Freak is the only character you have to worry about on Night 1, and gets you used to a few of the mechanics. They are loosely based on a fox-like character of mine, Cypress (who was actually the character in my very first post here on GameJolt), and will be present throughout the game.

I actually just used the name as a placeholder until I thought of something different, but then it kind of stuck, so now they have my name.

Freak was an animator, captivated by the ability to make non-living things come alive on a screen. An animated being could be whatever you wanted it to be. It could do whatever you wanted it to do. The possibilities were truly endless. You could try to match the grace of an animated creature, but it's nothing you could ever achieve. No matter how many times you pulled it apart, no matter how long you spent studying it, you could never match its beauty.

No matter how many times you tear yourself apart.

You will never match its beauty.

Like a marionette on a stage, you can manipulate everything. You can break them. You can make them dance. You can make them cry. You can make them laugh. You control them like pieces on a chessboard.

Now they live in misery, independence lost at your hands.

They bleed.

They scream.

They beg for mercy.

But your senses are already blinded by the power you gave yourself.

The power to create.

The power to destroy.

The power to do anything.

In your own little world, in your own twisted mind, their fate is in your hands. If you say they die, they die. If you say they live, they live. If you say they suffer, they suffer.

And you're responsible for all of it.

A beautiful display of your power. Bloodstained walls and colourless halls. It's your art. It's your magic. It's your creation.

And Freak was living in all of it.

Too absorbed in their own little world where things went exactly as they planned, they forgot about their real world where nothing went as planned. They forgot about the world where they couldn't control anything.

They forgot about the world they needed to be living in.

And now they truly have nothing left to lose.

I'm so happy to share this character, as now I can finally have a character in the thumbnail that isn't just a silhouette.

I would have shared them earlier, but I was thinking of making some changes to the design at some point. Now, this is the final version of Freak at their lowest challenge rating (1 star).

Fun fact: the jumpscare I included here has an error that's been bothering me since I made the damn thing. I forgot the extra set if eyes. Honestly I never thought I'd overlook something that's almost always been a part of their design, but I still ended up forgetting them.

This jumpscare is one of the few pieces of scrapped content I'll be showcasing here on GameJolt. While certain aspects of the character that are shown in the GIF are not changing, the jumpscare as a whole is. This is the only jumpscare that had a fully coloured draft before this change was decided. If you're curious about what changes are being made, I'll be open to questions until the new year.

Freak is a very aggressive character, having one of the fastest regular movement cycles of any of the ghosts. They attack quickly, can go to either the gate or the air ducts, and don't leave a lot of time for reaction. Their mechanic may be simple, but it doesn't make them any less of a threat.

While I myself am not much of a Christmas person, I still had something planned to show off! For those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, happy December 25th!

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