User blog:Willbachbakal/Singleplayer Weapons: Knife

Hey there again, everyone! After making a lot of bold statements in my singleplayer weapons blog post, I guess I'd better start honoring my promises, starting with the melee weapon: In BioShock, its effectiveness was entirely dependent upon Gene Tonics, and couldn't otherwise be upgraded. In the sequel, it got made a lot more interesting with upgrades of its own, along with the Drill Dash ability. However, in my opinion at least, it wasn't quite entirely satisfactory: not only did the fuel mechanic mean that you spent a lot of money on a weapon that was already entirely dependent on Gene Tonics to work adequately, but its basic upgrades (a fuel and damage upgrade) didn't impact at all on the weapon's feel. With this suggestion, I propose a compromise between the two: a weapon that doesn't require ammo to work, but that also has meaningful upgrades of its own.

Description
In terms of how it plays out, the Bowie Knife is more similar to the Wrench than the Drill, as its hits are slower and more powerful than the latter's periodic damage. At the start, its normal and quick-melee attack are the same. As was mentioned above, it also doesn't use any ammunition, although it doesn't stun enemies as the Drill did.

Also, as the name would suggest, the weapon is a Bowie knife, since it's one of the rare human-size weapons large enough to have upgrades fitted onto it (besides a chainsaw, of course).

Ammo Types
None. I though of giving it "attack modes" similar to ammo types, with one attack mode that would deal damage over time and the other push the enemy away, but fights tend to be too direct for the former to work, and I decided to move the knockback effect to another weapon.

Upgrades
This is how it'll work: On one hand, I'll be listing upgrades 1, 2 and 3, which are the basic upgrades; and then upgrades A, B and C, which are the specialized upgrades, which are the ones you get for purchasing two basic upgrades. For more info, check out my weapon article.


 * Upgrade 1: Spiked Handguard. Each time you hit someone with the Knife, you start a combo, indicated by glowing lights on the inside of the newly installed guard. The longer the combo chain, the faster you hit with the Knife and the more damage you deal. Can have a combo of up to hive hits. Missing or not hitting anything for a few seconds resets the combo to zero.
 * Upgrade 2: Deflector Dynamo. Pressing the quick-melee button deploys a shield around you that reflects any ranged attack back at the attacker and that stays as long as you hold the button. However, the shield only lasts a short time (between two to three seconds) and you can't attack with the Knife while deploying the shield, although it recharges quickly. The state of the shield is shown by a glowing blue dynamo on the hilt: the shinier it is, the longer your shield will last if you deploy it.
 * Upgrade 3: Stealth Kit. Allows you to get closer to enemies before attracting their attention, especially when crouched. A thermometer on the spine indicates how much attention you're attracting: the higher the "temperature", the closer you are to getting attacked.


 * Upgrade A: Makeshift Sword. Requires upgrades 1 and 2. Allows you to charge at increased speed and deal critical damage if you hit an enemy, similar to the Drill Dash ability in BioShock 2.
 * Upgrade B: Triple Blade. Requires upgrades 1 and 3. Holding the attack button while pointing at an enemy will select them. Can select up to five enemies at a time this way. Attacking one of these selected enemies will cause you to erupt into a flurry of attacks, attacking each one of them in quick succession and moving towards each of them at vastly increased speed. Cannot select enemies that are too far apart.
 * Upgrade C: Escape Device. Requires upgrades 2 and 3. Killing an enemy with the Knife will grant you about five seconds of complete invisibility.

And that does the Knife. More weapons coming soon!

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