"We believe that true horror comes from the unknown," says Basaj. "The environment plays a vital role in creating a thick and uneasy mood. Knowing that their surroundings are conspiring against them keeps players on edge. In this case, it just happens to be the place itself. The odd occurrences are all machinations of a being that wishes the player harm. In Layers of Fear, a door that once lead to a room may now lead to an elongated hallway, or to some stairs, or to a brick wall. It's a source of comfort to the player to know the layout, even if they never consider it. That hallway will always lead you to the exact same place. In many games, layout of a level is static, which allows players to find their way around without getting lost. "We left hints like ‘don’t look back’ knowing that almost every player will do just the opposite, and we tried to use their natural curiosity against them at every turn." One of the most successful ideas was getting players to make the building itself by unreliable. "We had a lot of ideas for the rooms, and how we can use the environment to scare the player," he says. "The ‘haunted house’ setting is one of the most well-known horror tropes, and it does wonders for Layers of Fear," says Rafal Basaj of Bloober Team, the Polish studio that made what they dub a "psychedelic horror" game. The house itself is what seems to be the most dangerous and unpredictable thing in the game. Is he lurking in here? It's disquieting, but the threat it pales next to the unnerving things that are happening in this structure of wood and brick. Players eventually learn about the painter who makes this strange house his home, and about some of the ghastly things he's done. Something is wrong about the house, but it's difficult to know what.