One thing that always killed the atmosphere for me in horror games was how instantly “safe” everything became after opening the pause menu.
The tension disappears, the game freezes, and suddenly you’re just staring at a static UI overlay that feels completely disconnected from the world.
So while working on WriteNor, I tried redesigning the pause menu to feel more like part of the experience instead of a comfort screen.
Left side is the old version.
Right side is the new one.
(Also the bloom looks way stronger in the recording than it actually does in-game.)
u/Character-Credit-208 — 15 days ago