Hatch

"This hatch I found baffles me. As I witnessed the last Survivor being, yet again, the victim of the dreaded hook I stumbled upon it as I slowly backed away. I finally found my keyhole. With my last strength I opened it, entered its tunnels and somehow found my way to the campfire. Now I sit here contemplating its purpose. Is hope more important for the Entity than I thought? Is this hatch just a treat you give a dog to as encouragement? For now I take what I can get."

- Benedict Baker's Journal

"On one rare occasion, I encountered an alternative way to escape. It suddenly dawned on me that I was the only remaining Survivor"

- A Note signed 'V.' (potentially Vigo)

The ', also originally known as the "Black Lock"'', is one of the two potential ways for to escape a Trial in '.

Overview
The  is a Prop that spawns in a random location in the environment. It is the preferred last-resort way to escape from a Trial as the last Survivor standing in situations when the team failed to power or open the.

Spawn Locations
The  spawns in a random location in the environment, which is pre-determined by the Map Generator. As of Patch 4.2.0, it is possible to influence that location to either be in or around the Killer Shack or the Map's main Landmark building by burning either the or the  Offering.

When loading into a Trial the  is invisible and cannot be interacted with until specific conditions are met that make it visible to all Players.

Tracking
Due to its physical manifestation at the start of a Trial, despite initially remaining invisible, the  can be tracked by the or the regular  if equipped with the  Add-on. Coming within the specified tracking range, it will get added to the Item. However, its will not be shown until the conditions for the actual  to become visible are met. This also applies to the Perk.

Once the  is open, its location can also be tracked via an audio cue when one is close-by:

Visibility
The  becomes visible after the following condition is met:  =  More specifically:
 * 4 Survivors alive: 5 Generators completed, Exit Gates are powered
 * 3 Survivors alive: 4 Generators completed, 1 Generator left
 * 2 Survivors alive: 3 Generators completed, 2 Generators left

The exception to this is when there is only ' left alive anymore, in which case the ' will immediately become visible and open automatically, regardless of how many Generators have been completed.

As soon as the  is visible, it can be opened manually using, as well as be revealed by Aura-reading abilities.

Opening the Hatch
There are currently ' for the ' to be opened: automatically and manually.

Automatic Opening
When the Game detects that there is only a single Survivor left alive in the Trial, it will automatically open the , indicated on the HUD by showing its icon next to that of the.

An automatically opened ' will remain open ' until the Killer decides to close it again.

Manual Opening
When the ' is visible, any Survivor carrying either a or a  may walk up to the ' and open it manually, immediately jumping into it and escaping the Trial. It is therefore impossible for a key-user to open the  preliminarily and finish remaining objectives.

A manually opened ' will remain open for just ' for other Survivors to follow the key-user and escape as well. After the timer expires, the ' will automatically close (which does ' trigger the ) and require another Key to be opened again. This is unless the remaining Survivor happens to be the last one, in which case it will remain open  until the Killer decides to close it again.

It should be noted that the ' ' be opened manually when in the, as it prevents the use of any.

Closing the Hatch
There are currently ' for the ' to be closed: automatically and manually.

Automatic Closing
After the open-timer of a manually opened  expires, the game will close it automatically. This will  trigger the.

Manual Closing
As of Patch 2.7.0, Killers have the ability to close the  and prevent any remaining Survivor(s) from escaping through it without the use of a Key. Whenever the Killer closes the , the Game will automatically trigger the, leaving the as the final option of escape.

Hatch Grabs
Before Killers were granted the ability to close the , the only way to hinder a Survivor escaping through it was to grab them mid-jump, yanking them back and onto the Killer's shoulder, ready to be hooked. Since the  can be closed, this ability is disabled.

Achievements
There are currently ' related to the ',  of which are hidden:

PTB 2.0.0
The first two iterations of the Hatch-closing mechanic were tested during the 2.0.0 Public Test Build and functioned as follows:
 * 1st Iteration: closing the ' required the last Survivor to repair another Generator in order to re-open the '.
 * 2nd Iteration: closing the  powered all remaining Generators, requiring the last Survivor to open an instead.

The first Iteration was discarded rather swiftly as neither the Developers nor part of the Community were satisfied with how the changes played out in the Public Test Build. It also opened up other problems which led to the Developers deciding to revisit the entire end-game situation instead of just the  alone.

Ultimately, the second iteration was chosen as the one to be implemented, alongside other end-game changes, with Patch 2.7.0.

Patch 2.7.0

 * The Hatch now always spawns and opens when there is only one last Survivor remaining in the Trial (used to only spawn and open if there were at least 2 repaired Generators).
 * The Killer may close an open Hatch, which will initiate the and require a Key for it to be re-opened by a Survivor.
 * Killers can no longer perform a Hatch Interrupt.

Patch 4.7.0

 * Reduced the time the Hatch stays open after unlocking it with a Key from ' to '.

Trivia

 * During one of their weekly Streams, Developers Dave and Ash revealed that the  has a deep connection to a particular Character.
 * Over the years, this has been attributed to be Vigo, given his ability to create things and "bend The Fog's irrefragable rules". The general consensus is that the  was created by him.
 * Killers, who can place Traps or Props that have placement restrictions within a specific radius around the  have their Power prompt disabled when inside that radius.
 * Since this behaviour is also present for the invisible , those Killers can attempt to locate it by paying attention to when their Power prompt disappears (or even the Bear Trap Aura for The Trapper).
 * Survivors can attempt to do the same when they carry an, which they will be unable to place at the location of the invisible .

Black Lock

 * The name "Black Lock" originates from an early concept for the alternate escape mechanic, before the Developers had decided on creating the Hatch.
 * Each Map would have had several Black Locks located throughout the Trial Grounds and would have required a (the only available Key at the time) to be unlocked. This mechanic was replaced by the Hatch, albeit comparatively late in the Development process, hence why several Hatch-related Add-ons still referred to it as "Black Lock" in their description for several years after release.

Audio Sequence
The following audio file shows the entire sequence of the Hatch's behaviour in-game:

TL;DR
Bodenluke Trampilla Botola Właz Escotilha 地道