Monsters AI is like 5 years ago

[Blackhand]

For me, for a large part of the game the enemies were terrifying, largely because of the big unknown about them. I did eventually start to pick up on their patterns, spawn sounds, that they actually have VERY low perception etc. and ultimately this started to eat away at my experience towards the end. The enemies started more to become... obstacles.

Things I would change that I think could improve enemies are:
1. Their perception needs to be bumped up. Not drastically, but them being in direct line of sight, practically rubbing up against you and not noticing you in well lit areas regardless of looking at them or not was probably what killed the the enemy experience for me. I wasn't out to "win" at all, but the enemies lose all their power over you when you realize you actually have to be almost deliberately clumsy for them to see you. In my opinion, they should be able to spot you very easily in well lit areas, 1.5+- metres after a second or two in darkness, of course with line of sight. Poor sanity could also be a bigger giveaway.

2. The music associated with enemies is probably the first pattern anyone notices about them. When the music stops playing, you know the enemy has despawned and its safe to proceed. I would probably remove the music entirely (and its not that I don't "like" the music =) ), possibly only play it when being actively persued. It keeps you uncertain, not knowing if its safe or not, keeping you checking around those corners.

3. Spawn sounds. When an enemy spawns, it makes a very distinct LOUD noise, combined with the enemy music, you know for certain that one has spawned and is prowling nearby. It entirely removes the need to peep around corners and there is little to no chance that you might catch the fright of your life as you stumble very close to one, possibly leading to a heart pounding, door slamming chase. I'd remove the spawn sound and lower the noise enemies make in general, the enemies can make terrifying amounts of noise while chasing you.

I actually want to make the changes and try out some of these ideas, though I'm not sure if the AI changes would be possible at all without the game's source code, I suspect not =(