{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/horror-tension--t213","type":"mechanic","id":"horror-tension--t213","lang":"en","title":"Anomaly hunting and detecting changes","summary":"Players compare a familiar place with its current state and decide whether a change is a meaningful anomaly.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/horror-tension--t213/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/horror-tension--t213.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/horror-tension--t213.md","aliases":[],"tags":["Horror and tension","Mechanics and variants"],"sourceIds":["source-b2a89cba190d4ef9","source-0929fae15e8d5842"],"sources":[{"id":"source-b2a89cba190d4ef9","title":"Frictional Games: Amnesia","url":"https://www.amnesiagame.com/","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-0929fae15e8d5842","title":"The Exit 8","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653790/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Players compare a familiar place with its current state and decide whether a change is a meaningful anomaly."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Mechanic variants\n\n<a id=\"t213-variants\"></a>\n\n- Baseline scenes provide time to learn normality. <a id=\"t213-v1\"></a>\n- Object changes violate a learned expectation. <a id=\"t213-v2\"></a>\n- Reporting rules set the cost of false alarms. <a id=\"t213-v3\"></a>\n- New cycles test a different feature type. <a id=\"t213-v4\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"An evacuation arrow changes direction on a familiar floor while the furniture remains unchanged.\n\nPrototype check: Test anomaly visibility across resolutions and exclude incidental lighting variation from valid answers."},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"Horror builds decisions around limited certainty, defensive means and safe recovery time. Each overview separates player actions, state changes and alternative rules. Examples are hypothetical design scenarios, not claims about a named game. A prototype check states an observable question for the next iteration. Existing detailed references remain separately linked from the direction map."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"horror-tension","id":"t213","title":"Horror and tension","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/horror-tension/#t213","categoryIds":["mechanics"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Anomaly hunting and detecting changes","description":"Players compare a familiar place with its current state and decide whether a change is a meaningful anomaly.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/general-exit8-04.webp","width":1440,"height":810,"game":"The Exit 8","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653790/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/2653790/ss_d9230054f31e82f937746e80c2ded84b5aae4c85.1920x1080.jpg?t=1756464433","credit":"KOTAKE CREATE / PLAYISM","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed screenshot from Steam; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Posters provide details for comparing repeated passages","alt":"Posters provide details for comparing repeated passages","markers":[{"x":34,"y":49,"label":"A memorable detail in a familiar corridor"},{"x":66,"y":42,"label":"The neighboring poster keeps the comparison in context"}]},"tips":["Establish a stable baseline against which the player can compare a meaningful change."],"examples":[{"title":"The Exit 8","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653790/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original bilingual editorial overviews authored for gamemechanics.pro on 2026-10-20 and reviewed on 2026-10-21. Scenarios are hypothetical design examples; prototype checks describe work to perform, not completed playtests. Primary sources support the stated techniques and implementation context, not every proposed variant.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/horror-tension"}}