Why I think Trickster is not right for DBD
I don't want to take anything away from those who find the new Killer to their liking, rather more power to you. I am not here to be a downer, I just want to express my thoughts on Trickster from a design perspective and whether he fits in the world of DBD.
APPEARANCE:
Trickster is the very first Killer in DBD that looks and feels like a non-supernatural mere mortal human Killer. Even though we already got plenty of those like Pig, Leatherface, Twins, DeathSlinger, Ghostface, Legion, etc. The difference here is that all these killers either cover their face or are disfigured in some other way, thus making them more of a mystery and a frightening character that one would not wish to face alone or in the dark. However, Trickster has zero horror elements to him. He is just a human wielding a fancy-looking weapon. This alone makes him pretty boring in my eyes. He does not look like something a survivor should be afraid of and run away. He looks like someone the four survivors could easily overpower and show who's the real monster. What comes to his background and story, that is a whole different thing I am not touching, I am only talking about his appearance compared to the rest of the killers.
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POWER:
Trickster feels like a cheap copy-paste version of Huntress. Both throw projectiles and reload at lockers, the only difference is that Trickster has to hit more of his projectiles to injure the survivors and that they bounce around a little... Yeah, such innovation! At least with Blight and Twins, these two latest non-licensed Killers before Trickster had unique abilities. It's like the Killer design team has hit a wall in creativity all of a sudden and had to repackage one of the old killers. The name Trickster itself should give lots of ideas for Killer abilities. Trapper sets traps, Huntress throws hunting axes, Doctor uses shock therapy... Trickster... Trickster throws shiny sharp blades... Now does that sound Trickster to you? Does the name have to be tied to the Killer's power, of course not, but Trickster is a pretty unique name, you don't usually throw a name like that around without giving some reason for it.
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CONCLUSION:
I would have imagined Trickster to have somewhat of a Joker personality, someone who is mentally insane but even that is something that Trickster does not possess in his nature, he is just a random guy rocking a sixpack and speaking Korean, that's all. It almost feels like Trickster's whole reason to exist had something other to do than being a Killer in DBD, in other words, uninspired by the DBD universe...
Overall, I find the new Killer quite underwhelming and hope to see future new killers staying true to the DBD theme, creepy, mysterious, and frightening with unique abilities not yet seen with other killers. If BHVR wants to make killers similar to Trickster in the future as well and people enjoy it, I am not one to argue and try to take that away from you. I just wanted to express how I feel about the new Killer and see if there are others who share my thoughts.
Now it's your turn, let me know what you think about Trickster and whether anything I said made any sense to you. I hope we can be civil about this and have a nice discussion.
Comments
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Not all the characters have to be disfigured or monstrous or masked. To me, that get's boring after a while. I love a lot of the original killers- Like Blight and Oni, but then there are some I think are way worse designed than Trickster. I can't stand Trapper's design. I think it makes him look goofy, and the only saving grace is his mask. Hillbilly is the same way. His permanent "O" face is stupid. I'm glad they tried something new like this, and I like the utter personality he brings. Do I personally like his design? From an outfit standpoint, no. I think he's just a tad too bright. I really like the fact that he's so human-looking though. That's real horror, to me. A person like Jin-Woon could exist. Fake monsters don't scare me. Real humans do, and Trickster is the closest thing to that we have.
From a power standpoint... You need to bring up Ghostface and Oni for having very similar powers to other killers. It's not just Trickster. I do wish his power could be more unique, but I also think it looks fun.
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"Trickster is the very first Killer in DBD that looks and feels like a non-supernatural mere mortal human Killer. Even though we already got plenty of those like Pig, Leatherface, Twins, DeathSlinger, Ghostface, Legion, etc. The difference here is that all these killers either cover their face or are disfigured in some other way"
So if he had a hoodie or wore a dead pig on his face or a Halloween costume he'd be ok?
I see a lot of these types of arguments, and it makes me wonder how limited your experience with horror movies is. Not just the big budget summer slashers, but the giant variety of horror. The trope of a "Charming Psychopath" has existed in horror since chocolate syrup was being used as fake blood. From Strangers on a train, to Man Bites Dog, to Nightcrawler, the list goes on. Want more disturbing imagery? Try Audition, one of the best horror movie villains there are, look wise? She's a 20 something year old pretty young woman.
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I mean Ted Bundy is a serial killer who takes the look of his human form, don't see what's wrong with having killers who are just human?
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If he wore a hoodie or something to cover his face, then yes, he would pretty much transform into a mysterious or creepy killer, rightfully fitting next to all the already existing killers. He would pretty much be closest to Legion, but still a mysterious Killer. You show the face of the killer and it's just a human face, that's not menacing at all.
I am not ignorant of the fact that there are human Killers in horror movies, I watch a lot of horror movies with humans as the main killer (even though I do love me some of that supernatural stuff like Grudge and Ring). My point is that none of the killers before Trickster has been as human as he is and that bothers me because I see DBD as a game where the killers are either terrifying, mysterious, strong, frightening, creepy, etc - you know, something to do with horror. Trickster possesses none of these elements and because of it, he is a quite boring killer in my eyes. If you find ordinary human killers scary, that's alright, I personally don't.
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I like a killer with a visible normal human face
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I would of made his power about sound. He can turn on radios that play his music and you have to turn them off. After a couple of hits he can turn all of them on and can have a one time use speed boost that he can do to run around a little. I personally don't care how he looks I just think his power is a little cringe and trickster him self is a little cringe but that could be me.
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I dunno if i would call Jake Gyllenhaal from Nightcrawler charming. He was for sure a creep tho haha
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He hums to himself when he's about to hook someone. Lore wise he recorded the death screams of his victims as he tortured them to make a new album. That's not creepy? You're walking down a dark alley and you see someone walk towards you, blood spattered across his face, carrying a large bladed baseball bat. His face is a cocky grin, almost a post-coital look as he reaches into his coat and pulls out a throwing knife, his grin widening. That wouldn't creep you out?
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-Appearance
It is my understanding that the level of horrific damage/transformation that besets a killer to turn them into a monstrosity is from resisting the Entity. To me this means that The Trickster is one of the fewer killers to not only not resist the Entity, but to be completely willing to do its bidding. This is very visible in how "normal" he looks. With that said I'm not sure how you can be disappointed in what basically amounts to be a neon bat machete with a knuckle duster handle. I presume the colorful design is mostly to cash in on the Kpop/cyberpunk type aesthetic or make the killer more visible so survivors can react better to his effectively infinite knife throwing range. In the end though I think his horror elements are not readily apparent, you need to know lore about the game itself to make him creepier. With that said, whoever did the dudes sound direction is a god because all those laughs and spoken words that he emotes while going around killing really give me a joker type vibe, only reinforced with his performer backstory.
-Power
Personally I think his power is a little on the weak side with how quickly lacerations decay, even while in chase. So I feel like if they removed that completely, or at least remove it while being actively chased he would be a lot better. With 60 base knives you could almost view him as a training killer which people use to find the center of their screen without using a cross hair in order to better play huntress or (more accurately because of the size of the projectiles) deathslinger. His showstopper mode also seems to go to waste quite often. I wish it was more like Oni's bloodfury in that regard but considering infinite knives that might be more of a snow avalanche than a snowball if that were the case. I also don't think his power has that much depth, I wish his knives ricocheted once baseline and the add on added maybe 1-2 more bounces. This would 1) make it easier to land knives reducing his skill floor, and 2) because of the bouncing it also wildly increases the skill ceiling for more expression which I think killer mains would appreciate without feeling entirely oppressive to survivors.
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Honestly when i heard he was going to be called Trickster i was looking forward to all kinds of tricks. What if when you opeened the exit gate there was a 50 percent chance you would open the other gate? The one you weren't at? Or the Trickster could hack the gate and close it? Random gen explodes with a cooldown of 180 seconds?
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Not even the slightest, because I know I have a fair chance of beating him. Just because someone has a sharp-edged weapon does not make him creepy, it makes him dangerous, but a danger that can be beaten in mere hand-to-hand combat. But imagine if Freddy or Myers was after you, you would not even think about trying to fight them, you would most likely run. With Trickster, yes, I would actually stay and fight, and that's a problem... He is the first killer in DBD I would definitely try to fight physically because he does not look nor sound scary. He is your average everyday life Joe who has gone a little crazy in the head.
You could argue that Legion is the same, but because Legion wears a mask hiding his identity, I lose all sight of what I am truly facing, and that is scary to me. I could try to fight him and probably win, but because I don't know what he looks like, I rather take no chances. Face tells a lot about a person and Trickster looks nothing more than just a pretty boy asking for a good beating.
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Exactly, that's what I was thinking about when I heard the name "Trickster" - A Killer that actually has tricks up his sleeve. Maybe a shapeshifter who can take the form of a survivor and pretend to be a friend until you get close enough and notice he is the killer and that's when he jumps you. How interesting it would be seeing a survivor fixing gen but it's just the Killer in disguise waiting for his prey to join him... I would love to see a trickster like that in DBD.
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If i saw some pretty guy all covered in blood carrying a bat/axe thingy i wouldnt try to "overpower" him thats for sure. And your logic also works on lots of killers, why not all five survivors jump on ghost face or legion?
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"You could argue that Legion is the same, but because Legion wears a mask hiding his identity, I lose all sight of what I am truly facing, and that is scary to me"
This is the funniest bit you have stated. Seriously, maybe it's the pandemic, maybe it's being a lucha fan, but masks on their own just don't scare me. But hey, maybe they'll have a mask cosmetic like they do for Meg, then you can be properly scared.
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Yeah I agree. Just seems wrong to believe Ash from Evil Dead would run from this person....lmao
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Wow, i love your ideas and would give anything for them to be in game. That would jump scare the crap out of me if a fellow survivor turned out to be the killer lol
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i swear i thought this Trickster was a Survivor
its so bad they NEED to shill in some kind of asia as a killer agenda
dude we already got asia scarys teleport ghost samurai lady and the demonic oni both actually scary ..
but this ??? just some random guy with survior slotted a weapon instead of flashlight and flamboyant clothes its kinda homophobic the gay has gotta be the killer ofc
i mean come on get some imagination lmao i bet you they changed his base lore to fit that almost 100 sure they did edit: wow i just found out they changed his victims to men LMFAO OFC
so sad im facing this guy like every time whilei could have been facing an actually scary / horror theme killer which they are suppose to be
not this asian guy who likes baseball and cosplays a ninja thats not even wearing scary clothes just yoga outfits ???????????? ######### mane
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Lmao found this on someones page :
They wanted a killer with a weak Y chromosome and hit that Squid Game market, and so they could put some neon Kpop star with blood on him in the game, and an obnoxious flash animation with music which violates my headphones when I load the game up.
Plus his knives are EZ mode for killers who can't be arsed to use the aim assist the game so generously provides them.
way too true
good job BhvR pandering
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Trickster looks ok, not my favorite but … 🤷♂️
I do like his trailer music though!
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