"Prey" Nightmare-Like Creature or Behavior

[CriticalTick]

So, I recently rewatched a Prey (2017) playthrough, and one mechanic in particular really got me thinking: the Nightmare.

 

It's an incredibly interesting monster that, in the first part of the game at least, was very well implemented as this giant monster you knew next to nothing about that would hunt you down at random times, and was next to impossible to kill. While yes, it was relatively easy to take down, hell, it became downright farmable later in the game, the concept is something cool to me, especially with the survival-horror-ish playthrough I'm preparing.

 

What I'm proposing is one of two things:

 

a) A brand new, colossal creature that can appear at random and will begin hunting you across the map (perhaps it moves in real in-game time, so you can run away or hide from it until it leaves, it will eventually start making its way back to your current location). Maybe its first appearance could have a chance of being triggered by certain actions that are high-reward/yield, such as finding a legendary item, or completing a certain amount of quests.

 

b) A special variant of a creature, probably a Deathclaw, that does about the same thing, but might be a little more lore-friendly, if a little bit more mortal.

 

Both propositions, however, have a few things in common:

 

1) They both instead of outright running at you to kill you, prefer to stalk you for a few days, especially foggy ones, in which you'll only be able to catch glimpses of their silhouettes before they vanish into the fog. You would maybe occasionally hear a roar or some unsettling cry in the distance during the night or foggy/low visibility days, barely noticeable at first, but gradually getting louder as days go by before an attack, giving that feeling that it's slowly but surely getting closer. This gives the player a real sense of terror as opposed to your everyday jumpscare-y horror, and really keeps them on edge.

 

2) While being stalked, npc's may comment that you "look tired," or ask if you're feeling well, Skyrim-style. (I think that's possible at least, I know diseases are in the game, but I don't remember if those lines are.) Sleeping has a chance to not give you the Well Rested buff, a chance that starts out low, but gets increasingly higher the more days you're stalked for.

 

2) When it finally does attack, it will usually be at night or in a dark/enclosed/foggy area. The player will get an objective (maybe saying something like "You are being hunted. Run away, hide, or try to kill the hunter.") and their screen will shake and go darker/blurred around the edges (maybe pulsing to a heartbeat noise) with a tense bgm playing. The creature will skulk in the player's general direction, but will not draw aggro until it gets direct line of sight of the player, in which case it will directly charge them. Effects during that are maybe something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHJWDfyqwE

 

3) While the creature is killable, it would have to be incredibly hard as to pose a threat even in the lategame, and probably able to oneshot you with a killmove. Running away/hiding from the creature successfully until it goes away will delay it by a random amount of time between 1-3 in-game weeks before it begins stalking you again automatically. Killing it puts the hunt off for much longer, but the next creature will be much stronger and/or faster than the last.

 

4) Your settlements won't be a safe space, and neither will inside buildings. In fact, enclosed spaces makes it more likely to attack, as it would make the player trapped in a much more terrifying situation, while still allowing them to hide. If an attack would have been triggered while you are inside of a settlement, it will instead stalk around the outskirts of location, just enough to where the player can see it occasionally so they know that it's watching them. Upon leaving the settlement, the chance of an attack is incredibly high for the next few in-game days until it finally does. Upon trying to fast travel out, the player will find that they can't, with a message that's something along the lines of "You feel like something's watching you, it's probably not safe to fast travel."

 

What do you guys think?