Changes for The Shape: The Night He Was Brought Home

Harmacy

Michael Myers is the main reason I bought the game, with most of my time in it spent playing as him. I did enjoy the rework but I've seen the complaints people have about it, some of them I agree with, and believe that something can be done to have him in a place most people can enjoy, both playing as and against him.

These changes are suggested with the idea of making his gameplay closer to what people expect of his character, increase its fluidity using the mechanics that are already in the game to avoid overcomplicating it and improve his stealth capabilities while also keeping the limitations added to reduce frustration from survivors when facing him.

Discussion is always welcome, specific value numbers are, of course, subject to change.

Slaughtering Strike

• Slaughtering Strike's minimum charge time is reduced.
• Movement speed while charging Slaughtering Strike is increased to 4.0 m/s.
• Slaughtering Strike's maximum duration is decreased to ~1.0 second.
• Slaughtering Strike's cooldown is removed.
• Movement speed penalty duration after breaking a pallet is reduced.
• (Optional) Slaughtering Strike hits are classified as Basic Attack damage.
• (Optional) Slaughtering Strike's charge meter is now hidden.

The upcoming changes to the camera control during Slaughtering Strike do a great job at making it feel like a lunge but there's still more that can be done to push it in that direction. Keeping Slaughtering Strike instead of suggesting to return to the Exposed status effect is done in order to keep the ability to break pallets with the attack, selling better the idea of Michael becoming stronger by stalking survivors rather than weakening them (which in the end is subjective) and the assumption that the change was done to make it possible to add him to 2v8 or other modifiers in the future.

Decreasing the maximum duration of Slaughtering Strike has the intention of making it feel more true to character and make room for improvements on other aspects of it without making it oppressive while still keeping some of its effectiveness. The charge rate is meant to be changed so the time required to increase the lunge duration to one second (or whatever value it's changed to) is the same as it is in the current version of the game, but that can be adjusted too if deemed necessary.

Reducing the minimum charge time (the time between the ability button being first pressed and being able to start the lunge) and the movement speed penalty while charging Slaughtering Strike and removing its cooldown is meant to make it as fluid as performing a regular lunge and holding the power doesn't make him lose too much distance. If the attack is started as soon as possible the minimum lunge duration is still 0.5 seconds, the same as it is in the live game.

When breaking pallets using Slaughtering Strike, the movement speed penalty makes it so any time saved by using the attack instead of breaking them regularly is barely noticeable, as by the time it wears off the survivor is already at the next pallet. This last part could be caused by the pallet density update, but the overall feeling could be fixed (without making pallets useless) by slightly reducing the duration of the slowdown, however this change has to be done carefully.

Slaughtering Strike being considered basic attack damage is suggested with perk synergies in mind (mainly Save the Best for Last and Surge, Coup de Grâce and All-Shaking Thunder should not interact with it) but beyond that there isn't much difference if it is classified as a basic or special attack, so it doesn't have great priority in the list of changes, especially if changing it implies a technical limitation. Also the interaction between Reflective Fragment and Exposed perks should be considered.

Hiding the charge meter could make it more immersive and feel even more like a regular lunge, with possibly a sound effect playing when fully charged, but this is more subjective and there is likely many players that would prefer to be able to see it. Since character specific HUD settings are not a thing yet, there's no urgency behind this suggestion but it's still worth mentioning.

Stalking and Evil Incarnate

• The Stalk meter only decays down to ~75% progress, The Hedge sound effect is played at this threshold.
• The time before Stalk starts to decay is reduced. (~5 - 10 seconds)
• Stalk decay and fully charged stalk notifications are removed.
• Fully charging Evil Incarnate mode grants the Undetectable status effect for a very short duration. (~3 - 5 seconds)
• (Optional) Stalking distance is increased to 40 meters.
• (Optional) Stalker Mode's movement speed is increased to 4.4 m/s.

Survivors currently have following sound queues to give them a heads up when Michael is sneaking up on them: stalk meter reaches 50% and 100%, stalk starts to decay and Evil Incarnate is activated, in addition to Evil Incarnate's starting animation and being forced into Pursuer Mode once the Stalk meter is full.

While adding them had a good intention which should not be forgotten, all of them together feel excessive and immersion breaking, in addition to not being very effective at avoiding those frustrating scenarios on the survivor side. These changes aim to make the game more immersive and lenient in regards of stealth play and ensuring that the survivor being sneaked upon was stalked for a not insignificant amount of time.

If the stalk decay timer is decreased and the threshold increased, it would not only still reduce the frequency of scenarios where a survivor that was barely stalked is downed first and make building up Evil Incarnate easier, but it would also make The Hedge sound queue to play at the time it's most important for it to play and give the stalked survivor a fair heads up before Evil Incarnate starts. The sound notification when Stalk is full would then be unnecessary and the Stalk decay one would become annoying if it triggers more often, so both of them could be removed.

The lingering Undetectable is there to make the transition when tiering up a little smoother and provide an opportunity to set up an ambush, but keeping it short enough to not encourage tiering up by stalking one survivor and then sneaking up on a second.

The optional changes undo the nerfs to staking added with the rework. While they didn't have a huge impact in regular gameplay, reverting them could make a nice quality of life change and the changes to the Stalk meter would make sure they're not overpowered.

Add-ons

• Rarity changes to Fragrant Tuft of Hair, Scratched Mirror and Reflective Fragment are reverted.
• Fragrant Tuft of Hair is reworked. (New effect pending)
• Scratched Mirror sets movement speed to 4.4 m/s.
• Reflective Fragment gives a bloodpoint bonus to Slaughtering Strike related score events.
  • (Optional) Additionally it increases the maximum duration of Evil Incarnate.
• (Optional) Judith's Tombstone limits the maximum duration of Evil Incarnate to 60 seconds.

If these changes are as effective at bridging the gap between Slaughtering Strike and the old Evil Within III as expected, an easily available add-on that restores the power to it's pre-rework status is no longer needed so the changes to the add-on rarities could be reverted. Fragrant Tuft of Hair should then have a new effect, maybe pulling a reverse card and having it make Slaughtering Strike behave as it currently does in the live game, or more creative effect instead.

If Stalker Mode's movement speed being 4.4 m/s is deemed too much for the basekit, for the sake of having the modes be different enough to one another or whatever other reason, there shouldn't be a problem in adding that effect to Scratched Mirror. It wouldn't make it stand above other add-ons given the change of Map Offering nerf but it would be good to not be forced to equip it with Memorial Flower just for it to be playable.

Reflective Fragment easily qualifies as a meme add-on, it reduces the overall effectiveness of the Killer's power but without the bloodpoint bonus to scoring events these add-ons usually have, this can be changed without having any effects in gameplay. It increasing the duration of Evil Incarnate could also be tested as the 20 extra seconds it provides on hit is not currently a good trade for the extended chase, but it's unclear if this would still be true with the changes suggested above.

Finally, Judith's Tombstone increased duration would be only be for consistency with the default duration. It doesn't perform particularly bad but it should be tested with these version of the power to make sure that would still be the case, as it should be done for the rest of the add-ons for that matter.

Harmacy

If you notice some oversight from my part, notice something in the suggestions that could be exploited or have an idea of your own, feel free to comment.