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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 |
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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 Hatch, also originally known as the "Black Lock", is one of the two potential ways for Survivors
to escape a Trial in Dead by Daylight
.
Overview
The Hatch 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 open or even power the Exit Gates
.
Spawn Locations
The Hatch 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 Annotated Blueprint
or the Vigo's Blueprint
Offering.
When loading into a Trial the Hatch is invisible and cannot be interacted with until specific conditions are met that make it visible.
Tracking
Due to its physical manifestation at the start of a Trial, despite initially remaining invisible, the Hatch can be tracked by the Rainbow Map
or the regular Map
if equipped with the Black Silk Cord
Add-on.
Coming within the specified tracking range, it will get added to the Item.
However, its Aura
will not be shown until the conditions for the actual Hatch to become visible are met.
This also applies to the Perks Left Behind
and Clairvoyance
.
Once the Hatch is open, its location can also be tracked via an audio cue when one is close-by:
Visibility
The Hatch only becomes visible, and automatically opens, when there is only a single Survivor left alive in the Trial.
At this point, its Aura can also be revealed to the Survivor.
If the Killer reached the Hatch first and closed it, it can be reopened using a Key
.
Opening the Hatch
There are currently 2 ways for the Hatch 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 Hatch, indicated on the HUD by showing its icon next to that of the Exit Gates.
An automatically opened Hatch will remain open indefinitely until the Killer decides to close it again.
Manual Opening
When the Hatch is visible, the last remaining Survivor carrying either a Skeleton Key
or a Dull Key
(either Key must have Charges left) may walk up to the Hatch and open it manually, an action that takes 2.5 seconds to complete, after which they can jump into it to escape the Trial.
It should be noted that the Hatch cannot be opened manually when in the Dying State
, as it prevents the use of any Items
.
While manually opening the Hatch, the Killer
can grab you preventing you from opening it.
Closing the Hatch
There is currently 1 way for the Hatch to be closed: manually.
Manual Closing
As of Patch 2.7.0, Killers have the ability to close the Hatch and prevent any remaining Survivor(s) from escaping through it without the use of a Key.
Whenever the Killer closes the Hatch, the Game will automatically trigger the Endgame Collapse
, leaving the Exit Gates as the final option of escape.
Automatic Closing
Prior to Patch 5.3.0, if the Hatch was opened with a Key, it would remain open for 10 seconds, after which it would automatically close.
This would not trigger the Endgame Collapse.
Since the Hatch now only appears if one Survivor is remaining, this can no longer happen.
Hatch Grabs
Before Killers were granted the ability to close the Hatch, 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 Hatch can be closed, this ability is disabled.
Unlockables
Survivor Items
|
Dull Key | A bent and dull Key that once held great power. The Dull Key's power cannot be triggered by itself. Various objects can be attached to its jump ring, which channels the Key's power into various effects.
|
|---|---|---|
|
Rainbow Map | An piece of parchment made out of oddly fresh skin with blood on its edge that has yet to dry, and that is rolled and sealed with multiple coloured ropes and cords.
Holding and channelling the Rainbow Map unlocks great potential in your Aura-reading abilities, revealing the Auras
"It disheartens me. All this unspeakable knowledge and gruelling effort and yet nothing tangible, nothing usable to get out of this nightmare." — Vigo's Journal |
|
Skeleton Key | A tarnished and crooked Key, vibrating with ominous power. The Skeleton Key's power cannot be triggered by itself. Various objects can be attached to its jump ring, which channels the Key's power into various effects.
|
 |
Bloodsense Map | A bloodstained piece of parchment, hastily rolled and burning with a strange power.
Holding and channelling the Bloodsense Map unlocks great potential in your Aura-reading abilities, revealing the Auras
|
Survivor Perks
|
Clairvoyance | There is an intrinsic energy in you that sees beyond your vision.
After cleansing or blessing a Totem
|
|---|---|---|
|
Left Behind | You will get the job done... no matter the cost.
Once you are the Last Survivor Standing, Left Behind activates:
|
|
Sole Survivor | As more of your friends fall to the Killer, you become shrouded in isolation and the Killer's Aura-reading abilities towards you are disrupted.
Each time a Survivor other than yourself is killed or sacrificed, Sole Survivor gains 1 Token, up to a maximum of 3 Tokens:
The Killer can only be obsessed with one Survivor at a time. "It was the boogeyman." — Laurie Strode |
Achievements
There are currently 5 Achievements
related to the Hatch, 3 of which are hidden:
|
Agonising Escape | THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS HIDDEN
Crawl your way out of the Trial through one of the Exit Gates |
|---|---|---|
|
Backdoor Escape | THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS HIDDEN
Escape from a Trial through the Hatch |
|
Denied! | Close the Hatch   a total of 30 times.
|
|
Outrun Evil | Crawl your way out through the Hatch.
|
|
The Key to Escape | THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS HIDDEN
Escape through the Hatch |
History
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 Hatch required the last Survivor to repair another Generator in order to re-open the Hatch.
- 2nd Iteration: closing the Hatch powered all remaining Generators, requiring the last Survivor to open an Exit Gate
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 Hatch alone.
Ultimately, the second iteration was chosen as the one to be implemented, alongside other end-game changes, with Patch 2.7.0.
Pre-5.3.0
The Hatch became visible to all Players after the following condition were met: Number of completed Generators = Number of alive Survivors + 1
More specifically:
- 4 Survivors alive: 5 Generators completed, Exit Gates were powered
- 3 Survivors alive: 4 Generators completed, 1 Generator left
- 2 Survivors alive: 3 Generators completed, 2 Generators left
The exception to this was when there was only 1 Survivor left alive anymore, in which case the Hatch would immediately become visible and open automatically, regardless of how many Generators had been completed.
As soon as the Hatch was visible, it could be opened manually using Keys, as well as be revealed by Aura-reading abilities.
This allowed multiple Survivors to escape through the Hatch at once.
A manually opened Hatch would remain open for just 10 seconds for other Survivors to follow the key-user and escape as well.
After the timer expired, the Hatch would automatically close (which did not trigger the Endgame Collapse) and required another Key to be opened again.
This was unless the remaining Survivor happened to be the last one, in which case it would remain open indefinitely until the Killer decided to close it again.
Change Log
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 Endgame Collapse 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 30 seconds to 10 seconds.
Patch 5.3.0
- The Hatch now only becomes visible to the last Survivor alive in a Trial.
- The Hatch now takes 2.5 seconds to open with a Key after it has been closed by the Killer.
- This action does not reset its progress when interrupted.
- Reworked the Where Did They Go?!? Achievement to The Key to Escaping.
Patch 8.1.0
- The Hatch now closes whenever a Survivor Escapes through it.
- This has no gameplay implications in the Standard Mode. However, this prevents multiple Survivors from escaping through the same Hatch in the 2v8 Mode.
- This has no gameplay implications in the Standard Mode. However, this prevents multiple Survivors from escaping through the same Hatch in the 2v8
Trivia
- During one of their weekly Streams, Developers Dave and Ash revealed that the Hatch 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 Hatch was created by him.
- Over the years, this has been attributed to be Vigo, given his ability to create things and "bend The Fog's irrefragable rules".
- Killers, who can place Traps or Props that have placement restrictions within a specific radius around the Hatch have their Power prompt disabled when inside that radius.
- Since this behaviour is also present for the invisible Hatch, 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 Item, which they will be unable to place at the location of the invisible Hatch.
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 Skeleton Key (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.
- Each Map would have had several Black Locks located throughout the Trial Grounds and would have required a Skeleton Key
Audio Sequence
The following audio file shows the entire sequence of the Hatch's behaviour in-game:
Gallery
An opened Hatch.
A closed Hatch.
A closed Hatch before the Graphical Update.
An opened Hatch before the Graphical Update.
TL;DR
 |
TL;DR of Hatch
Use: Alternate way of escaping the Trial |
