Few things are as terrifying, or as potent in piercing morning’s sedate veil, as the sudden outburst of an adult Canadian man, shrieking “THE SHAPE. THE SHAPE IS COMING,” through your desktop speakers.

In the Canadian adult’s defence, however, one of those few things is The Shape itself: the Big Bad of stealthy co-op spookfest The Blackout Club. A relentless spectral apparition, only visible as a humanoid heat-blotch when you close your (in-game) eyes, The Shape is an omnipresent threat in TBC’s uncanny suburbs, and the labyrinths beneath them. Whatever procedural fetch quests you and your one-to-four fellow players are tasked with during the game’s 10-30 minute matches, The Shape will factor into your game plan.

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