Killer/Survivor Concept #1: The Presence and Alex Brookes

A complete writeup with more details, exact numbers, backstory, and add-ons that nobody asked for can be found here.

I have way too much time on my hands, so making custom killers happens to be one of the things I do as a game balancing/creative writing exercise. I am super open to any criticism, since this killer in particular has gone through a few Iterations before ending up as it is now.

The idea was to make a killer who could possess survivors in some way, while also trying to counter SWF coordination that would sabotage most possession based powers. Since survivors cannot see or hear her inside the spirit realm, they will not know that they are possessed, allowing the killer to lie in wait for other survivors to draw near. This would prevent survivors from telling their friends that they are possessed, effectively ruining the effectiveness of her power.

Another problem I encountered trying to design a possession killer was another SWF based problem. Once survivors realize who the killer is, a coordinated SWF will split up, affectively rendering her possession useless. She could potentially find lone wolves and surprise them from a locker or chest, but she would be left without a chase power, and be inevitably looped to death.

This is why I added the isolation mechanic, which forces previously possessed survivors to seek company, or risk being attacked while the killer is inside the spirit realm; undetectable and faster than in the physical realm. This allows the killer to get the easy first hit on an isolated survivor, and then emerge from a locker to finish them off, or simply down injured isolated survivors.

Forcing survivors to occasionally meetup in order to prevent isolation will allow the killer more opportunities to get value out of possession. Once you have a target possessed and near another survivor, you can potentially secure an easy down by attacking one survivor (Which possesses that survivor), attack the previous survivor (Possessing them again), and downing the original survivor, essentially acting as a possession combo.

Of course, this is all meaningless because there is no way to test these mechanics, but I was bored so you guys get this novel that no one asked for. Since this is one of my hobbies, I have a ######### ton of killers in the vault that I'll be making images and infographics for, so expect some more in the future.