Knock Knock is a mysterious, hermetic and cryptic horror game developed by Ice Pick Lodge (for more info, you can check my review: Knock-Knock: an insomnia simulator in an Escherian nightmare). The Lodger is the main protagonist of the game, probably a scientist who is trapped inside a complex house, built in his own mind to shield himself from his past. Regrets, guiltiness, and horrible secrets are all the elements that were used to built the house, and gears of a complex story.
Night after night, the surreal and dreamlike mansion of the game is constantly visited by bizarre and twisted entities known as the Guests. They will play with the Lodger a creepy version of hide and seek, while searching for him all around the house. They want to keep the Lodger away from his truth and from the discovery of his own identity, by keeping him in a constant time loop. The Guests will not harm directly the Lodger, but will reset the time, making each night like a never-ending nightmare. The Guests come from the Forest, a mysterious and mystic place just outside of the mansion. A place hiding and protecting the truth that the Lodger should search with all his mind and effort. The Guests are a sort of immune system of the Lodger’s mind, trying to protect him by deleting his memories and isolating hurtful truths. The Guests have bizarre but symbolic appearances, usually connected to the Forest, or highlighting complex psychological traumas affecting the Lodger such as the loss of identity or hidden truths.
In the following article I will provide an analysis for almost all the Guests of Knock Knock. I kept outside of the article only few very simple Guests, such as a moving bed or a floating circle of candles. Due to the random nature of the encounter, I am not 100% sure if the list is complete. For the few last Guests which I was not able to encounter myself, I provide pictures found in internet. Also I was able to retrieve only few official names, so the majority of the names are of my own invention.
- Box Head
Emblem of identity disorder, this is a stationary Guest, and one of the most common enemies. While the body and the legs are human, the head is completely hidden above a wooden box. If the lack of facial features is the emblem of the loss of identity, the branches coming down from the box are a clear influence of the Forest. As explained before, the Forest has a huge influence on the plot and on the Lodger itself. It is the place of hidden secrets and unwanted truths, a magical and metaphorical world showing a huge connection with the majority of the Guests.
- Haunters (official name)
Humanoid figures of different shapes and sizes, completely covered and hidden in a hood of leaves, with the exception of thin human legs. They are an impure irradiation of the Forest, when the mysteries of the trees meet with the doubts of a damaged human mind. The forest is covering the truth, throwing gasoline on the fire of the complex search for your own identity. The Forest and the Lodger are two opposite forces: while the Lodger is searching for the truth, the Forest is trying to hide it… or maybe it is exactly the opposite, and the forest is the truth that the Lodger is afraid to reveal.
- The Amalgam of Branches
Huge emanation of the forest breaking into the house as a huge mass of branches and leaves. This ball will slowly roll on the ground, aggressively, toward the main character. While moving, the creature will produce as squishy sound, like if the wood is wet. The Amalgam of Branches is the most hermetic secret of the forest, hiding a truth so complex and impossible to see, hidden under a solid wall of wood. Like the safe of the forest, its content is impossible to be revealed, a harsh and twisted secret.
- The Doppelgänger (official name)
The climax of identity disorder is of course to face your own evil twin. In the last nights, the Doppelganger will make his appearance. Often, he will attack aggressively the player, able to climb staircase and to move really fast. In contrast with the real Lodger, who only speaks gibberish, the Doppelganger is able to speak and will say sentences like “Finally I am home”. In other occasions, the evil twin will behave peacefully, just wandering around the house to switch off the light bulbs. In this case, meeting the Doppelganger will cause a strange effect where the player will become the Doppelganger, obtaining also the achievement “How’s Annie?” (a clear reference to Twin Peaks, which knows how to deal with Doppelgangers).
- The Weeping One (official name)
An exception between the Guests, the Weeping One not only is not aggressive, but she is also an important source of information for the main plot of Knock Knock. During the last nights, a desperate cry could be heard around the house. A child is crying in a corner, closed in her drama. By approaching the Weeping One, two different outcome could happen. In the most positive scenario, the Weeping One will simply vanish, providing an interesting page of a diary with crucial lore of the game. In a more unlucky scenario, the Weeping One will show her deformed face, damaging the psyche of the main character.
- Prosthetic Leg
The first enemy to be encountered, Prosthetic Leg is a mysterious but very human being. Thin, slow and fragile, the creature wears a straitjacket, also showing a steampunk prosthetic leg. To highlight the loss of identity and personality at the base of Knock Knock, this Guest is also headless, without showing any identity. The straitjacket is also a direct symbolism of the craziness and the denial affecting the Lodger, which is slowly descending in his own personal hell. Worth to notice that, in the previous version of the game, this Guest and the Chained One both showed a head.
- The Chained One
Second Guest to be encountered, it is a deadly and fast ghost-like creature. His transparent body is covered by a ruined blanket, while his arms are trapped with chains. He has the typical appearance of a classic ghost, but it is quite dangerous, due to his almost invisible body and his fast movements. As Prosthetic Leg, also this one is headless. The Guest could be symbolising just a ghost, since the Gothic setting of the house could be metaphorized by a classic ghost. However, in previous images this Guest had a head, precisely an old man with a long white beard. Another interpretation could be that this Guest is symbolising time or ageing, which inexorably pass while the Lodger continue to be trapped in his time loop.
- The Twisted One
The most creepy and probably the most aggressive Guest, the Twisted One is a fast living nightmare. The creature is thin, with pale skin and a not so smart face. His body is completely twisted and reversed, with the butt where the face should be, and even an additional set of arms. The Guest is really dangerous, able to move quickly and to climb stairs. His twisted nature is unique to the Guests, probably highlighting even more the breaking in the mind of the Lodger, unable to see the truth while falling in pieces.
- The Invisible One
A very peculiar and dangerous Guest, who is almost invisible. The creature will slowly walk in a straight line around the house, leaving only hand-prints on the walls as sign of its passage. Each movement of the creature is highlighted by a squishy sound, like if its hands are dirty or wet. Another strong example of loss of identity, since in this case the entity is completely invisible, not simply headless.
- The Sad Tree
This is one of the most mysterious and bizarre Guests, and also one of the most rare to encounter. It looks like a sack imitating a tree, including the roots, with also a sad face stitched in its body. A big tear is also falling from its eye, highlighting again the sadness behind this stationary creature. The Forest is sad because the Lodger is not able to find the truth. The Lodger is avoiding to explore the forest, while imprisoning in his house to forget his past. The forest is sending him messages thought the Sad Tree, to remind him where the truth is to be searched.
- The Hidden Stone
During the last nights, the searching for the missing identity will take a drastic change. If before the majority of the creatures were bodies missing a face, now it will become exactly the opposite: faces surrounded by bizarre bodies. The Lodger’s replicate face has crazy wide opened eyes, while all its body is composed by a mass of dark stones. The Forest is not creating a body for the head of the Lodger, combining the two elements.
Other Guests followed the same idea of the Hidden Stone, but are made of leaves. The face of the Lodger appears inside a mass of leaves, with the same exalted expression as for the stones. In another occasion, his face will be instead supported by a small spider-like body made of leaves. For how bizarre the design could be, their symbolism is the same as for the Hidden Stone.
Surreal and Creepy 