I don’t know, I know what you’re saying and I’ve heard some other people complain about the same thing. I kind of didn’t mind it. Since they’re used pretty sparingly and only in association with the overlaps to signify reality being rewritten and to ratchet up the tension I felt like it was okay. They wanted to build a bit of tension-release flow and this isn’t a game where you can have zombies conveniently jump out from behind a bookshelf or whatnot. I don’t know. I enjoyed the scares (especially in the retirement home, Cynthia’s face is just terrifying hahaha) but I can’t explain why it worked for me since I agree that on paper it’s “cheap”.