Could I get some feedback on this please?

[Putmalk]

Just curious, was anyone actually scared when the monster started to break the door?

I don't scare easily, but I noted (even if this wasn't actually the case) that it was good timing to link the opening of the chest to the monster, especially since the player had his back turned to the door. A shorter distance to the door would have helped to make it scarier.

It wasn't linked to the chest, it was 5 seconds after you pick up the crowbar or if you approach any of the doors. It was pure accident that it happened as I opened the chest. Either way, you're going to be in that room when the monster busts the door down.

Well, no, I'm not, because it takes three seconds for him to break down the door, and that's plenty of time for me to exit the room through the other door, so while it's fair to warn the player, there's no real emergency. It was also a fairly large room, so I even think that I could run a circle around him and go through the door opening he just created, if I had to.

The scare comes from the initial burst of the door and the tension of seeing a monster. Such logic could also be applied to the brute in the Morgue, the same incident occurs but that still scared a lot of people. And you still have plenty of time (like 20 seconds!) before the Brute knocks the door down and you can hide. So I disagree with this sentiment here.

The difference between my test map and the Brute is that you can hightail it out of the area and back to kitchen if you so choose, while in the Morgue you're trapped between two rooms. If I were to add this scene in a real map in a custom story I'd probably have it a bit more enclosed.