#anyways. they wouldn’t have added the mechanic if it wasn’t meant to be taken advantage of!

[driftwoodcryptid]

guys i have a confession. i didn’t come by these boop badges rightfully. i ran a complex boop laundering scheme in the late evening of April 1, 2024. i’m sorry to anyone i’ve disappointed and anyone my actions may have hurt🙏

[deceasedatsunrise]

Killer AU Concepts

Eh, Killer!Survivor AUs may seem done to death but it's still plenty fun and I wanted to take a crack at it.

Whenever a new chapter comes out I’ll try to come up a killer au! for any new survivors and add them via reblogs.

Here's my ideas, I’ll try to give them all a Killer Alias, short backstory, an idea of what their power would be, a quick description of their appearance, and their weapon. I’m not good at perks so for now, just imagine all of their killer perks being reskins of the canon killer perks.    

More below cut.

Warning for DBD typical topics: Murder, Torture, Trauma, Parental Death, Body Horror, drowning, dismemberment, car crashes

Dwight Fairfield (The Ghost) - It was meant to be an innocent prank, one where they’d laugh at Dwight’s expense once again. While the boss was still asleep they simply took advantage of the cheap inflatable mattress Dwight brought along for the retreat and simply let lake do the rest. When he woke up, he panicked, and fell off the floating mattress into the chilly water. The others laughed, but stopped when Dwight never emerged. They lied, saying that he left early, and pretended nothing was wrong. They would never know that, as his lungs filled with water, Dwight begged for help from anyone-or anything...and something answered.

The boss left for a moment, just a few minutes to call Dwight to tell him he’ll be looking at even lower pay if he leaves again without checking with him. He returned to the retreat’s site to find the bodies of his employees. 

Now as a malignant spirit, Dwight resembles a cold, bloated corpse suspended in the air as if carried by invisible puppet strings.

His Power would be called Haunting Grounds, a teleporting ability that assists in locating survivors. He can see the auras of generators in his terror radius, and may teleport to one as long as it’s not being worked on by a survivor. The teleport and recharge takes a couple of seconds, with a very small sound cue. He cannot teleport to fully charged generators, but when the gates are all powered he gains a significant speed boost. (This is based on the teleporting mechanic in Soul at Stake, so yes I am in fact stealing from a DBD Clone).

His main weapon is a large tent spike, stained with blood and rust. Useful for quickly killing those who’ve wronged you.

Meg Thomas (The Predator) - Meg Thomas never lost hope, even as her mother fell ill. Then one day, her mother collapsed suddenly after she supposedly began to feel better. Meg was in a hurry, she simply loaded her mother into their car and made her way to the hospital. No time to wait for an ambulance, no time for seatbelts, and no time to take into account that she didn’t have a license. She was reckless, believing she knew enough to save her mother, and it had cost her. She ran into a car and was sent flying, she came crashing down. She dragged herself through debris, both legs maimed by the crash alongside a useless arm, to look for her mother. She found her, she didn’t make it.

She heard the cries of the man she rammed with her mother’s car, and crawled her way to him, along the way she picked up a tire iron that had fallen out of the trunk. When police investigated they found two bodies, one was chalked up to the accident while homicide investigated the skewered driver. Meg dragged herself into the nearby woods, the only way she could escape her mistakes, as she was in no state to run. The entity had repaired her body, with grotesque, gangly limbs made in it’s own image, allowing her to hunt the survivors she could’ve ran with if she wasn’t so, so reckless. Several small spider-like legs jut out of her back and her eyes have been touched by the entity, making her vulnerable to flashlights.

Her main Power is New Instincts, her new body follows the rules of beasts when hunting her prey. Think of it as a mixture of the Pig’s Ambush ability and Fatal Frenzy. Using the power button will make her enter Stalking mode, where she’ll crouch down and lose her terror radius. Using the power button again will initiate Frenzy mode, where she’ll chase after survivors and instantly attack them if she’s close enough(this attack can also destroy dropped pallets). This will apply Deep Wound, or shorten the bleed out timer of a survivor who already has the status effect. If she attacks someone who already has Deep Wound in Frenzy mode she’ll be momentarily stunned but the survivor’s mend meter will lose a part of it’s progress as well. 

Her main weapon is a her own Mangled Arm, an appendage similar to the entity’s claws, regrown after she was collected. After making a hit she’ll grip her head in agitation.

Claudette Morel (The Gardener) - Claudette Morel found happiness a rarity, none of her relationships extended beyond others taking advantage of her knowledge. Stress was killing her, in more ways than one, all because she was lucky enough to make it to a good college. Under her façade of a curious student, was a ticking time bomb waiting for a single spark. She was aiming for a great opportunity, to intern for actual botanists, as long as she kept her grades up. But she had overslept, too many all-nighters added up and she paid the price. Her strict teacher locked her out of the classroom, and she had to watch the class finish the test without her. Her grades were already in danger of falling, but this one F sealed it, so her spot went to another student. Claudette stopped coming to classes, and her chat rooms were left silent. There were five students selected for the Internship, all five and one teacher were found in the forest. The bodies were buried, but beautiful, non-native flowers were planted on top of their graves as markers. Claudette was spotted by a jogger walking into the woods, but she was never found.

The Gardener was once a human, now she’s merely a vehicle for the parasitic plants consuming her. Vines entangle her body, and flowers obscure her face. Her stomach is gruesomely torn open, thick vines spill out like intestines and have wrapped themselves around her waist and legs. The flowers are “Pustulas”, the flowers that grow from the hallowed blight cankers and produce the Putrid Serum. 

Her Power is called Parasitic Saplings, giving the gardener the ability to infect survivors with nutrient draining plants. When a survivor is downed, she may use her action button to “plant” the seeds in their open wounds. The survivors are now in a short timer where the plants grow, once the time is done they can now remove the fully grown plants. However a second timer pops up, if the survivor does not “prune” themselves in time the vine growing on their bodies will bind them in place until either another survivor untangles them or the killer downs bound survivor. Pruning is a non-healing action, and being hooked or hit by the killer’s weapon will pause the timers for varying amounts of time.

Her main weapon is a Gardening Shear, half of a pair that still leaves it’s mark in bone just the same.

Jake Park (The Greenman) - When Jake Park ran away to live off the grid, only his mother bothered to keep tabs on him. When she reported him missing the police gave up their search in little time, despite her pleading. If they searched harder, perhaps they would’ve found him. He went on a hike to restock, but made a mistake while climbing. He found his leg trapped between a rock and a hard place, and his screams were swallowed up by nature. No one truly knows what it means to survive, not even Jake Park until this very moment, when he tore himself free. Even with a splint Jake’s skills only grew, his near death experience proved to him that he truly was alone in this. He fully integrated into the forest life, only interacting with humans to steal tools and food. When hunters entered his territory, he dealt with them with skill and precision.

Jake had fashioned a mask from the skull of one of his victims, the only warning sign his victims would receive before he killed them. He crafted an outfit that would blend in easily, leaves were woven together into a cloak and skins were stitched together to provide warmth. Urban Legends cropped up, of a “Greenman” who raided campsites and mauled solitary survivors with ease.

The Greenman’s Power are his Handmade Arrows, with only natural materials the Greenman had created a formidable secondary weapon. Similar to the Huntress’ hatchets, the arrows will have a charge time that allows you to aim and shoot them. Two arrows, without add-ons, will make a survivor go down one health state. However, when an arrow hits a survivor it will stay embedded in their body until the survivor pulls it out. If the arrows aren’t pulled out then the survivor will groan audibly until it is, add-ons can add status effects to his arrows.

His main weapon is a Broken Antler, taken from a moose he fell. It’s best to use every part of the animal after killing it, right?

Nea Karlsson (The Shadow) - Nea Karlsson delinquency became a downward spiral into disaster. She had grown sick of her parents and ran away, she mainly couch surfed to get by, pick pocketing to afford food. She never lost her interest in tagging, becoming more bold every time. Her skills developed, allowing her to sneak past guards and dogs with ease. She was a shadow, as that was the only thing anyone saw of her when she struck. Except one day, when she was caught. Pure chance, but she wasn’t going to jail. She tried to break free but he wouldn’t let her go, not until she struck him with the crowbar in her hands. Nea wondered if she meant to do it, or if it was an accident, but something in her gut told her that it was necessary. And something even deeper inside of her told her it was thrilling. She experimented with her crimes, violence became a norm for her. She no longer associated with others, and a string of violent assaults, and murders, began to gain media attention. Nea was never caught...by the police, anyway.

Nea is a shadow, a pitch black hole in the rough shape of a human. Bright, white eyes peer out of the darkness.

The Shadow’s Power is called Security Measures, barbed wire traps that remind her of the many gates she’d jumped. She begins the game with eight Barbed Traps that she can place on Vaults, areas where pallets were, and between doorways. They are extensions of the entity, and ensnare victims to unknowingly go through them. When caught in a Barbed Trap the survivor will have to wiggle out, doing a skill check at the end of the wiggle meter. If they fail the skill check they can still get out, but they are downed by one health state. They work similarly to the Hag’s traps, where an old one will disappear if you use another trap after placing all at your disposal. The shadow can pick them up and move them to other areas.

Her main weapon is a simple crowbar, a tool with many purposes for her lifestyle.

Laurie Strode/Cythia Myers (The Copycat) - Michael Myers was let out of the asylum without much fanfare, yet Cynthia Myers never got to meet him before a car crash left her an orphan. Michael was legally old enough to live on his own, but she went to live with the Strode family as he refused to take custody of her. Cynthia had grown to resent her brother, as his legacy followed her wherever she went. Her classmates were not kind to her loss, and she shrunk away from large crowds. Even after convincing her adoptive parents to let her change her name, any person she attempted to grow close to would find out about her brother’s crime. The bullies were one thing, but the “True Crime Freaks” were a hell of their own. Judith would be remembered as a corpse, and “Laurie” would be remembered as the sister of a murderer. A dark whisper began to grow louder, asking why she should be the one to suffer? When her brother was the killer, shouldn’t have the one to pay for what he did to his sisters?

She found him, and paid him back. Murders began to spring up in the town he lived in, the victims were the eldest daughter of families with more than one child. Laurie thought it’d be easy, they’d easily assume Michael went back to his old ways and then lock him up again. But that wasn’t enough, she had to make sure he suffered. No one knew what happened on Halloween Night, except Michael and Laurie, who both disappeared that same night.

Laurie wears a clown mask similar to the one Michael wore that fateful night, alongside a bulky jacket and grimy jeans. Every inch of skin was covered, so that it’d be easier for any escapees to confuse her for Michael.

Laurie’s Power is called Survival of the Fittest, watching the survivors from afar has led to her learning their tricks. The Copycat can do many actions that were thought to be limited to survivors only.

- She can Sabotage Gens, Chests, and Lockers. Sabotaged Gens will need to be “recharged” before they can be repaired. Sabotaged locker doors and chests are stuck and have to jimmied open, with a short sound cue after they’re unjammed. It takes forty seconds to sabotage a gen, and four seconds to jam chests and lockers.

- She’s the only killer unable to break a pallet. However, while in a chase she can jump over pallets. Outside of a chase she can lift up a pallet back in place and sabotage them as well, making it so that survivors have to do the pull down action twice to drop the pallet. 

Her main weapon is a Butcher’s Knife, the tip had been broken off in her attempt to spill the blood of her kin. 

Ace Visconti (The Misfortune) - Ace Visconti, was a foolish as he was confident. Too many debts with the wrong kind of people were bound to catch up to him eventually. One bet, involving some underground fighting ring, sealed his fate. He ran, and made it pretty far before the goons came to collect. What meager winnings he had on him weren’t enough, so their boss ordered them to make an example out of Ace. So they cut him into pieces, wrapped them up in plastic wrap, and dumped them all into a murky swamp. As they held him down he made one final desperate deal, the goons didn’t buy it but something did in fact take him up on the offer. The goons stuck around the swamp for a smoke break, and went missing soon after. A police investigation ten years later would lead to the swamp being drained, all the bodies found at the bottom would help send a dangerous man to the big house. Ace Visconti’s body was never found, but the goons were. Drowned in the murky waters by the looks of it.

Ace wear his water damaged, and muddy clothing, with plastic wrap obscuring his entire head. Duct tape is wrapped around some parts of his body to prevent him from falling to pieces. He lacks shoes but wears a ridiculous amount of jewelry, perhaps collected off his fellow victims in the swamp’ s depths?

His Power is called Unlucky Deck, cards that he uses as offerings for bonuses in the entity’s game. All cards are randomly generated, and more cards can be found in chests,. The Misfortune is the only killer who can loot chests but he closes them after use, he cannot use chests search by survivors without add-ons. Add-ons can increase his chances to get a certain type of card. The killer can shuffle his deck to look at his other cards, when a card is chosen he will pick it out of his deck and it will instantly burn away into ash. His deck consists of the following:

Ten of Clubs - If any of the crows are disturbed, they will flock to the survivor and follow them for ten seconds. This lasts for 30 seconds.

Jack of Clubs - The aura of survivors opening chests or lockers will be revealed for 6 seconds. This will last for 30 seconds.

Queen of Clubs - Once used, after hitting a survivor with a base attack all survivors in your terror radius will have their auras revealed for 8 seconds. This will continue until all survivors still in the game are hit at least once.

King of Clubs - When a Generator is completed after this card is used, all survivors will gain the Exposed status for 20 seconds, and their auras are revealed for 4 seconds.

Ace of Clubs(Incredibly Rare) - All survivors auras are revealed for twenty seconds regardless of distance, however the killer’s movement speed is slowed for the duration of this card’s use.

Joker Card(Tremendously Rare) - A random affliction of another card is played, lasting for thirty to forty seconds regardless of the original time limits.

The Misfortune’s main weapon is a Bloody Saw, used to make an example of him and later thrown into the water as evidence.

Bill Overbeck (The Carrier) - Left behind, left to rot. When the entity found him it knew just the way to “fix” him, after all, he was already a carrier. Becoming one of the creatures he had tried his damnedest to evade. Very similar to a Smoker(Type of Special Infected), with the bloated skin and a gross, long tongue. However his lumpy skin would be a charred black with cracks that glow like the claws of the entity(also makes his skin look like the black lungs of a cigarette smoker). When hit by a pallet or a decisive strike he will emit smoke. He no longer sees survivors the same way he used to, and now hunts them without restraint. This is due to the entity skewing his perception, making all the survivors resemble infected that attempt to escape to spread their disease, with dark thoughts urging Bill to prevent them from getting out alive.

His Power would be Ensnaring Tongue, an ability he shares with other smokers. He shoots out his elongated tongue straight forward to choke a survivor in place. Hitting the survivor or the survivor managing to wiggle out(similar to escaping a beartrap) will break the connection, resulting in tongue being torn off and a small cooldown for his ability to regrow it. A secondary ability is that survivors will cough in close proximity, and will continue coughing for a few moments even after gaining distance. 

His weapon would be a combat knife, a memento of his younger years. 

Feng Min (The Patient) - Taking inspiration from the controversial Dr. Yang Yongxin(Chinese Clinical Psychiatrist that likely inspired the Spark of Madness chapter), in a timeline where Feng Min is taken to a “Gamin Addiction Treatment Center“, where her parents handed her over to the “good doctors”. The head doctor’s experiments in curing their patients came crashing down when, after the electroshock treatment became to much, Feng proceeded to escape and murder the staff. She would wear the hospital gown she was given for her stay and would still be connected to electroshock equipment. Her face is heavily bandaged, and a syringe is stuck in her neck. The only hit the main doctor got in before he was snuffed out. Her Power would be similar to the Carter’s Spark, Remnants of Rewiring, driving survivors exhausted to the point of self-destruction. She afflicts survivors by creating an electric pulse that flows in a straight wave, that extends for several feet in front of her. When affected their progress may go backwards, either destroying any progress they had made before or not even getting far in the first place. Maybe at the highest tier of her pulse ability, Survivors might go into a “drowsy state” where they will have to do a skill check or two to not fall asleep, this leaves them open for attack but if the survivor falls asleep and is woken by a survivor/killer they return to tier 2. They would need to escape The Patient and “relax” to lessen the effects. 

Her weapon is a chipped baton, ripped out of the hands of her main watch guard as he bled out. 

David King (The Boar) - David King was meant for greatness, in this life or the next. He squandered his success, all in his search for a good fight. While out drinking he met a shady man who took interest in his fighting prowess, and offered him an experience even more thrilling than his less-than-legal underground tournaments. Two men go in, one comes out, gladiator style. It took David one night to agree. He grew notorious in the underworld fighting circuit, wealthy spectators paid extra to watch King’s own unique style of brutality. He was a bloody mess, and his victims were worse off in every aspect. His “Manager” gave him a unique reward, a boar’s skin, said it would liven up the crowd if they saw David wearing it. David couldn’t give a shit if he tried, as long as he got good competition. 

He was soon more animal than man, taking extra measures to make the losers “squeal” for his own personal pleasure. He soon disappeared abruptly, his manager admitted that David King simply left and never came back. Sure, King was his best fighter, but even he wasn’t stupid enough to order the beast around.

The Boar’s Power is Beastly Brutality, when a survivor is downed the brutish man will grab their leg and break it, applying the Fractured Status effect. Until healed the afflicted survivor will be slowed and unable to vault, They will also grown audibly. If the Fractured status effect is reapplied, the grunting is less frequent, until it’s barely noticeable the next time it’s applied(The Boar’s base speed would be similar to the Huntress’ to give the survivors a fighting chance). There is also a “Struggling” action where the survivor can try to pull away from David until he gives up and carries you or wins. His secondary ability can be used after every two hits with his base weapon, where he tosses the Pig Skinner to his other hand and strikes a survivor with his balled fist after gaining a short speed burst. This will distort the survivor’s vision and make their ears ring.

He wields “The Pig Skinner”, a cleaver with a broad blade and long handle. Of all the weapons he used to mutilate his opponents, this one was his favorite, besides his own hands of course.

Quentin Smith (The Sandman) - Forever haunted by endless nightmares he set out to do the impossible by avoiding sleep all together, slowly destroying himself in futile attempts to avoid the necessary part of human life. His parents were forced to admit him to a hospital when it began to make a toll on his health, where he met familiar faces(whether he remembered them fully or not) with similar problems. When a friend took his life in front them all, he broke, and set out to escape. In a desperate attempt to “save” Nancy, the only one who believed him about the “darkness“, as well he proceeded to murder the staff that tried to restrain him. He escaped into the surrounding woods, vowing to return for Nancy. When the entity collects him he desperately searches the realms for her, hoping to save his fellow victim in this life now that he had failed in the other.

He’s severely sickly from sleep deprivation, and his eyes are permanently closed, this does not affect his eye sight. He wears the clothing the hospital provided, with noticeable burn marks leaving holes in them. His Power would be Dreamwalker, when used the survivors will experience “Micronaps” slipping into the dreamworld where the Sandman may harm them. The Sandman can only interact with survivors doing “Skill“ actions, such as healing and gen fixing, afflicting them with “Fatigue”. They are now on a timer until they “rejuvenate” themselves with a health kit(by healing to full health), every ten seconds they will enter a Micronap for ten seconds, in a continuous loop until fatigue is lifted. The Sandman can attack during the entire time you are in fatigue but is invisible outside of Micronaps, only his red stain reveals his location during these brief moments. 

His main weapon is a fire axe, meant to be used for emergencies but stolen in his escape. 

David Tapp (The Detective) - (The Following is based on the first Saw Videogame, where Tapp had to travel through an asylum until being given a choice at the end of the game. He could’ve chosen “Freedom”, the canon ending where he gave up his search for Jigsaw and freed all occupants of the Asylum. Or the alternate ending, which I’m following for this au, where his obsession makes him choose “Truth” which results in the death of an innocent.)

His choices made him who he is, in his obsession he had cost the deaths of many. He was as equally guilty as jigsaw, and the mastermind took advantage of this fact. Detective Tapp died that day, and whatever was left took up the dying man’s offer to join him. As an officer, he knew who deserved punishment, and became another valuable asset of Joh Kramer. During one kidnapping, where he accidently killed a victim before they could be tested, he vanished. Jigsaw was disappointed, but not surprised, he had already lost another disciple before and there were always more who could be taught. 

He wears his old uniform, the bullet proof vest provides better protection than the red robes his coworkers wear. A pig mask, modified by a wire frame under the latex to give it structure. Leather straps ensure it stays in place without obscuring his vision.

The Detective’s Power is called Night Watch, he carries a large flashlight that acts as his secondary weapon. When using it, any survivor that is caught in it’ s light will be stunned for 2 seconds and have their aura highlighted in yellow for 30 seconds. The flashlight can charged to flash brightly, this blinds the Detective for a few seconds but any survivor who sees the flash will be put into the exposed state for 16 seconds. The flashlight works as long as it’s beam is in the survivors line of sight, ie. like how flashlights work for killers. 

His main weapon is a Modified Bat, nails have been driven into it to increase the damage it can cause. What was once evidence is now his tool to free his victims.

Kate Denson (The Siren) - One must always be weary of the dangers of travelling alone, who knows what kind of people you could meet. Men who can’t take a hint, who do not like to be told no. It was not her fault, she simply wanted a quiet place to write. The woods nearby reminded her of home, but one must always be careful when wandering away from civilization. The man from yesterday still hadn’t let it go, this time he brought along friends to convince her. She was a fighter, but they played dirty, so she had to run when she spotted a window of opportunity. One of the men stopped her easily, and she fell as her guitar splintered into several pieces over her head. They had killed her, or so they thought. They were prepared to leave her in the river to be swept away, but she woke up kicking and screaming, they would be caught if anyone heard her voice so they silenced her with a nearby rock. 

Kate Denson was reported missing after she ceased all contact with her family, her Chevy was later found abandoned in the woods. The law enforcement already had enough on their hands though, in only three days several bodies had been found in the river. There were no sign of struggle, it was as if these men jumped into the waters by choice. Anyone passing these woods would swear they heard singing from deep within, but no one had ever been brave enough to look for the source of such a beautiful voice.

Her Power is Song of Remorse, a mournful song that entrances survivors into letting their guard down. If survivors are in the radius of her song they will be “Enchanted”. Similar to madness, it applies different effects as it’s tiers increase. Survivors can snap enchanted teammates out of it, or they can “clear their thoughts”. Clearing thoughts will make the survivor’s vision blurry for 5 seconds.

Enchantment Tier One - An image of the Siren’s face will flash on screen for a second, darkening the screen for a moment until the image fades away. This will happen every 20 seconds. A quiet humming will be heard for 2 seconds after these flashes occur.

Enchantment Tier Two - Whenever a Survivor attempts to drop a pallet there will be a chance that they do the action without actually pulling it down. The flashes will now occur every 10 seconds. Quiet humming can be heard for as long as the survivor is in this tier. 

Enchantment Tier Three - Nonsense singing fills the survivor’ s ears, obscuring all other noises. Survivors can no longer heal, drop pallets, or fix gens. All flashlights will point downwards.

Her main weapon is the Driftwood club, her prized guitar now acts as the handle of her makeshift weapon. Driftwood, old rope, and what remained of her guitar have been crafted together to ensure only the most devastating of blows.

Adam Francis (The Ember) - It’s difficult to break such a disciplined man, but not impossible. The crash left him in shambles, but the person he failed to safe was left as a smear. He refused to die, dragging his legless body even as flames began to spread. For the first time in his life he displayed weakness, and allowed himself to feel fear. Death, the ultimate end, or at least so he thought. Something dark loomed above him, dark whispers making offers. Even as he bled out, he chose to think of others. He had a feeling that whatever deal he made, it would not end well, the last hope he ever had was that that young woman he failed was saved. He closed his eyes as flames devoured him, dark tendrils dragging him away.

When he awoke, he’d find a fire contained in his own body, now a hollow shell of the man he used to be. Lacking legs he instead floats in place, he breaks pallets by striking them with his weapon.

The dutiful Ember uses his Power, The Onibi’s Lament, as a way to close the distance between him and far away survivors. Activating his power makes a small orb of fire containing his soul shoot out of his corpse’s midsection. His corpse stays behind as a husk, with the player now controlling the orb to bypass pallets and quickly search for survivors for a short period of time. When the power is stopped, either by cancellation or the power bar going empty, his husk disappears and he silently “reforms” from the ball of fire. As a ball of fire he can harm a survivor once by running into them, but this automatically cancels the power and the “reforming” takes a few seconds to finish(think of Wraith’s uncloaking). His secondary ability is releasing a harmless decoy Onibi, to fool survivors into thinking he’s a harmless husk. The false orb goes in a straight line until it either hits something or fizzles out.

His main weapon is the Steel Shrapnel, a jagged piece of metal from the train wreck that had embedded itself in his arm. 

Jeff Johansen (The Unseeing) - Losing one’s sight is a horrifying experience, especially for an artist. One fight and he was forever changed, his shyness promptly became a need to isolate himself. Even though he attempted to adapt to his new life, dark whispers in the back of his mind never allowed him to forget what he lost. He began to dream, and as if guided by invisible hands, he began to sketch what haunted him in his mind. A dark mass of unknown shape, with hundreds of arms reaching out in search of something. He created several drawings, greatly worrying his mother. Jeff left home without a word, and seemingly fell off the earth’s radar. A series of murders began, a bloody trail from Winkler to Ormond, nicknamed the Mural Murders due to what the police assumed was the killer’s calling card. A mural, in blood, paint, or other materials, depicting a many armed creature could be found on any wall or flat surface near the bodies. The trail went cold and the murders were left unsolved.

Jeff as a killer looks similar to his Heavy Metal skin, though his clothing is covered in numerous paint stains. His eyes have been touched by the entity, making him more vulnerable to flashlights.

The Unseeing’s Power is called All-Seeing Entity, a gift from the entity that allows him to hunt and steal the sight of survivors. The Unseeing will always see the maps as a pitch black abyss, all surrounding items in his terror radius are highlighted by a white glow. Aka, this is how he can find survivors while physically blind. Holding down his power bottom will make him release a harsh yell, any survivor caught in the yell’s radius will be cursed with “Dying Sight”. A two minute time will begin, the survivor’s vision will slowly be consumed by darkness until they are fully blind by the time the timer runs out. Once blind they cannot see at all until they’re downed, which restarts the timer. Survivors can cure their Dying Sight by finding a fellow survivor and being healed to a completely healthy state by them, Dying Sight is not affected by Self-Care or medkits.

His main weapon is a sledgehammer, a tool with a surprising use in his art. It reshapes rigid materials to his liking.

Jane Romero (The Idol) - No matter how influential you get, or how famous you become, nothing will drag you out of the pit of your own creation. Stress builds, expectations become increasingly more difficult to meet, and sleep becomes a rare luxury. It all builds up, until one final straw breaks your back. Did Loretta Lawrence expect to die, by the hands of a daughter she declared not hers? Envy fuels hatred, and when all you see is red, what’s a little blood gonna do? Jane wears her mother’s dress, the beautiful gown she wore for the interview that led to her demise. When Loretta’s body was found in her dressing room, everyone searched for Jane, it was as if she vanished. Many of her loyal fans refused to believe she’d done it, leading to an increase in sales for Jane Romero sponsored products.

Her Power is called Shattered Reflection, giving her the ability to leave behind copies of herself while the true body went on the prowl. She can create a total of five "Reflections" without add-ons, if she creates a new reflection after using them all up, the oldest made reflection will disappear. Survivors with flashlights can destroy copies, however it’ll take about 10 seconds. Reflections have a simple AI that allows them to move around a bit like an NPC, if a survivor is close enough they can strike once. If they land a hit the survivor goes down one health state and the reflection disappears. Each reflection has a small terror radius. The idol will receive a notification when a reflection is destroyed, a survivor is in a reflection’s small terror radius, and if the reflection lands a hit on a survivor. The survivor’s auras are highlighted for 6 seconds.

Her main weapon is a Glass Shard, a piece collected after she smashed a mirror in frustration. It’s size and shape ensure damage equal to a knife.

Notes

- David’s Boar Skin is based of the Greek Erymanthian Boar

- Dwight is similar to the ghosts in Silent hill 4

- At least two of these powers were inspired by a DBD clone called Soul at Stake

- I tried my best to make each power fair and interesting, but I guess it’s up to your opinion to know if I succeeded

- My favorite concepts are Ace, Adam, and Quentin’s

- Ace’s backstory was inspired by a character in the movie “13 Ghosts”

- Yes there are Survivor Versions of the killers

- If it’s not clear, Adam wished to save Rin Yamaoka after failing to save her in this au. You can probably guess how the entity “saved” her

- Asks me questions about this au if you like, there’s a bunch of details I left out because it was already long as is

[abdicatedarchive]

rudimentary || landon x bella

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: throwback // 2017.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: landon x bella.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: rudeness.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: a throwback look into landon and bella’s relationship.

After a long time of schmoozing with Bella's parents, they were finally able to head upstairs. Honestly, it was killing him how long she was making him wait. It sounded like everyone was having sex but him, and sure ... he was doing some stuff on the side. But he wasn't having sex sex, not yet anyways. If she didn't put out today, it was honestly as if she had given him no choice but to cheat. She was babbling again as they got upstairs, and he just laid down on her bed and pulled out his book. He put on his horned rimmed glasses and started to read, patting his chest so she would know to lay down near him. The biggest thing about Bella was that she was beautiful, if only she would ever just shut up. She'd be one of the most popular girls in school if she just wasn't so vocal about things, but while he was in this indie phase she was a nice alternative to the plastic and perfect girls that infected Hastings. But at the same time, those were the girls who were actually hooking up with him ... so they weren't really that bad. They really knew how to keep quiet. "Abs" said Landon as he played with her hair as he pretended to focus on his book, he knew that the more he focused on his book the more she would be willing to do anything to get his attention, "quiet down, I'm trying to read".

Bella enjoyed how much her parents liked Landon, it seemed like she had finally got something right with them, but she still felt like she was on the outside somehow. She didn't add too much to these conversations, but maybe she needed to try a bit harder. When she was alone with Landon however, she couldn't stop talking. She just wanted to share everything with him that she usually kept away in her heart. Bella never really figured out if he kept quiet because he was actually listening or if he was tuning her out. All she ever wanted was for someone to truly hear her and care. Once they got to her room and he pulled out his book, Bella took a pause on what she was previously talking about so she could bring up the book she bought. She had recently read up on some of his favorite authors' work. His interests meant a lot to her, it was a part of who he was as a person. "How is your book going?" she smiled as she laid her head down on his chest. "I saw something from that author last week and it reminded me of you so I got it. If you haven't read it yet, you could always borrow mine. I think you'd really like it-" Hearing the nickname always threw her off a little. She never liked her full name, but if Landon did, she'd try to get over it. "I'm sorry." she mumbled, it was pretty rude to talk to someone while they were reading, she should've been more considerate. Bella moved up a bit to place a soft kiss on his jawline, "Maybe after you're done reading, you could tell me about it?" she suggested. "Or we could talk about your day, whatever you want. If you don't wanna talk that's fine too, I just enjoy being with you." she unintentionally kept rambling. Bella wanted Landon to know that he was loved.

Landon put his finger into his book to hold his place when she asked about his day, "It was boring. Everyone at school is so ... rudimentary." He began to complain, "I have no idea how they let some people into honors English when they can't even comprehend Animal Farm. Like that giant oaf Summers. Not a thought in his whole head, I'd be surprised if the blood makes it all the way up there." Landon couldn't stand most of the people in Hastings, they just needed to educate themselves so they could be on his intellectual level. "I'm just glad there's us. You might not be pretty in the way that the other girls are, but at least you're closer to being able to keep up with my poetry" he meant it as a compliment, but he liked to keep her in her place. While he was speaking, he moved his free hand down her jaw line and pulled her in for a kiss.

There was something slightly draining in Landon's negativity, but Bella never allowed herself to put two and two together. She tried to think that her boyfriend saw a lot of potential in others, and they just weren't at his standard yet. But he was with her, and he wanted to be with her which made her feel better about herself. He must have saw something so special in Bella, something she wasn't able to see just yet. She made an effort to not talk so rudely about others, there had to be some kind of good in everyone, but when it came to the Summers ... let's just say she had to put in the extra effort to find the good for most of them. "I think his strengths lie in sports." She was trying to stay positive, even if the boy wasn't around to hear Landon's comments. Bella made sure not to give any attention to his comment on the boy's height. She didn't like talking about height, and she felt like Landon was a bit bothered by the one inch she had over him. Maybe she was just paranoid about it. Bella couldn't smile any wider when hearing that he was glad that it was the two of them, she felt the same exact way. But of course, those happy moments never lasted too long. "Other girls?" she asked quietly. It felt like a punch to the gut. His lips were already pressed against hers but his comment was still ringing in her head. She needed to try better for him, there was clearly something she was lacking in, so she moved over a bit to get more comfortable and deepened the kiss. It was some kind of attempt to make him more attracted to her.

He was admittedly very jealous of one quality that Cody Summers had, his height. Landon was more of a short king, as his father liked to say. They were a short family, and Landon viewed it as a humbling mechanism from whatever God was out there. It honestly made him very insecure, and was the main reason he switched from sports to the arts. That way he could be the center of attention, the peak sensitive brooding boy. Bella was unnervingly positive, "Abs, that guy is so rude to you. I would never treat a female like that. I can't believe my sister dates him" said Landon. Why his dear sister had to date someone in his grade was beyond him, let alone why she wouldn't just date a college guy when the men of standard were all taken in her grade. "What other girls? Babe you're being insecure, that's not hot. You should be more confident in yourself, that's what's sexy" said the boy as he dropped his book on the floor and moved his hands to her hips. It was odd that he could say that he respected women and then in almost the same breath dish up such deep respect for the one he was spending time with, but that was Landon.

Bella bit down on her bottom lip, she definitely could start standing up for herself more, but Cody's crowd was too intimidating. They seemed like the kind of people that would laugh in her face if she tried defending herself. "I know, but I'm sure there's a lot to him if your sister likes him. She has great judgement in people." she tried talking Alexandra up. She never wanted to get on that girl's bad side. Bella held back the need to comment on Landon's choice of words. It made her deeply uncomfortable, but she didn't want to start any potential fight. "You just mentioned other girls-" she stopped herself, the more she pushed it, the more paranoid she'd look. "Sorry, I think I misunderstood. Really." she forced smile a smile and continued to kiss him. She needed to be confident, that's what he found sexy. Bella pulled away from the kiss and sat up to straddle Landon. That's being confident, right? "Forget what I said. My brain, she's a little slow." she tried laughing off her joke before kissing him again. "If I'm doing anything wrong, let me know please." she added in between her kisses. It may have sounded dumb out loud, but she wanted to make sure she was making Landon happy.

He was happy that Bella liked Alexandra, Alex took some convincing about Bella. But she was of good breeding, and she was definitely the peak of the indie crowd. There were definite advantages to dating Bella: having a date to everything, the prowess of having a girlfriend, someone who was completely devoted to him. She rambled on and on, so Landon put a stop to it in his special way, "my sweet simple girl" said Landon as he tucked hair behind her ear. He pulled her back in for a kiss, moving his hands down from her waist to her ass. He wondered if she was finally going to let him sleep with her, "don't worry, you're doing great. I'm not that much more experienced than you" he said, emphasizing the that. It was important to him to be the most experienced one, especially because with the other girls it wasn't the case.

A side smile appeared on Bella's face as Landon called her his sweet simple girl. There was something bittersweet about it, to be called his sweet girl, but to also be referred to as simple. He always had high standards ... which was a nice way of saying that he thought everyone around him was pretty much stupid or below him. That's how it would come across to Bella sometimes, and she was scared that he saw her like that as well. She wanted to be good enough for him, and she'd do pretty much anything to show him that she was. "Right." she responded awkwardly. Anything she had done, she had done with Landon. Sharing those kind of moments with him was really special to her, so she didn't like to think about the fact that he's been with other people before her. Bella wasn't too much of a jealous person, and whenever those feelings kicked it, she usually tried to keep them hidden for the most part. "I love you." she said as she cupped the sides of his face. "Thank you for always being so patient with me. I just want you to know that I appreciate it and you. A lot."

When she said I love you, Landon replied as he always did "ditto." He had only said he loved her seriously once. Sometimes he slid them in when she did him favors or things, or when they were in front of people. Little love yous in public, but in private? It was just ditto. And he also never said it first. "I am pretty good, aren't I? Not like the other guys at school. I actually understand women" he said with a cocky smile. He liked to remind her how much better he was than the average guy at school. Landon was a sensitive young man in his opinion.

Bella had gotten used to his usual response. Though she would love to hear it back, it wasn't necessary. He had said he loved her before and that was enough to know that she was loved. Him not saying it often just meant that it was even more special to her when he did. "You're the best." she replied with a single nod, taking his conceited comments as confidence. "You're one of the only people that really understands me. Sometimes I feel so alone and out of place, but not when I'm with you." she started to ramble again. When Bella was around her family, she barely spoke. She kept her comments and her feelings to herself, so when she found someone that made her feel as loved as Landon did, she wanted to pour her whole heart out to him. "It's like my life is a Kandinsky painting, full of color."

"That's great Abs" said Landon with a soft smile as he snuck his hands under her shirt. Yeah she was talking about her feelings, and she was being vulnerable ... but whose to say she couldn't be vulnerable in other ways. She was just going on and on, and he had things to do later. Other girls. Bella was always rambling on about how he made her feel, but she never showed him. She took so long to wear down on the whole sex thing, it was obvious that he was going to have to get that from someone else. He wanted to sleep with her, but honestly this was becoming too much. There were plenty of pros to dating her, and his family was a part of that, but the pros were starting to be outweighed by the cons if she wasn't going to put out. His friends said she was going to be easy, that she was so desperate for someone to like her like that. But she had been the most difficult.

Bella wished Landon opened up more to her sometimes, they had been together for so long now, but part of her understood where he was coming from. She wasn't like this with anyone else. There was no point in talking when no one would care about what you had to say. There was also the possibility that her boyfriend's love language was physical touch, and he had been so considerate with her all this time. At this point, it was hard to keep track of how many times she told him she wasn't ready for sex, but she started to realize that there was nothing to be scared of. She would be sharing this moment with the person she loved the most, it would only take their relationship to a higher level. Bella got goosebumps as she felt his hands under her shirt, "Do you have to go soon?" she asked, already feeling her face warm up as she was preparing to tell Landon. "Because I'm ready. For sex." she stupidly specified. "If you're ready, of course. Sorry if this is out of nowhere. I could wait until the time is right."

Landon was more than ready, "I have no where to be" he lied, "I can make time." -Fade to black, he didn't really do anything for her at all. It was just about him- "Fuck, I'm spent" said Landon, "you came, right?" he said as he passed her her clothes. It wasn't that he wanted her to cover up, but he wanted to make sure that he still had the upper hand. It was happening quickly, him losing interest in her. Not that there was that much to begin with, but god, her denying him made him want her. Now he had her, like a baby bird in the palm of his hand.

Bella looked over at Landon and nodded slowly, "Yeah." she lied, forcing a smile as she spoke. She had heard of some people's first times not being as incredible as they imagined, but she didn't think it would be this underwhelming. It felt rude even thinking like that though. It would only get better from here on out, and her boyfriend seemed to enjoy it, so that was good enough for her. She reluctantly grabbed her clothes and put them on, he seemed pretty quick to give them back to her, but maybe she was overthinking that. What would she know? "You could spend the night if you want, my parents won't even notice. We could watch a movie, your pick." she suggested cheerfully.

"Sorry babe, I should probably get out of here. I have plans with my friends" said Landon, emphasizing the fact that they were his friends ... not hers. He didn't want her embarrassing him. She was greatish around the halls, when she didn't speak and it was just a passing situation. She couldn't say anything then, nothing that could be annoying. In the hallway she was just a beautiful girl like all the others, not the prettiest of the Langstons ... but a Langston none the less. Landon got dressed pretty quickly, "Later" he said as he ducked out. Landon whipped out his phone before he was even down the stairs, texting his friends that he had totally gotten her v card.

"Oh. Okay." Bella couldn't hold the smile on her face, she had hoped Landon would at least want to lay with her for a little bit. This was such a big deal for her, and it didn't seem like that for him at all. If he had plans, she of course didn't want to be that girlfriend that makes him cancel just for her, he probably wouldn't cancel anyways, but she thought this would all turn out a lot better. "Bye, I lo-" Something prevented her from finishing her sentence, but he was already gone before she could finish it anyways. She sat there in her bed for a moment, there was an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of her stomach, almost as if she were nauseous, but she did nothing about it. What was there to be done? All she did was get under her comforter and lay down for the rest of the night, she could feel her eyes watering, but tried her best to keep it in. She was all alone and she still felt the need to hide how she was feeling. [ END ]

[merilly-chan]

(Pictures taken from the E3 trailer on YouTube, KH13.com )

This review is spoiler-free, though I will put it under the cut anyway.

I won’t say much about the story but I found it to be adequate for what the game is meant to be - a prologue. I’ve seen criticism toward the end and that people expected to see more, I mean we all do since we’ve been starved since 2012, but what cannot be forgotten is that 0.2 was originally meant to be the prologue in KH3. And it was exactly that. An introduction, if you will. There were no groundbreaking revelations, but prologues rarely ever do that anyway. For good reason. The Realm of Darkness does not affect the Realm of Light in a way that Aqua’s story would suddenly make a huge difference before KH3. It expanded a little on her time there, made a few connections to the future and that’s about it. And after I’ve played 0.2, I feel increasingly glad that they removed it from KH3. Not only because the atmosphere is very different in the Realm of Darkness but because Nomura basically confirmed that we will not start with top tier magic when playing Sora. Quite frankly, it would give me quite the hard time to adjust to different gameplay after three hours of playing as Aqua. Style changes may not be present in Sora’s part, top tier magic will be missing at first and it would feel very strange to start with just the basics after three hours of tough bosses and the corresponding gameplay mechanics to make them easier. Not to mention that she’s controlled differently in comparison to Sora. Then the atmosphere. We all know without spoiling the game that 0.2 will not be so lighthearted, even with customization around. Aqua is alone in the Realm of Darkness and the ones who played the game/demo or have seen some of the trailers know that there’s more waiting for her. That’s bound to take a toll on her. It’s likely that Sora’s start in KH3 will be slower and a lot brighter, a completely different atmosphere compared to 0.2. Roxas’ part already had repercussions on the atmosphere at the beginning of Sora’s part, so 0.2 would make me impatient to see Aqua again.

The visuals are my personal worry and 0.2 somewhat managed to give me hope but also made me think that they’ve been trying too hard for too long when they altered the lighting. Something which became painfully obvious was how the models fluctuate a lot in quality. Especially in Yen Sid’s tower, but also elsewhere, the skin is way too red and orange, possibly due to high contrast, despite the light. The skin is shining brighter than my future at times. And once skin shines, it appears to be inflated like plastic dolls and it looks unnatural and hard. Skin does not reflect the light like glass or PVC does so it should become smoother. Which it will likely become since the quality changes drastically from one camera angle to another at times. It’s disturbing to see such a difference in color and softness of facial features within seconds. The lighting is sometimes too much, and sometimes not enough. Scenes which made the skin look smooth and more natural in the TGS trailer suddenly appeared way too overlighted. Shadows often add to the inconsistent appearance and were seemingly overdone at some points. So much that it made the skin appear blotchy and uneven. Since this was not the case before, they basically made it worse. Which is the cause for my worry because there’s a difference in trying to make things better because it looked bad before, and creating something worse in the next step and thinking it’s now more appealing than the middle. For comparison, the picture on the right is the TGS 2016 demo image, the left is from the E3 2016 trailer and the last from the actual game. To me, the TGS demo looked a bit better when it comes to the texture of the skin. It doesn’t shine too much and looks like she actually has pores and not a solid layer of hard PVC. Don’t get me wrong, they are on a good way and very often, the models look absolutely fine and beautiful. But skin tones change from orange to pale way too quickly from one second to the next without the light source having changed. And the faces shine so much that they look like a balloon about to burst. As I said, not always, but the inconsistencies are very apparent. It seems like the developers wanted to improve the models too much by adding too many lighting effects to the skin, which is just as bad as missing effects. All in all, especially the skin needs more balance in terms of lighting, texture and color. They can make it look worse than before by adding too many shadows and making skin reflect too much, which was the case for some of the Aqua angles in comparison to the TGS demo. The skin should still look soft and like skin after all. Also, the paler tone of her lips from the TGS looked better since she currently looks like she is wearing lipgloss/lipstick all of the time, which is somewhat unlikely.

Another thing is that Aqua seems to stick out like a sore thumb at times because the environment looks too realistic. This is mostly the case in areas which do not belong to any Disney world. It’s not terrible, but at the same time it seems a little… off.

Additionally, I feel like the whole interface, including text boxes, are too small. My friend and I really had to strain our eyes to read some of the tutorial boxes and the subtitles. The command box could also be increased in size a little as well as items found and objectives appearing. The health bar, including focus and MP, could also be larger to make it more apparent when your partner is in trouble. Once again, it’s not utterly terrible, but if you have to strain to look at the menu, it’s not exactly convenient. DDDHD did not have that problem and it feels like they made everything smaller to have more screen available for the rest.

Other than that, the environments in 0.2 were gorgeous. The feeling of height was achieved amazingly well in some parts and I liked the diverse maps, despite its small size in volume. The game sometimes suffers from input lags and control issues which I could not remove by calibrating the controller. That was a bit frustrating at times, but not to a point where I would quit the game. However, it sometimes ended in magic being used again despite leaving the shortcut menu already. Which can lead to untimely deaths if you cannot heal because of that. I’d like it better if Aqua wouldn’t always tell me that there’s nothing of relevance anymore. I like exploring…

Another feature I absolutely loved were the objectives. It’s something I would like to have in KH3 as well. Before, it was mainly battling through Heartless, reaching the end of the room, etc. Now we actually have to complete certain objectives like gathering gears, solving simple puzzles, etc. to advance. It’s pushing players to explore a bit while not being exceptionally hard. I truly love that since it gives the game a bit more depth than just running from one area to the next.

The gameplay was solid in my opinion and a good hybrid between KH2 and BBS. The controls are mainly the same in comparison to other KH games, which made getting into it quite a lot easier. People who have played BBS will see a few crossovers, with 0.2’s Command Styles (though they are now reaction commands with sufficient time to activate them), Shot Locks and Double Jump being present. However, the pacing in 0.2 as well as gameplay mechanics being thrown at you makes it seem like it wa specifically intended for those who are familiar with the gameplay already. The tutorial can help becoming accustomed to it, but those who have played a Kingdom Hearts game already will be at a huge advantage. (Which is not really surprising. 0.2 is not meant to be played as the first KH game since people would lack the entire plot. KH3 could still use some improvements, though but since this is more or less a demo, a lot of things can be overlooked. Something which was quite harsh was damage calculation, especially when some bosses stun you and basically kill you immediately afterward since you cannot recover and they don’t provide good blocking methods. (They break through the barrier and it’s hard to evade attacks.) Even in Standard and Beginner mode, a particular boss was rather harsh.

DDDHD felt like a pleasant remaster/remake to me. Everything looked sharper, more colorful and it lines in well with the other games now. The only thing they did not remove was the fish face issue, though that was not to be expected anyway since they did not do that for the other games either. The game also suffered a little from input lags which was noticable during flow motion when you tried to climb higher places. However, apart from it being a minor disturbance, the controls were fine. Something I did not like was what they did to some of the Reality Shifts. While most remained the same, quite a few became victim to Quick Time Events, which did not make me want to use them again since they were actually hard to pull off. That became painfully clear in The Grid and Symphony of Sorcery. I know it’s not easy because the 3DS has two screens with one of them being a touch screen, but QTEs are not exactly a good solution for a mechanic meant to be used in battle.

Other than that DDDHD felt like a genuine remaster which made the game look on par with the rest of the preceeding titles. Graphics are smooth, the controls are overall satisfying and the changes were otherwise subtle. Apart from a few new things like new Dream Eaters, there wasn’t anything groundbreakingly new, which was fine by me since adding too many additional cutscenes could make things more confusing rather than understandable. I did not like the mash-up of two screens int he opening however. With Mickey blocking a part of the screen and credits blocking quite a bit, it felt cluttered. Generally, I did not like the excessive amount of credits since the openings are so beautiful and having large blocks of names appearing doesn’t create a fitting atmosphere.

KHXBC was not particularly revealing. We got two to three revelations which are relevant to the overall story, but otherwise there is not a whole lot to be discovered if you play X or Unchained X. I feel like the movie was meant to give the Foretellers and the Master of Masters a personality since it is a side of X we haven’t seen before. The Foretellers aren’t the focus of the mobile game so it’s actually good to get more insight in that regard, especially if they become relevant. (I still think BC was meant to introduce that box so people don’t question where that suddenly came from in KH3.) However, we cannot forget that the movie is not meant to replace the mobile game. SE still wants to make money from that, so revealing the entire story would jeopardize that. Why play a time intensive game if you can watch a movie with the KH3 engine? I love the Master of Master’s voice, even a little better than the Japanese one, but it’s kind of sad that the nicknames for the Foretellers could not be carried over. Which is understandable since I couldn’t think of nicknames which would seem natural in their case. The suffixes for Aced and Ira are inherent to the Japanese language and more or less used for nicknames and familiar to those speaking Japanese. But English speaking people may not get the cute reference, unless they read a lot of manga, watch anime or are otherwise related to the Japanese language/culture. English lacks that and the names are not easy to develop nicknames for.

My final verdict is that the collection is definitely worth buying. A lot of fans didn’t get to play 3D and it is a good game to bridge the gap between KH2 and 3. It has story relevant content and introduces flow motion, which will also be present in KH3. 0.2 forms a connection to Kingdom Hearts 3 while also explaining what happened to Aqua in the Realm of Darkness. However, it also shows that the models still need some work to appear consistent in KH3 and have the right amount of balance in terms of lighting, shadows and skin tone, including skin textures so it can appear soft like skin. Unreal Engine 4 excels in backgrounds and map design, but it should not become too realistic to prevent characters from not blending in with the world. The gameplay is smooth though and I’d be glad if we can expect a more extensive version of that in KH3. 0.2 was a demo of sorts so a lot can be forgiven for such a small entry, but KH3 should definitely fix certain issues, especially regarding models and frame drops. I got the feeling that it was better than the E3 content and it is going in the right direction, but isn’t quite there yet, which is understandable if we look at the problems they had with the engine so far. I am pretty confident that they will improve a lot when it comes to KH3, though I hope they are not overdoing it like in 0.2 at times and find the right balance. “Verschlimmbessern” is a good German expression for that when they try to improve something and make it worse than before instead.