Layers of Fear 2: How to Get All Endings (Formless, Flame, Forever)

Layers of Fear 2 is a horror-themed walking simulator that isn’t too scary, but its fantastic story will keep you enthralled through multiple playthroughs, especially since the game features several endings. Here’s a quick and dirty guide on how to get all of Layer of Fear 2’s endings, each of which includes its own achievement. And yes, there will be spoilers.

How to Get All of Layers of Fear 2’s Endings

Now, Layers of Fear 2 isn’t a long game. It’s a fairly linear experience, and the game only includes three endings that can be reached through specific in-game choices. These endings are Flame, Forever, and Formless.

The Choices

Unlike other games, where the choices that determine the ending may be disguised, Layers of Fear 2’s choices are illuminated by giant, neon letters and impossible to miss. During the first four chapters of the game, you will come across four different rooms where the mysterious in-game director (played by Tony Todd) presents two binary choices.

While the choices are different in each room, they fall into one of two categories: obey the director or disobey the director. The choices are as follows:

1. Act 1: Shoot the mannequin on the right (obey) or shoot the mannequin on the left (disobey)
2. Act 2: “Take It” and steal food from a dog (obey) or “Give Up” and let the dog keep the food (disobey)
3. Act 3: Shoot the two puppets (obey) or shoot Lily (disobey)
4. Act 4: Let the current sweep you away from the fire (obey) or run against the current into the fire (disobey)

The Endings

The first two endings of Layers of Fear 2, Flame and Forever, are two sides of the same coin. They respectively require complete obedience or disobedience, no exception.

Flame Ending

To achieve the Flame ending, you need to obey the director every single time. This ending is particularly difficult because it requires you to “Take It” during Act 2, which means stealing food from a dog and her puppies (a heartless act that will probably make most gamers give up halfway).

If you can bring yourself to follow the director, you will witness the protagonist, an adult James, participating in a play and admiring movie posters of all the roles he has portrayed. And then a chest behind him bursts open. In short, you need to:

1.  Shoot the mannequin on the right.
2. Take the food.
3. Shoot the puppets.
4. Let the current sweep you away.

Forever Ending

The Forever ending, on the other hand, requires you to disobey the director. While not as difficult to achieve as the Flame ending, this ending poses its own challenge because moving against the current is a grueling task that requires proper timing and holding down the run button.

Still, if you refuse to obey the director, you will experience an ending almost identical to the Flame but with a plot twist: you were controlling James’ older sister Lily all along. The play in this ending is different, as are the movie posters, but the chest still bursts open at the end. In short:

1. Shoot mannequin on the left.
2. Let the dog keep the food.
3. Shoot Lily.
4. Run against the current.

Formless Ending

Layers of Fear 2’s final ending, Formless, is both a middle ground between the other endings and completely detached from them. Instead of purely obeying and disobeying the director, you’re supposed to be undecided. Obey the director in two acts and disobey him in the other two, and you will receive this ending.

Unlike Flame and Forever, Formless doesn’t feature the protagonist in a performance. Instead, it thrusts him (or her) into an underground catacomb filled with wooden barrels and candles. Most intriguing of all, this ending features a mysterious, bald woman with the complexion of a corpse who also appears in the game’s opening.

This woman berates you for being so indecisive and, through some unknown power, sends you back to the room from Act 1 where you’re supposed to shoot a mannequin. However, once you shoot a mannequin, the credits play.  This could imply the protagonist has gone mad, or it could imply they’re in a supernaturally-induced time loop, forced to relive the same events over and over again.

Regardless of the hidden meanings, that’s all you need to know about how to get Layers of Fear 2’s endings. For more useful tips and guides, stick with Twinfinite.