Layers of Fear. Yes, I'm picking an Early Access game. And yes, it deserves all the praise it gets. I have not been this genuinely unnerved by a horror game in a
long time. I can't even remember the last time a horror game rattled me like LoF.
Among The Sleep's atmosphere was shattered quickly. Outlast went from seriously creepy to a muddled gore-fest with some jumpscares after the sewers, basically around the time Dr. Trager made an appearance. Even before that, it had a handful of loud jumpscares that you could see coming a mile away. Penumbra had an amazingly tense atmosphere at the start, but once I saw a few of the enemies, I was more interested in the puzzles - and once it started giving you puzzles, it seemed to forget how to atmosphere. Amnesia was just more Penumbra; I got bored and started throwing furniture around.
All of them had the same problem; once you got about a half hour into it, you saw their hand. That was it. They didn't throw anything new at you. Once the tension broke, it didn't come back.
Layers of Fear was.. an experience. Hell, every room was a new experience. There was never a dull moment, lol. So no, no regrets. I only wish it were longer. And that more horror games could maintain a terrifying atmosphere for as long as LoF did.
If you haven't already seen it,
there's a full playthrough without commentary, (of the original build; they've added something like 20 new rooms since) if you're interested. Doesn't take too long to get into it; after about 15-20 minutes, **** starts to get real.