Each room in Layers of Fear (2023) takes players deeper into the psychological struggle of the game's many protagonists, revealing secrets through puzzles and notes scattered through the environments. With a complete lack of direction, players can find themselves stuck on even the simplest puzzles, including the empty canvas puzzle in the Painter's Story.
About halfway through Chapter 1 of the Painter's Story in Layers of Fear, players will be forced to make the first big choice that will affect the outcome of their playthrough: which color paint to use (Red or Green). After choosing a painting, the fork in the hall will disappear, and players will be forced to progress to the next hallways. After passing through a short tile hallway lined with candelabras, players will enter a windowed corridor filled with plants, porcelain statues, and other items that belong to the Painter's wife. On a table under the right side window, a perfume bottle can be collected, and a whisper from the wife can be heard.
How to Solve the Empty Canvas Puzzle
At the end of the hallway on the right, players can find a narrative letter in an open suitcase and another letter down the hallway to the left with a door at the end. Progressing through the door, players will find themselves in a room with high ceilings, two large windows, and a marble sculpture.
The room is filled with easels, yet only one actual canvas is visible towards the far end. As soon as players enter, the door behind them will close and lock, and with no other visible way out, players will need to deduce the puzzle of the room, and its solution, in order to progress forward through Layers of Fear.
While other factors can tip the scales through the playthrough, choosing Red Paint seems to push players toward the Loop ending, while Green Paint pushes the player towards the Family or Gallery endings.
The Canvas Room
Players can spend a moment investigating the room, taking in the collection of creepy paintings hanging around the walls, but will eventually want to head towards to single canvas in the room. When players approach the canvas head-on, they will find the frame is actually empty and will be able to see through to the rest of the room; however, when players look through the empty canvas at the right angle, they will notice another canvas and frame visible on one of the empty easels in the room.
Players will want to slowly walk around the empty canvas until the new canvas visible inside the frame materializes in the room. Players will then want to approach the new canvas and repeat the process of looking through the empty frame to find the next canvas.
After players have brought all the empty frames through the veil, players will want to use the empty frame next to the first canvas in the room that looks towards the wall opposite the door players entered through. Using this empty frame, players can materialize the door out of the room, although it will be locked at this point.
Players will now want to use the empty frame directly in front of the marble sculpture, and look through the frame at the right angle to make the sculpture disappear.
Once the sculpture has dematerialized in the room, players can pick up a key from the empty pedestal to unlock the door and progress.
Layers of Fear is available now on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X.