Enemy based on Sirenhead

[Josiah Gibbonson]

 

"It's movement is quiet as a mouse, the sharp tips of it's legs gently piercing the soil as it strides along. It's tripedal form towers above the trees, the thin limbs of the beast casting their shadow far across the land. It has no hands to grasp, no stomach to digest, no eyes to see, no nose to smell, no ears to hear. It doesn't even have a head. On the tip of where the three legs meet, a combination of rusted foghorns are fastened, pointing in each direction of the horizontal plane. Thin strands of black hair blow in the wind below the foghorns and legs-  it's skin so thin bones are seen. As it walks along aimlessly, the sound of it's air sirens can be heard- a bad omen of what's to come during the storm."

 

These large Tripedal enemies serve as ambiance, only appearing during more difficult temporal storms. They don't hunt the player, and instead mind their own business. Any monsters near them recieve an attack boost, and any monsters that spawn near them have increased health points. If threatened, their echoing airhorns turn to the sound of radio static, as they try to impale you with their legs.

 

 

[LadyWYT]

4 hours ago, Josiah Gibbonson said:

These large Tripedal enemies serve as ambiance, only appearing during more difficult temporal storms.

We already have a giant triped that appears during temporal storms--his name is Dave.

4 hours ago, Josiah Gibbonson said:

They don't hunt the player, and instead mind their own business. Any monsters near them recieve an attack boost, and any monsters that spawn near them have increased health points. If threatened, their echoing airhorns turn to the sound of radio static, as they try to impale you with their legs.

Interesting idea, but I think that niche is already covered better by the bells. They're very noisy and can't hurt the player directly, but summon monsters for as long as they're able to sound the alarm. I'm not sure that they hunt the player, but according to the wiki they're attracted to bright light, so if the player happens to be carrying a lantern they're likely to attract bells.

Otherwise, I think the main issue with the suggested sirenhead behavior is that if they ignore the player unless provoked, the player will probably just ignore the sirenhead entirely because it's not a threat(doesn't buff enemies enough, and otherwise assuming it drops nothing of interest). Now if the sirenhead has decent health and attack, and gives out a decent buff...I think it's probably just going to prove a massive pain in the rear and not going to be particularly fun to deal with. In comparison, bells have a lot of health and are annoying with the noisy monster-summoning, but they're also manageable because they're slow(you can run away from them if need be, but they can't run from you) and don't attack you(it'll take several hits to kill them, but if you focus them you can kill them before they summon too many things).

What I would probably do instead, is shorten the name to "siren" and create a semi-rare aquatic enemy instead, based of the old tales of sirens and mermaids. Or maybe it's a play on words, and an aquatic counterpart to the bell, imposing the "drunk" effect on the player while it makes noise. Instead of an attack, it could grapple the player instead and try to drag them far underwater. To release yourself, smack it until it lets you go(or until it dies). While it may not be doing damage, you're still living on borrowed time, as you won't live very long without oxygen.

[Josiah Gibbonson]

13 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Otherwise, I think the main issue with the suggested sirenhead behavior is that if they ignore the player unless provoked, the player will probably just ignore the sirenhead entirely because it's not a threat

This ten block tall Tripedal enemy isn't really supposed to be much of a pain in the rear, the only reason I suggested it is because it'd be intimidating to look at and the sound of sirens in the distance would give a sense of urgency. 

 

Although yeah, I'd have it drop pretty good loot to make it sort of an optional miniboss. 

[-Glue-]

I do really love the vibe of Siren Head, and he would actually fit in game pretty well, but I don't think there is any space for him to fit gameplay wise. We got the Bell for playing an alarm and summoning enemies, and Dave is an ominous, yet passive creature looming in the distance.

I do want more enemies that are specifically designed to unsettle though. More mechanical and siren sounds screeching in the darkness! I wouldn't mind a large, mini-boss type enemy that can rarely spawn in the world. Passive unless provoked, but undeniably creepy. A good way to get Jonas parts, and add a creepy vibe when you suddenly hear a distant siren, or mechanical whirring. Maybe killing it reduces rift activity? Or as you suggested, it works as an antenna to buff nearby enemies? Heck, maybe its an evolved/mutated form of the Bell, and when you aggro it, it plays a loud siren sound, and summons a localized temporal storm.

[Josiah Gibbonson]

6 hours ago, -Glue- said:

I do want more enemies that are specifically designed to unsettle though.

Wouldn't it be awesome if there were rare-to-find "ruined" biomes where a specific "side-boss" enemy based on different elderitch horrors could be found there?

 

A rusty, dead forest full of corpses, where giant siren and bell based enemies stalk at night, playing dead as simple rubble in the daytime.

 

An oily black ocean, where a mechanical, undead kraken resides deep under. Avoid explosive oil drums! 

 

An "ordinary" desert littered suspiciously with bones and corpses, where a siren/giant sandworm hybrid hunts from beneath...

 

A haunted jungle where demon-monkey spirits and a king-kong like enemy must be carefully avoided

 

Lots of options, would spice up the game with optional "do I really want to go through there?" Challenges 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Josiah Gibbonson said:

Wouldn't it be awesome if there were rare-to-find "ruined" biomes where a specific "side-boss" enemy based on different elderitch horrors could be found there?

1 hour ago, Josiah Gibbonson said:

Lots of options, would spice up the game with optional "do I really want to go through there?" Challenges 

Pretty much the main story in a nutshell, though we only have two out of a planned eight chapters right now. Though one issue I see about relying too much on "eldritch" and "horror" is that both of those have been done to death elsewhere, and aren't particularly interesting outside of a brief initial shock. Currently, the game keeps the more esoteric elements as a small constant in the background, and doesn't make them the focus outside of a handful of specific circumstances, which keeps them somewhat fresh and interesting over extended playtime.

[Josiah Gibbonson]

11 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Pretty much the main story in a nutshell, though we only have two out of a planned eight chapters right now. Though one issue I see about relying too much on "eldritch" and "horror" is that both of those have been done to death elsewhere, and aren't particularly interesting outside of a brief initial shock. Currently, the game keeps the more esoteric elements as a small constant in the background, and doesn't make them the focus outside of a handful of specific circumstances, which keeps them somewhat fresh and interesting over extended playtime.

Just depends how they're implemented I suppose. If there were several "unique" enemies in those "biomes" instead of just one, never-changing enemy, it could help- especially if they didn't spawn in that biome all the time, to lure one into a fall sense of security before their spawn requirements are triggered.. 

 

But Eldritch horror sandbox survival is something that HASN'T Been explored very much...could work very well

Edited March 30, 2025 by Josiah Gibbonson