How do you feel during a chase?

[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).