Getting to Know Song of Horror’s The Presence

[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]t’s always sad to see a Kickstarter project make it to the end but not reach its funding goal. Unfortunately, it looks like Song of Horror is going to be one of them. With less than two days left on the clock it’s barely made a dent in the ticker. Perhaps it’s met an untimely demise thanks to The Presence. All right, that was a rather hamfisted attempt to get directly to the topic at hand but it makes such a forceful appearance in the game that I believe it deserves a feature all its own. I present to you what we know about The Presence and its…well, presence in the house you’ll be investigating.

The Presence in Song of Horror is a malevolent eldritch entity with goals known only to itself. Protocol Games have released information in three parts over three updates and it’s certainly not a being to be trifled with. You won’t be able to fight it head-on or you will surely perish. The best you can hope for is to outrun it, outwit it, or out…hide it.

In the first Song of Horror update, we learn more about how The Presence manifests itself. It generally does this in one of three ways, depending on how much it wants you gone. At its most benign (as if you can consider anything it does “benign”) it’ll give you “signs” or warnings that it doesn’t want you snooping around. This can be as subtle as the flickering of a light or a message to “get the hell out or you’re gonna regret it”. Another thing to watch out for are traps. Yes, this being has ways to get you into a corner. So, you need to keep an eye and an ear out for The Presence while exploring every nook and cranny of the house. Finally, you have the “hauntings”. These are the manifestations that you really have to watch out for. You see a haunting and you hightail it out as fast as you can.

Part two deals with how you attract The Presence’s attention. No matter how careful and stealthy you are while wandering the locales of Song of Horror you’re going to wind up attracting its attention. Just when and how is up to your actions. The two biggest sources are your flashlight and how fast you move. These should be pretty obvious. Light attracts attention and sound and movement attract attention. You can run, but you don’t want to run everywhere. You can have a light source but you don’t want it shining everywhere either. It’s a balancing act of being mobile and not getting killed by The Presence.

Finally, the latest update for Song of Horror deals with The Presence’s “moods”. Like a dragon it can be somewhat playful and curious as to those who entered its abode but at other times it’s ready to pounce and devour your very essence. “The Presence being in one mood or another will influence what kind of events you face, their difficulty and their frequency.” And this is why you should be scared of this entity.