With a new week upon us, a pair of new games are now available for free from the Epic Games Store. First up, for the horror fans out there, is Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition, a first-person psychological thriller about family, madness, and a really deep appreciation of fine art.

The Masterpiece Edition includes the Layers of Fear: Inheritance DLC, which expands the base game with the story of the painter's daughter, who has returned to her childhood home to face her memories and "take part in the madness that her father bestowed upon the whole family." Sounds like fun times all around.

For those too young for Layers of Fear's M-rating from the ESRB (that's 17 and up, by the way), or who just don't care for horror, there is also QUBE 2, a geometric puzzle game released last year about an archaeologist stranded on a distant alien world. We called it a better looking and more complex game than the 2012 original (which was quite good in its own right), with puzzles that are more satisfying to solve.

I'm a day later than usual with this week Epic Games Store giveaway notification, which I wish I could attribute to an executive decision to codify Freebie Friday, calendar be damned. But the truth is, I just forgot—sorry about that. Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition and QUBE 2 are free for the taking until October 31, at which point they'll be replaced by Double Fine's Costume Quest and another horror game, SOMA. Grab them at epicgames.com.

Revealed in October, Layers of Fear 2 is the sequel to a horror game James described as "an intriguing experimental haunted house". But if you're hoping this second instalment will also feature a house, then maybe you'll be disappointed: a new trailer appears to confirm that it'll be set on a grandiose boat.

There's not much else revealed in the one minute trailer: it's full of swirling imagery and coy allusions to very terrible things happening. There is definitely a sprinting monster of some sort, and according to Andy's report from October, this instalment will feature a maddened actor rather than a maddened artist. Those overripe orange skies sure do look scary, though.

No release date has been confirmed as yet, though it's expected for this year. Check out the trailer below.

Project Méliès was teased in March as the codename for the next project in the works at Bloober Team—which is a surprising name for the developer of games including Layers of Fear and Observer. (Seriously, who calls a horror game studio "Bloober Team?") Today publisher Gun Media rolled out a teaser revealing that the "new masterpiece" behind Méliès is actually Layers of Fear 2. 

The teaser is just about the only information we have about the new game at this point, although it does suggest that the experience will be at least thematically similar to the original. In that game, you play as a tortured artist struggling to complete his magnum opus while his sanity unravels; in the new game, you'll apparently play an actor who might be dealing with similar issues. 

And you're not wrong if you think that narrator's voice sounds familiar: It's Tony Todd, one of the most recognizable "that guy" actors in the business and probably best known for playing the title character in the Candyman horror films. 

The trailer indicates that Layers of Fear 2 will be out this year, but the website at layersoffear2.com says 2019. Given that we're a week away from Halloween and just getting confirmation of the title, I'd guess that the latter is correct. 

Halloween is almost here, right? No? Well, whatever. The Humble Bundlers may have jumped the gun a bit with the Humble Spooky Horror Bundle 2018, but it's still a very solid collection of horror games, especially if you (for some reason) still haven't played BioShock. 

First things first, though: The $1 will get you White Noise 2, Layers of Fear, How to Survive, and How to Survive 2. Beating the average gets you to BioShock territory—specifically the outstanding BioShock Remastered, plus Detention and Yomawari: Night Alone. I'm not familiar with either of those, sorry to say, but they certainly look interesting.   

Top your payment out at $15 or more and you'll also score Friday the 13th: The Game, which unfortunately is kind of a dead issue these days, and Dead by Daylight, which is most definitely not—in fact, it's in the midst of the Scorching Summer BBQ event. 

The bundle also includes free bonus content for Star Trek Online and the White Noise 2 soundtrack. It will be available for purchase until 11 am PT/2 pm ET on September 4. 

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Layers of Fear is a first-person horror game about an artist struggling with fading fame and fortune (and madness) in the wake of great personal tragedy. It's a promising premise that doesn't quite live up to its potential: As we said in our 2016 review, its "a curious but unsurprising narrative" that forgoes psychological subtlety for in-your-face horror tropes. Good but not great—but better right now, because it's free. 

To claim the game, just nip over to Steam and click the "Play Game" button to add it to your library. It's not clear how long the game will be free, but if you grab it while it is, it's yours to keep forever. And an awful lot of people appear to be picking it up: From out of nowhere (a peak concurrent player count of 139 last month), Layers of Fear is currently sitting at number four on the Steam Top 100 list. That's probably not going to last, so I took a picture.

Bloober Team, creators of Observer and Layers of Fear, revealed their next game today. Codenamed Project Méliès, the game was announced by publisher Gun Media, who says the game's official title and its release date will be announced "at a later date."

In the meantime, fans of Bloober's work have an 18-second teaser to chew on. As Eurogamer observed, the game's codename suggests it's named after French filmmaker Georges Méliès, who's best known for early sci-fi films like The Impossible Voyage. 

Project Méliès certainly looks like sci-fi: its teaser looks to be set in some underwater vessel, presumably a sunken one given the luggage floating around. And it may well lean on Georges Méliès' work quite heavily: a thematically appropriate film countdown and reel feature prominently in the teaser, but take that observation with the biggest grain of salt you have since it could just going for a film aesthetic as Bloober Team's games often do. 

The Humble Store's Indie Mega Week Sale kicked off today, and that means another free game for you. This time it's Layers of Fear, the stylish first-person horror game about an artist struggling to complete his greatest work while slowly losing his marbles. We didn't entirely love it at the time, but it has an arresting look and some interesting ideas, plus hey—now it's free.   

Since this is a sale, and you haven't yet spent any money on anything, let's have a look at what else is up for grabs: 

• Cuphead - $17 (15 percent off)
• Undertale - $5 (50 percent off)
• No Man's Sky - $24 (60 percent off)
• This War of Mine Humble Deluxe Edition - $4 (80 percent off)
• Death Road to Canada - $9 (40 percent off)
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - $23 (25 percent off)

Layers of Fear is free for the taking from now until 10 am PT/1 pm ET on December 20. The Indie Mega Week Sale will come to a close at the same time on December 25.

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The new Humble Spooky Horror Bundle has some very good things in store for fans of horror games. It starts with Dead Age, DreadOut (including the Manga and OST), DreadOut: Keepers of the Dark, and the Lakeview Cabin Collection for $1. But as usual, it gets a lot more interesting when you beat the average price. 

For just under $7 right now, Layers of Fear: Masterpiece Edition, the outstanding Alien: Isolation, and the latest addition to the Five Nights at Freddy's series, Sister Location, will be added to the bundle. Drop a tenner on it and you'll also get Dead By Daylight, the four-on-one survival horror game where "death is not an escape." 

The default charity for this bundle is the Delaware Aviation Museum Foundation Corp., but as always, you can select an entirely different good cause if you prefer. 

The Humble Spooky Horror Bundle is live now and will be available until September 5.   

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info. 

Layers of Fear, a horror game about spooky oil paintings and ominous mansions, is getting an expansion next week. Dubbed Inheritance, this time you'll play as the painter's daughter, who's revisiting her childhood home to face her past. Don't know why you'd wanna do that when your house is basically a death trap, but hey!

The studio is calling Inheritance "the culmination of our artistic vision for a game that is focused on fine art", and judging by the trailer below it does look quite beautiful in motion. In his review, James wrote that "Layers of Fear is an intriguing experimental haunted house, but without a proper sense of pacing, it fails to scare". Here's hoping Inheritance compensates for that.

For most people, confronting your family's dark and shameful past is a matter of opening the toilet door before the smell has fully dissipated, so spare a thought for the daughter of the guy from Layers of Fear. The painter at the heart of that first-person horror game turned his home into a sort of arty hellhole, and now his daughter has returned to see what state he's left the family house in. A right old state, if the first trailer for Layers of Fear's Inheritance DLC is any indication.

Inheritance releases on August 2, and it will set you back $4.99. In it, you'll "lead the daughter through what s left of the mansion and take part in the madness that her father bestowed upon the whole family. Can she forgive her father, or will she resent all that has happened?" I'm leaning towards the latter, but you never know.

James Davenport wasn't overly enamoured with the main event. Let's hope this upcoming expansion can manage to rustle up a few more scares.