Screecho The Clown

ARC-555, better known as "Screecho the Clown", is a hostile entity found in The Library rooms.
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===Description===
Sreecho the Clown is a 7-foot-tall humanoid anomaly with a monstrous ear in place of a head. He lacks vision and the ability to perceive light, relying entirely on highly sensitive hearing and echolocation to detect his surroundings. His ear appears to "breathe", slightly expanding and contracting, with a faint breathing sound playing in a loop. When angered, the ear turns blood-red with a veiny texture, maintaining this state until he calms down.
Screecho wears a tight yellow suit, red plaid gloves, and red shoes. A dark blue, scarf-like object resembling a neck ruff extends to his torso, with a fluffy red ball attached to its end. Despite these features, Screecho was initially deemed insufficiently "clown-like", leading developers to consider adding an afro. While this idea was scrapped, the afro remains in the game files. Additionally, Screecho can appear overweight from certain angles, and his suit exposes a visible butt crack.
Community members typically refer to Screecho using he/him pronouns. This usage aligns with Screecho’s masculine appearance and behaviors. While the game doesn’t explicitly assign gender to entities, players often personify them in this way.
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===Behavior and Abilities===
Screecho's entire behavior revolves around sound. He cannot see or smell but uses echolocation and his acute hearing to navigate and track prey. He can hear noises from up to 1 kilometer away in testing conditions, making him the most sound-sensitive entity in the game. He reacts to most audible disturbances, including player footsteps, running, or the use of traps and items, although he ignores sounds made directly next to him.
Screecho spawns exactly 20 seconds after his level begins, regardless of triggering traps or making noise. However, he won't spawn after 20 seconds if no traps are triggered, no books are picked up, and no fire alarms are activated. This gives players the opportunity to explore the level freely for however much time they want, as long as they avoid these actions. However, since collecting all four books is necessary to complete the level—and picking up any book triggers his spawn—players will inevitably have to face him if they wish to complete the level.
==== Traps ====
Screecho has various traps placed throughout his level, The Library Rooms. These traps will alert him regardless of his proximity to the player.
* Red Balloons: Heat-seeking balloons that float toward the player if approached. Popping a balloon alerts Screecho to its location, but they can be popped safely from a distance with throwable objects.
* Whoopie Cushions: Stepping on one produces a loud fart noise, instantly alerting Screecho.
* Glass Shards: Walking or running over glass creates noise, alerting Screecho. Crouching will trigger the alert, but walking very slowly will not, though it is still more convenient to simply avoid it.
==== Echolocation Attack ====
When alerted, Screecho runs to the sound's location and initiates an attack. He kneels and sweeps the area with sound waves, which visually distort the environment. If the sound waves touch the player, Screecho will charge at their location and repeat the process.
If a player gets too close to Screecho while he is performing his attack, he will detect them regardless of whether they make noise or if the sound waves reach them, which is unintended and especially frustrating if the player is positioned behind him.
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===Chase Mechanics===
When alerted, Screecho immediately runs to the source of the sound, playing a unique audio cue that will signal he is mad. When alerted, Screecho's audio transitions into a sped-up, intensified version of the sound he emits otherwise. 
When running, Screecho is almost as fast as the player, resulting in extreme chases. 
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=== Bugs and Glitches ===
* Occasionally, Screecho may step on his own whoopie cushions, triggering his echolocation attack on himself. This is an uninteded quirk, which remains unresolved by the developers.
* He may also occasionally get stuck chasing nothing, either due to an out-of-bounds sound or other unexpected triggers, but will eventually correct this behavior by using his echolocation.
* Screecho's back collision extends slightly beyond its visible model, causing players to die from indirect contact. This issue is particularly frustrating when the player is killed despite not touching the clown directly.
* Glitches occasionally cause Screecho to briefly extend his arm, walk like a cartoon character, get his body flipped upside down, go in a weird position that makes him look like he's driving an invisible car, fly around the map or turn invisible. This last bug is particularly more likely when the "Walk on walls" option is enabled for him in Custom mode.
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===Kill Animations===
Screecho has two distinct kill animations:
==== Close-up Kill ====
The camera is grabbed by Screecho, showing his ear’s rapid "breathing" movement as a specific moment of the chase audio cue plays.
==== Gory Kill ====
The player’s camera is thrown to a diagonal third-person view, revealing Screecho pinning the protagonist to the ground and bashing their head into the floor six times. Each impact sprays more blood, with the screen glitching before showing the "Generating Level" screen. This animation can be toned down by disabling blood and gore in settings.
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===Environmental Interactions===
Screecho's unique AI makes him particularly reactive to environmental factors:
*Fire alarms confuse Screecho, making him run around in panic with his ear turned red.
*Carpets in the game/The Library rooms dampen noise, allowing players to walk without alerting Screecho.
*Screecho can break doors, locker doors and glass during a chase.
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===Lore===
Screecho was retrieved from a clandestine circus in Russia, where he was used as an anomalous performer. The Order intervened, following reports of disappearances and unusual activity. During containment, Screecho resisted by deploying his traps to evade capture but was eventually controlled. 
==== Speculation ====
* While his exact history within the superstructure is unknown, his ability to navigate the environment flawlessly despite being blind suggests he has spent a lot of time there.
* Speculation suggests that Screecho’s constant noise may serve as a form of echolocation in addition to his known attack mechanism. This implies that the sound helps him perceive his environment, as opposed to the idea that his environmental awareness comes solely from extended time spent in his level.
* Screecho’s initial calm state may also imply he is not inherently hostile until provoked by sound. However, his aggressive use of traps suggests he actively seeks to force the player into making noise, feeding his predatory behavior. Though, further speculation suggests that Screecho might mistake the player for an ARC guard involved in capturing him and placing him in the superstructure. This theory suggests that Screecho's traps are designed to reveal the player's location so he can attack them, fueled by the belief that they are an ARC guard. Due to his blindness and inability to distinguish individuals, Screecho may mistake the player for one of the guards responsible for imprisoning him, using the traps as a means to get revenge.
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===Miscellaneous Details===
*Screecho’s sensitivity to microphones allows him to react to players speaking or screaming into their connected microphone.
*A hidden whistling mechanic will also alert Screecho if within range.
*Screecho was originally named "Demented Clown" before being renamed.