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 Hatch, also originally known as the "Black Lock", is one of the two potential ways for Template:IconLink to escape a Trial in Template:IconLink.

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 power or open the Template:IconLink.

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 Template:IconLink or the Template:IconLink Offering.

When loading into a Trial the Hatch 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 Hatch can be tracked by the Template:IconLink or the regular Template:IconLink if equipped with the Template:IconLink Add-on.
Coming within the specified tracking range, it will get added to the Item.
However, its Template:IconLink will not be shown until the conditions for the actual Hatch to become visible are met.
This also applies to the Perk Template:IconLink.

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

Visibility

The Hatch becomes visible after the following condition is met: Number of completed Generators = Number of alive Survivors + 1
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 1 Survivor left alive anymore, in which case the Hatch will immediately become visible and open automatically, regardless of how many Generators have been completed.

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

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 Template:IconLink.

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

Manual Opening

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

A manually opened Hatch will remain open for just 10 seconds for other Survivors to follow the key-user and escape as well.
After the timer expires, the Hatch will automatically close (which does not trigger the Template:IconLink) 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 indefinitely until the Killer decides to close it again.

It should be noted that the Hatch cannot be opened manually when in the Template:IconLink, as it prevents the use of any Template:IconLink.

Closing the Hatch

There are currently 2 ways for the Hatch to be closed: automatically and manually.

Automatic Closing

After the open-timer of a manually opened Hatch expires, the game will close it automatically.
This will not trigger the Template:IconLink.

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 Template:IconLink, leaving the Template:IconLink as the final option of escape.

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.

Achievements

There are currently 5 Template:IconLink related to the Hatch, 3 of which are hidden:

Template:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement Table

Icon	Name	Description

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 Template:IconLink 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.

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 Template:IconLink 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.

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.
• 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 Template:IconLink, 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 Template:IconLink (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:

Gallery

• 

  An opened Hatch.

• 

  A closed Hatch.

• 

  A closed Hatch before the Graphical Update.

• 

  An opened Hatch before the Graphical Update.

TL;DR

Props
Alarm Clocks	Barrel	Bear Traps	Breakable Walls	Cages of Atonement
Chests	Control Stations	Crown Pillar	Crows	Dark Mist
Drones	Exit Gates	Generators	Glyphs	Hatch
Hooks	Jigsaw Boxes	Lockers	Masquerade Pillar	Memory Shards
Moonlight	Pallets	Paper Lanterns	Pools of Devotion	Pumpkins
Snowmen	Supply Cases	Totems	TVs	Visceral Cankers
Windows