How do you feel during a chase?

[Deep One]

* Which is why I think the monster themes are very important in the game. Removing them would add more jump-scares, and I hate them when there are too many.

I disagree. Have you played Penumbra Black Plague? It has not special monster theme and it's still scary as hell. And there's actually less jump scares than in Amnesia.

[Diz]

When I played The Dark Descent, I kept having a feeling as if the place was haunted and that I was not alone, but ever since I saw a silhouette staggering about, and especially after the water part, I had a growing feeling inside me which kept dragging me further into my own nightmare. The fact that I was a wreck, helpless and had no means of self defense in the game made me so terrified to press on, and I always wanted to be as silent and slow as possible, to see if I was alone and to make sure it stayed that way. Thinking about what I would do if a gatherer actually noticed my presence, it never even occured to me prior to a chase. It would have to be something to instinctively figure out there and then, because just seeing something out there would clear my mind and fill it with terror.

During unlucky or unfortunate situations, something would find me, and that screeching terror effect would freeze me up. Either I would stand still for some seconds, being unable to do anything, or I would turn around the very instant and just run. And I would never ever feel safe enough to consider hiding. No, I would just run for ages and be certain I had outrun whatever was after me.

During a chase, the nightmare feeling came to life. I am entirely helpless, my only utility and safety is to be silent and careful, and during a chase, all of that suddenly vanished, so I would just entirely panic. No thoughts, no ideas, no stopping and no barrier between the game and myself. Just sheer terror.

If I actually did manage to find a hiding spot, I would just freeze entirely up, listen closely to any sound, beg for the gatherer not to find me. This is also where I feel the music matches the psyche perfectly, especially for the grunt. The ambience goes really silent, and you can hear rhythmic pounding in the background, similar to what is heard in the brute's soundtrack, but much weaker and faint, as if your heart is about to stop and you are about to just fall over, until it gives up investigation and looks for you elsewhere, at which point I feel relieved yet realize how close I was to having a heart attack.

I disagree. Have you played Penumbra Black Plague? It has not special monster theme and it's still scary as hell. And there's actually less jump scares than in Amnesia.

Penumbra: Black Plague has a fixed set of soundtrack which plays whenever a creature is in the near and when it is chasing you, both. Some of them may be scripted, but you can find them in one of the Penumbra folders. Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOSnRBGk_yA

On the topic of having soundtrack in the game, for many, including myself, soundtrack is very important. It adds atmosphere and feelings, and it gives a sense of as to what may be around. In Amnesia, the various creepy monster soundtracks would sometimes not go away until you actually went out and investigated the halls, making sure yourself that nothing was prevailing. This reflects nicely with the fact that you never really know whether something is there or not until you check it out. I am sure Penumbra did this as well, for instance, sometimes adding one of these tracks without reason or right before something did happen.

Music helps create emotions and feelings, terror included, so in my opinion, removing music potentially removes some of the additional terror that otherwise could be achieved. I also think that it is of good help regarding limiting the barrier between the player and the game. =)

[PutraenusAlivius]

* Which is why I think the monster themes are very important in the game. Removing them would add more jump-scares, and I hate them when there are too many.

I disagree. Removing the theme will make the game scarier, as you don't know whether it is patrolling or trying to kill you.

[Gharren]

Am I the only one who has that? And when you feel different could you please describe how you feel?

Hmm, when I get scared or chased I start to breathe very deep and slowly and I get some cold shivers down my spine.

[Crafted]

I feel like hugging them every time I get chased, but they don't want hug...

[Gharren]

* Which is why I think the monster themes are very important in the game. Removing them would add more jump-scares, and I hate them when there are too many.

I disagree. Have you played Penumbra Black Plague? It has not special monster theme and it's still scary as hell.

It actually has a monster theme, if I remember it right. Just as Amnesia, it has a "Monster is near" and "Monster attacking" theme.

[felixmole]

* Which is why I think the monster themes are very important in the game. Removing them would add more jump-scares, and I hate them when there are too many.

I disagree. Removing the theme will make the game scarier, as you don't know whether it is patrolling or trying to kill you.

Without monster theme: It's very scary on the first times. Then you inevitably get to glimpse the monster, and eventually see it completely, and then understand the way it works, ie. how you can get past it or exploit the AI glitches (Those who didn't get the purpose of the music in Amnesia have very often done that, as you may have noticed in the LPs).

With the monster theme: It's very scary as long as the music is on. The player will prefer to stay hidden (and hope that they will not get spotted). When the music turns off, big relief. What I like with this one is that you can scare the player even when there is no monster. Way not to use jump-scares.

I would say, the latter pretty much corresponds to the "psychological horror" genre. Ie. the point is to make you believe the game is challenging (while it's actually not), that there is danger based on the ambience (while it actually may not always be dangerous) and not to kill you or make you run from the monsters (except on a very few scripted sequences).

[Unearthlybrutal]

* Which is why I think the monster themes are very important in the game. Removing them would add more jump-scares, and I hate them when there are too many.

I disagree. Removing the theme will make the game scarier, as you don't know whether it is patrolling or trying to kill you.

Like in my mod, I removed the monster's music and the spawn sound just for that

[Brosive]

In my opinion, the music does make it scarier, because whenever I play a mod were they have a grunt or brute without the sounds, it just doesn't scare me as much. Then again it also depends on how long the sound plays for. If I am running for about 10 minutes or so, then it just starts to irritate me.

[Need4Power]

This is how i feel:

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT OMG SOMEONE SAVE ME PLEASE I DON'T WANNA DIE YOUNG PLEASE SAVE ME AHHHHHHH SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT I HATE THOSE MONSTERS FU^%^*$#%#*&#*#%^#@"

I think that sums it up.