Atlantic Island Park at night is a thing of nightmares. Sparse lighting and a labyrinthine walking path work in tandem to instill the sense that something is very wrong with this place; since this is established extremely early in the experience, the game can only increase the tension from there. Developer Funcom could have employed any number of cheap visual tricks to startle the player, but they wisely invested their efforts into laying the foundation for your imagination to start building its own idea of the place. Not that there aren't any frightening images -- far from it, in fact. But nothing jumps in your face and goes "boo!" Instead, you begin to notice small, slow changes in the world around you, and it's that subtlety that makes The Park special.
With regards to sound, Funcom could have just as easily taken the same kind of lazy route that it could have with the visuals. But again, they don't, and the result is more disturbing than an overload of distorted carnival noises. While some of the requisite sounds are indeed present, most of the game's audio plays it straight. And considering what happens over the course of the adventure, this specific brand of tonal dissonance is extremely effective. Special mention goes to Fryda Wolff, whose portrayal of Lorraine is faceted and haunting, despite the script's occasional tendency to overdo it.