold rush. But I’m pretty sure if you’re unique, if you’re giving gamers something no one has done in the past, you can be successful.”

According to Babieno, Layers of Fear is expected to leave Early Access by early 2016.

Image courtesy of Bloober Team SA