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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. | 
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| ~ 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 |
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| ~ A Note signed 'V.' (potentially Vigo) |
The Hatch, originally (and still on Add-ons) 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 will always be available as a last resort of escape for the last Survivor standing in case they could not open either of the Template:IconLink or not even power them at all.
If there are multiple Survivors still alive, special spawn conditions apply and the Hatch requires a Template:IconLink to open it prematurely.
Opening the Hatch
Last Survivor Standing
The Hatch will always open for the last Survivor standing.
Using Keys
Manually opening the Hatch requires a Template:IconLink. Opening it will cause the Key-bearer to automatically jump in and escape, leaving it open for 30 seconds for any other Survivor to escape as well, after which it will close shut again, but without triggering the Endgame Collapse.
A Key is therefore required to complete the "Where Did They Go ?!?" Achievement.
Endgame Collapse
If the Killer closes the open Hatch, the Game will trigger the Endgame Collapse and the Hatch will remain shut unless the remaining Survivor(s) have another Key, allowing it to be re-opened.
Closing the Hatch
Originally and up to Patch 2.7.0, the Hatch could not be closed manually by any means and would require at least 2 Generators to have been completed in order for it to be even available to the last remaining Survivor. Survivors therefore had an incentive to try and at the very least complete those two Generators in case of Hatch-play.
Hatch Grabs
Before Killers were able to close the Hatch, they had the ability to grab a Survivor mid-jump and hoist them onto their shoulder. This ability was disabled with the introduction of the Hatch-closing Mechanic.
Hatch-closing Mechanic
During the 2.0.0 PTB, the Hatch could be closed by the Killer.
The Hatch-closing Mechanic received two iterations on the Public Test Build:
- Closing the Hatch required the last Survivor to repair another Generator in order to re-open the Hatch.
- Closing the Hatch powered all remaining Generators, requiring the last Survivor to open an Template:IconLink instead.
The first Hatch-closing mechanic was ultimately not implemented into Patch 2.0.0 as the Developers and parts of the Community were not satisfied with how the changes had played out in the Public Test Build. It also opened up other problems which lead to the Developers deciding to revisit the entire end-game situation instead of just the Hatch alone.
Later this feature made its way into the Game, along with the Endgame Collapse. Closing the Hatch will power the Exit Gates and initiate the Endgame Collapse.
Spawn Location
The Hatch will spawn in a randomly selected location on the Map at the very start of the Trial and remain invisible and non-interact-able to both the Survivors and the Killer until specific conditions are met.
This allows for it to be tracked with a Template:IconLink or a regular Template:IconLink equipped with the Template:IconLink Add-on, even though it is still invisible to the Players.
The Hatch will reveal its location once open by emitting a peculiar sound:
As of Patch 4.2.0, it is possible to influence the spawn location of the Hatch using either of two Template:IconLink:
- Template:IconLink
- Template:IconLink
Visibility
The Hatch will become visible whenever the number of fully repaired Template:IconLink exceeds the number of living Survivors by 1:
- 4 Survivors remaining: 5 repaired Generators / Template:IconLink are powered
- 3 Survivors remaining: 4 repaired Generators / 1 Generator left
- 2 Survivors remaining: 3 repaired Generators / 2 Generators left
- 1 Survivor remaining: Spawns and opens regardless of how many Generators remain to be repaired.
Achievements
There are currently five Achievements related to the Hatch.
Template:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement TableTemplate:Achievement Table| Icon | Name | Description |
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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 the Survivor.
- Killers can no longer perform a Hatch Interrupt.
Trivia
- The original name "Black Lock" stems from an earlier concept version back when the Hatch mechanic was not conceived yet and instead there would have been several "Black Locks" distributed across the Map, that could be unlocked with the Skeleton Key.
- Up to Patch 2.7.0, much like with Template:IconLink, the Killer could interrupt a Survivor in the process of jumping into the Hatch. If timed correctly, the Survivor would be grabbed out of the Hatch and hoisted onto the Killer's shoulder, regardless of the Survivor's current Health State.
- During one of their weekly Streams, Developers Dave and Ash revealed the Hatch having a deep connection with a particular Character. Said Character has been mentioned at least at some point in the Game.
- Vigo is a potential candidate, given his ability to create things and "bend the Fog's irrefragable rules."
- If a Survivor opens the Hatch while there are still generators remaining and the Killer closes the Hatch, the Endgame Collapse will initiate and the Exit Gates will be powered, regardless of how many Generators remain.
Audio Sequence
The following audio file shows the entire sequence of the Hatch's behaviour in-game:
Gallery
A closed Hatch
An opened Hatch
