Constructive Feedback on Amensia

[Firia]

(Do the devs even read the forums, I wonder? Small studio, I know, but If I had my own indy game company, I'd make it a point to never read the forums of my own business. The internet is a depressing place, and it's always centered around forums, in my experience.)

I can agree with all of that. I also died for the very first time with the water creature. I flipped the fuck out when that beast came for me. I was backing into the wall, banging on the door that I came in on, and going senseless out of my mind! Then the thing beat and clawed me to death, and that was it. I saw "stay out of the water," and figured that I needed to be purched on top of something.

Criticism; after the death at the hands of the water creature, I experienced a terror that very few parts of the game from then on could match. I was cornered, didn't know what to do, and what I had strived to avoid until then seemed unavoidable. After that, I was significantly less scared of all monsters and encounters. I had experienced death, and it sucked. But I would have continued on at the same pace of pre-death scares had the foreshadowing event been more noticeable.

Note to any that don't know; in the level prior, you kind of become aware of a monster in the water from a grate in the lab where you cook up the disintegrating agent. You know something is down there, but you aren't immediately aware of what that monster is hunting for, and what triggers it. So a better foreshadowing event right there would have delayed most first-time-deaths, thereby keeping the scare from death constant for a good while longer.

Event Triggers; I also became aware of the monsters being summoned by my fiddling with the world items. Once I realized that the Shadow would likely come for me after opening a locked door, or picking up an item, I realized I could freely roam previously traversed areas with no real fear. Or I could wait for sanity/health to recover, since there was no timed triggers for the Shadow.

Constructive Criticism;
The Shadow as is is a very scary dude. But just the inclusion of a timer that triggers him every 5 or 7 minutes of no-progress would have mixed things up a touch.

Smarter Monsters; I don't know how many times I expected a Shadow monster to check some areas, and was wrong. I built elaborate crate and barrel huts whenever the resources were available, but later in the game I realized that wasn't necessary, because half the time, the Shadow won't look in back corners. I don't mean, investigative monsters, but, rather, a creature that actually put some effort into its hunt. It saw Daniel run into that room, afterall. A little more than a coursery check.

Also, one more thing (saw that avatar floating around... )

The trailer of the game had a screaming woman, followed by the Shadow lurching out of a door for Daniel. This was no where to be found in the game, and seemed like a missed opportunity. Whether a real person to rescue, or the shadow trying to lure the player, it could have been something more than just a trailer piece.

GREAT game, regardless of my crits.