What do you hope to see and not see in SOMA?

[MrBehemoth]

-Scripted sequences in general. Leave monsters to their own AI unless it's really necessary to do otherwise.

There are two problems with leaving it all up to AI: firstly, game AIs aren't advanced enough to pull off behaving naturally whilst also being scary and dramatic; secondly, AI is a system, and because of this, it's predictable. As soon as a monster becomes predictable, you start to analyse its behaviour, suspension of disbelief is broken and all chance of genuine horror is lost. This is what scripted events can overcome, as it restores a human element to the monster's behaviour and to the narrative.

I think what you really mean is to avoid predictable scripted sequences. A good scripted event feels natural, and can be used the overcome the limitations of AI in presenting surprising and dramatic scenarios emergently.

- Neutral creatures that the player is forced to approach and walk by/among to complete critical actions.

I like this idea! I'm already playing with it for my next ATDD mod.