Beware of unmarked spoilers below!
- The background noises you hear throughout the game, unrelated to the game itself, specifically designed to invoke Paranoia Fuel. Whether it's the sound of a door closing, the noise of sprinting feet behind you or the sound of breathing and the game NEVER calls attention to it, though it is implied to be the Simulacra observing or messing with you.
- The Simulacra firmly establishes itself to be terrifying and the main antagonist of the game in the span of one conversation. Throughout this conversation, regardless of your dialogue choices, it is increasingly clear to both the main character and the player they are out of their depth and are dealing with something truly beyond their comprehension. The Simulacra spends most of the conversation belittling and taunting you, complete with Voice of the Legion, with how you cannot stop it and all your efforts are for nothing. And, unless you are extremely good at lying and know how to outsmart it, it's completely right. And even then, you only "win" because you've impressed it and given it a "gift" in the form of showing that the human heart has more depth than expected...which it will use to ensnare more people.
- The jumpscare where the phone reset activates comes out of nowhere during an already-tense conversation and sets the mood nicely.
- The strange noises that both Greg and James' co-worker record on their phones and send to you, that sound like an eerie, muffled Brown Note. The game never gives you an explicit confirmation of exactly what these noises are but if one pays attention closely, you can determine it's the muffled sound of the Simulacra's voice.
- IRIS is the incredibly unsettling phone UI system, returning from Sara is Missing. It constantly makes references to real-world events it can't possibly know, informs you of things before they happen and implies to know more than it lets on. It's a red herring and the Simulacra is truly behind Anna's disappearance but that leaves zero explanation as to what IRIS is or why it acts the way it does.
- It’s possible that the Simulacra created IRIS, because it’s just that powerful.
- Upon the timed phone reset, the phone asks for your name. If you put Anna's name...."I asked for your name." And it wants your last name as well! Then you're asked questions about your hair, if you're afraid your phone is watching and listening to you, and what you'd want to see if you turned around: a headless body or a floating head.
- The "I asked for your name" also pops up if you write Greg, Ashley or James.
- Couple the last question with the ambient noises of footsteps or breathing. Try not to picture any of the two right behind you.
- Oh, and how specifically does it word that first question? "Can I touch your hair?"
- The music that plays when you're talking to James has a tone that is reminiscent of an air-raid siren. Coupled with the background crackling and squeaking noises and the distortion effects it's very unsettling and disorienting.
- The fact that the Simulacra targets people with the dating app Spark. Normally one would only have to worry about human beings harassing or stalking people, but now it's a malicious web entity. How is anyone supposed to help people in that kind of trouble, and who would believe them?
- During the Spark conversation with "Anna" a strange ink blot sort of thing slowly becomes visible, and the screen becomes gray. When Simulacra finally talks, the chat words distort and have a red and blue 3D-effect. It's hard to notice at first and then suddenly it's there... and has probably been on the screen at all times, seeing everything you've been doing.
