Hounds

For their Fear & Hunger: Termina counterparts, see Headless Hounds.

Hounds are enemies in Fear & Hunger.

Lore
A man's best friend. Best friends and servants only to Francois the Dominating One. "'Francóis the dominating one has trained the hunting hounds to harass all those who trespass his domain. Those mindless beasts only taste the blood of their victim in their mouth. That is all they know.'""- New Gods when asked about them"

Locations & behavior
The hounds can be encountered at several points of the game. Most notable is the point right at the start, where, if the player does not run into the dungeons quickly enough, they will be attacked by the hounds. The player will be warned with the following messages sometime before they come, accompanied by barking sounds: "You hear distant barking from afar..."

"The barking is getting closer."

"The hounds are coming!" They can also be encountered later in the game in the secret garden's entrance to The Thicket or in the dream sequences in Ma'habre.

In the most recent version (1.4.0.) of the game, certain versions of the map of the first floor may have areas or spots which, if visited, will trigger the hounds to run into the building.

If the hounds spot the player, they will immediately run towards them at great speed, shifting directions as they go. It is almost impossible to avoid them, even with Dash.

François also has especially trained hounds, as raising them was a hobby of his. When speaking to him in the present version of Ma'habre, he will let his hound out and it can insta-kill the player upon encountering them.

Strategy
The hounds always attack in a group of two and are quite difficult to defeat. The head should be aimed at immediately, as they use it as their primary source of damage - their bites cause bleeding and have a small chance of causing infection. After two turns, there is a chance for one of the hounds to do a leaping attack, which relies on a coin flip. If the coin flip is failed, the hound jumps at the player character and mauls them to death in a unique death scene.