Things that would have made Amnesia scarier

[kailip]

What would have made Amnesia a LOT scarier would have been nasty stuff with closets.

For example I played a custom map a while ago and at one part you were in some area (styled like the prison looks in the original game) with tons of rooms and you'd hear constant zombie growling but it never appeared.
Opened all the closets, all the cupboards etc and collected what I found...no zombies there. Then I found a key which I used to open locked closets or so. And on one of them once I used the key the doors jumped open and a Zombie literally just jumped right into my face...Haven't screamed like that for years. I was streaming it and the people had fun obviously

TL;DR
Closets are something that make you feel secure because you can open them and hide in them. If there was a zombie in one of them it'd have been a totally different feeling from that moment on

LOL,i played the same custom map with my friend at about 23:00 PM,Dark Room and closed door,we put the volume on full.
we were already scared to death from the constant growling that sometime was heard like it been really close...
when we finally opened the door,the door just opened quickly and the monster jumped on us,we screamed like crazy and jumped out of the chair xD
that was one of the most scary moments in MY LIFE! XD
and even funnier...,before we opened the door,i told to my friend "I hope there isn't something scary inside this closet" XDDD

Anyway,this is a great idea to hide scary things in the closet

No, it's not, it's nonsense. Why a monster would stay in a closed? It's dumb.

[Zoridium JackL]

it's fine the first time but after that it just gets old, it's like seeing the same jump scare a million times, it stops being fun.

[dmdmdm]

I think removing the water monster and every other part where you know what to do would have made this game scarier. I mean I must be the minority, but I didn't find the water monster scary. Once you knew what to do, you could easily pass the part. Jump on boxes and you're safe.

On ground, however, I felt like anything could happen. Even just walking in the Storage area made me crap my pants. So basically this game would have needed more unexpected events that you can't control and don't know what to do. I posted this on another topic:

They need to do more stuff with the sanity meter (if they're going to use that anymore). The more insane you are, the more unexplainable phenomena happen, like loud footsteps approaching you fast, and the more monsters you encounter. That way you want to keep your sanity in control.

This game is scary, but with some fine tuning, it could have been way scarier.

[theDARKW0LF]

Would have been scarier if the water monsters show their forms out of the water when they attack you.

A monster inside a closet that you open... oh man i was expecting that sooo many times, expecting it just makes it scarier.

That is all....

Man, I so agree with you there. To relive childhood fears would've made that game that much more terrifying...

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I registered an account here just to post in this thread, haha. Great game so far. I am not done with the game yet so I apologize if I mention something that will occur later on in the game, by chance.

In no particular order, this is what I would have liked to see:

1. Greater/different impacts to insanity. The wall-warping and sound effects are cool, but eventually I tuned them out because I know they meant nothing. I feel like insanity has to have a larger factor of unpredictability to it. The game is already full of occasional wall shakes, dust bursts, noises, etc, but what would have made me piss myself even harder would be hearing footsteps belonging to nobody or having shadows of monsters appear on walls in front of me (only to have nothing behind me). Seeing people spying on me and then slithering away into the shadows.

Dang, you should definitely try my custom story when I'm finished with it, then.

[theDARKW0LF]

Just thought I'd add one here. Keep in mind I haven't beaten the whole game (just fixed the elevator, dreading the prison), so I will add more later.
-The piano in the library. They could have done some scary things with it. The scariest moment of the early game (except the wine cellar) was that part for me. Just hearing a piano playing in the distance with nobody to operate it... that was freaky. What would have made it better is if they somehow made it where if you made a loud noise or waited to long, the playing would end in a loud terrible note, and you would here footsteps running towards your position. That would have made me crap myself.

Haha, that would be really great!

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What I felt I missed was something that is in fact a natural thing for humans. You know when your're in a dark room och walking in the woods at night, you'll se shadows that look somewhat like people and your mind will be scaring you with thoughs about it being murderers or rapists (My personal favorite is when I go to bed at night and my mind tricks me into thinking I see the girl from The Ring in the mirror.) or whatever, until you are close enough to see that it is in fact something else. Like a jacket draped over a chair or something.

Man, that always happens to me when I go to bed a sling my jacket over my desk chair... Or like when I had a mini festive tree sitting near a chair near the Christmas tree. It totally looked like her when it was off when I was going to bed.

[Need4Power]

What would have made Amnesia a LOT scarier would have been nasty stuff with closets.

For example I played a custom map a while ago and at one part you were in some area (styled like the prison looks in the original game) with tons of rooms and you'd hear constant zombie growling but it never appeared.
Opened all the closets, all the cupboards etc and collected what I found...no zombies there. Then I found a key which I used to open locked closets or so. And on one of them once I used the key the doors jumped open and a Zombie literally just jumped right into my face...Haven't screamed like that for years. I was streaming it and the people had fun obviously

TL;DR
Closets are something that make you feel secure because you can open them and hide in them. If there was a zombie in one of them it'd have been a totally different feeling from that moment on

LOL,i played the same custom map with my friend at about 23:00 PM,Dark Room and closed door,we put the volume on full.
we were already scared to death from the constant growling that sometime was heard like it been really close...
when we finally opened the door,the door just opened quickly and the monster jumped on us,we screamed like crazy and jumped out of the chair xD
that was one of the most scary moments in MY LIFE! XD
and even funnier...,before we opened the door,i told to my friend "I hope there isn't something scary inside this closet" XDDD

Anyway,this is a great idea to hide scary things in the closet

No, it's not, it's nonsense. Why a monster would stay in a closed? It's dumb.

Well...,i don't think that it matter as long as it scary
Besides,video games do not always have logic and reason,what actually matters is the experience ^^

[Sergiy]

Hello everyone, I'm new here. Here are my ideas.

1) Personal Items on the "monsters" assuming they were once human.
for example seeing a bit of a torn sunday dress on one of the monsters would be extremely disturbing. Especially once you find out the truth.
This requires build-up of course.

2) Regarding mirrors, this could be a great sanity oppurtunity and without breaking immersion. When insane: reflecting Daniel as one of the monsters, or even a completely new monster would be not only scary, but also symbolic. Otherwise the mirror would be broken.

3) Sadness, after Penumbra I was expecting more sadness in this game, Penumbra made me feel pretty damn guilty, and upset me a lot. In a good way. For example the girl we kept hearing, if Daniel had spent most the time of his time insane by the time he reaches half game, he'd start hearing her talk to him, things like "Help me, Daniel" and "I'm near" leaving clues behind, until you get to the room where she died.

[Brennenburg]

What about an evening with Sander Cohen.

Bioshock

[Leu Radu]

Hmmm... this tread is certainly inspiring for custom story creators (i want to become one).
It's nice to get an insight of what makes people scared. If we analize them, all these scare "moments" and ideas break down to different main fear factors or main types of fear (unknown, suspense, surreal, dread etc.).
In the spirit of the thread, I would add a scene where there is an impending doom that you are expecting (you are chased relentlessly and cannot escape). You reach what seems like a dead end, but the thing has two directions from which it can appear.
I'll give a recurring childhood nightmare as an example. I was dreaming that I was followed by some horrid abomination. I managed to distract it and gain some distance. I hid behind a house, but I knew I was still being followed. The problem was that the monster could come after me from either the left side of the house or the right. I remember having my back against the house and turning my head frantically from left to right. I usually went mad from this and woke up in a total state of shock.
Something like this in Amnesia would drive me insane (more than what it has done), but I guess it would be a personal touch. People react quite differently to different situations.

[Darkrage66]

I havn't read the whole thing so sorry if there are any reposts.
1: The gatherers should be able to open doors quietly to add suprise to the game.
2: In the guest room the gatherer shouldn't leave but instead should go into the next room and occationally looking/patrolling into the back room.
3: There should be a new gatherer that has white and slightly glowing eyes that appear around corners when you are either far away to add aprehension (probably spelt it wrong) and when you are close to the corner to make the player panic but it will only attack when you look away, constantly stalking you thoughout that area and will back off when get close and attack when forced into a corner and the area you find them in, there is no possible way of light except for your lantern but encountered in the oil storage so your set for that. Later in the game multiple will show up causing confusion and panic when you find yourself cornered ( They attack when you are also cornered) but wait until your lantern is out of oil, the only way to escape is to go at one with the lantern on because they will flee from the light. If you have cornered one with your lantern on it will despawn and respawn somewhere else in the area you are in and will then make it's way to you. When you spot them following you they will retreat to a corner or around a corner and continually watch you until you break eye contact, you never get a good look at their model as they are always submerged in darkness.
4. You complete a puzzle and go though a door and find you are in an area you have been before but it is now ravaged, hinting that you are no longer alone. Possibly use the gatherer i mentioned above.