The Stalker is a character and an opt-in PVP mode in The Blackout Club (game).
Description
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SPEAK-AS-ONE promises not to hurt them, I am helping my family. I am. We are. | 
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The Stalker does not have much of a provided personality. They seem motivated enough to want to betray The Blackout Club and cause the other kids harm in exchange for protecting their family, but most players opt to treat this as a canvas for developing a character through roleplay (RP).
History
Early Life
Sometime before the events of the game, the stalker may have been a member of The Blackout Club (Group) as the Stalker is often referred to as a traitor to the Club. DANCE-FOR-US has also informed players through Recalled Dreams that SAO has sent Stalkers after players, a kid who might have been your friend once, but now serves DFU's "parents".[1][2]
The Stalker Van is the base of operations for the Stalker, like the Hideout is to club members. The abandoned white van is located somewhere in the woods of Redacre.
In-Game
The stalker's view in game, recording evidence of The Blackout Club's activities. Note the sin notification in the top-left corner.
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Bad news, y'all - someone reading this right now is a traitor. We don't know who, but there were rumors even before we lost Bells. Someone watching her ...recording where she went, rules she broke. Someone who knew her. Now she's gone, and they're coming for the rest of us.
Dax was right, we let more of you in, and now we can't trust everybody. We don't have any close-up proof, yet, but they're our age. These kids come through the red doors, but they ain't asleep? Couple of them have been seen hanging out around those creepy vans. I'm guessing whoever this SNITCH is, they're a recent recruit - or they're working for both sides. Maybe CHORUS doesn't trust 'em all the way yet? We blindfold new members on the way here, as you know - so we might have a little time before they raid the damn hideout? I hope. Anyways, if you're loyal, watch your backs ... and if you're not, whoever you are, we're going to find you. |
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| — Note in The Hideout | ||
Stalkers have to record evidence of The Blackout Club members as part of a deal with the Voice, SPEAK-AS-ONE. If the Stalker collects evidence of the club members then SPEAK-AS-ONE promises they will not hurt their family. To collect this evidence, the Stalker invades a random mission organized by The Blackout Club to record evidence of the Club using their Smartphone and work with the club's enemies - Sleepers, Lucids, and the Shape.
According to a message in the Stalker's Van, it suggests SPEAK-AS-ONE does not allow the Stalker to sleep. They also seem to be under some effects from the Song, although they are more awake and aware than Lucids. In the Hideout, someone seems to have snapped a blurry picture of the Stalker and their van, worried the stalker was watching them.
SPEAK-AS-ONE says that captured stalkers are released by Lucid patrols and go home after their stalks. Some stalkers are also interrogated for information by the club kids.[3]
Objective: Record the Teens
The stalker's mission briefing:
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You are the Stalker, a misfit kid out to cause trouble for The Blackout Club and help SPEAK-AS-ONE. Your goal is to SABOTAGE the teens from The Blackout Club and spoil their mission. You do this by RECORDING THE TEENS with your smartphone. This will report their trespassing to SPEAK-AS-ONE and draw the Shape to their location. As the Stalker, you can also travel using the Red Doors. Make use of this network to travel quickly across the neighborhood and the maze. |
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| — Mission Briefing | ||
The Stalker's objective as seen in the team menu while playing as the Stalker:
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- Record The Blackout Club - Don't get caught! Record the Blackout Club teens with your phone. You need to get close up for the recording to capture (you should see an overlay). Every time you capture footage of the teens, SpeakAsOne is notified and the Shape is more and more likely to target the teen you recorded. Don't get caught by the teens or you will fail this mission! They are also notified every time you record them. |
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| — Mission Objective | ||
Strategy
TBC members receive a message with a photo of what the Stalker recorded. In this case, it was a TBC member directly.
The Blackout Club
The Stalker will secretly invade a random mission to sabotage club members, with some conditions:
- The host of the mission must be opted into Stalkers - the host can do this by stalking other missions themselves by being at least Level 5 and possessing a dossier (
) - There must be at least two players in the mission (Stalkers cannot invade solo players).
- The mission has not already been invaded by another stalker (you cannot be invaded more than once per mission).
- On PC, the Stalker is limited to only invading local groups.
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Not all missions will have a stalker invade. Stalking styles vary from player to player, but there are several signs that can indicate a Stalker's presence:
- Open supply crates in areas not yet visited by TBC players
- Flash bangs that affect TBC members (there is no friendly fire from other club members' Flash Bangs)
- A text message sent to TBC members with a photo of themselves, taken and sent by the Stalker
- Directly encountering the Stalker.
- Lag (teleporting, studering around) can sometimes be experienced for a brief moment as the Stalker joins the mission. However, this is not a reliable way to tell, as lag can occur for a variety of reasons, and it is possible for the Stalker to join the mission without causing any lag.
The Blackout Club members are alerted each time the stalker records evidence against them. This includes sins they are committing at that moment, sins they have already committed, or direct pictures of TBC members in the mission. The Blackout Club members are able to stop the Stalker if they can catch and subdue them. Stalkers are susceptible to the effects of field items like tripwires and flash bangs at the hands of TBC members like a Sleeper and Lucid. When shot or stabbed with a Tranquilizer Dart, the Stalker loses all stamina. When grabbed by a TBC member, Stalkers cannot break free of the struggle. The Stalker does yell out for help to nearby enemies who can interrupt the Stalker from being caught. Once a stalker is caught, the group is no longer susceptible to other stalkers during that mission. All members in the party receive a dossier as a reward for catching the Stalker after returning to the hideout regardless if the mission was completed successfully or not. The player who subdued the Stalker gets an additional "Stalker Caught" bonus (an additional 150 XP).
A dossier, awarded back in the Hideout to each club member after capturing a stalker in the mission.
The Stalker
The Stalker can invade missions from inside the Stalker Van. The Stalker must first possess a Dossier to invade a mission. These can be acquired by playing as a TBC member in missions and capturing a stalker or by purchasing one with Snacks in the Van. Though incredibly rare, players have received a divine gift of a Dossier from SPEAK-AS-ONE. Once in the mission, the Stalkers has to record evidence of the Club's activities. Stalkers can accomplish this by recording acts committed by TBC members: kicked-in doors, KO'd Sleepers and Lucids, recording TBC members directly, among other things. Actions and items that can be recorded by the Stalker will have a TV-static overlay (like Bonus Evidence).
The Stalker enters the mission unannounced to TBC members. A Stalker can appear at any time with the exception of the Exit Map objective. Stalkers can travel through red doors throughout the available parts of Redacre and the Maze (determined by the host's level). Any footage recorded will be reported back to the enemies and may alert nearby Sleepers and Lucids to investigate the location. The Stalker also sends photos of the evidence back to the TBC members; it's advised not to stick around very long after recording evidence. The Stalker has access to see the level of sins reported and the sin threshold needed to spawn the Shape. The Shape will come out to suppress the sinning club members starting with the most-sinful player.
If a club member gets too close to a Stalker, the Stalker can be captured. During the capture process, the Stalker is unable to do anything. If successfully caught, the Stalker is booted from the game. The TBC members can also complete the mission without catching the Stalker. The Stalker has no indication of the TBC members' current objective or mission progress unless stumbling on objective items or the group completing an objective.
Trivia
- When the New Kid is sacrificed, the Stalker is reset alongside them. The Stalker cannot be directly sacrificed, mainly because they cannot level up and do not have access to The Deck.
- During The Blackout Club (game)'s Closed Beta:
- Stalkers existed in the first beta weekend (August 17-19, 2018) and they were open to regular players. Unfortunately, they were taken offline through some of the first Early Access Builds so the mode could be tweaked - the Stalker was overpowering against the Kids. This was in part due to the fact that all club members were brand new to the game, but also because the Stalker had a greater effect on the ability to summon the Shape and get nearby enemies to swarm players.
- Stalkers could gesture like club Members. This feature was dropped during the Stalker's revival in Early Access because of its ability to be aggressive/toxic to TBC members.
- In the first beta weekend, the Stalker was accessed using a coin system similar to the dossier system. Instead of earning a customization via reward crates, players would instead get a coin to play as a Stalker.
- Playing as the Stalker is the only player versus player (PvP) aspect of The Blackout Club (game).
- A bug in Early Access Update 5 (fixed in a later update) allowed club members to hear a Stalker unlocking doors no matter how far away the Stalker was. Another bug in Early Access Update 7 (fixed in EA Update 8) allowed club members to see the "Stalker Caught" notification in the team panel whenever a Stalker was present in the mission.
References
- ↑ Recalled Dream by DANCE-FOR-US. Link to Archived Dream
- ↑ Recalled Dream by DANCE-FOR-US. Link to Archived Dream
- ↑ Player Interaction (29 March 2019). Link to Interaction.
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