Chase Hunter

Gender

Male

Sexuality

Bisexual

Appearance

Chase is an anthropomorphic otter standing at an average height with somewhat stubby legs and a slender body. He also sports a large tail, used for swimming. He has orange-brown eyes and brown fur, with a cream-colored pattern covering his snout and front. He has a short, brown goatee on his chin. Chase's usual in-game appearance shows that he wears a blue V-neck shirt and brown cargo shorts. Like the rest of the cast, he is always barefoot. 26-year-old Chase as seen in Flynn's epilogue wears a gray crew-neck T-shirt as well as black shorts. His goatee has grown out into a full-fledged beard. 10-year-old Chase (whose sprite is unused) wears a tan polo shirt with a darker brown collar and pocket, as well as blue swim trunks. 15-year-old Chase from Route 65 wears a white T-shirt with dark pink sleeves.

Personality

Chase is criticized for his supposed lack of personality, both by Flynn and by himself internally. Chase often reflects on his childhood behavior in which he was more manipulative and at times even callous, internally perceiving himself as having been a "dick" at times. He is mostly friendly, easy-going, and a lot more down-to-earth compared to a lot of the other Echo residents; but can be socially awkward in one-on-one conversations. Chase is very compassionate, supportive, and understanding to those close to him; though slightly naive at times. Chase is typically passive and does his best to avoid confrontation of any sort altogether, seeming to believe that violence isn't always the answer. He is a bit jumpy at times and can be somewhat of a pushover. This can sometimes lead to him being easily influenced by the opinions or expectations of others, this was especially in the case of Leo who he became submissive to until the end. Despite these meeker qualities, he is capable of being a very determined and charismatic speaker. He is interested in photography and is majoring in Journalism at Pueblo University. Being an otter, he is also an avid swimmer and tries to swim in any clean body of water (pools, rivers, and lakes) he crosses whenever possible. Chase is bisexual, though he tends to allow people to assume he is gay rather than dealing with the hassle of explaining his attraction to both genders to those around him. Chase suffers from frequent bouts of sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and dissociation following the death of Sydney. While he has sought help for these issues, his negative experiences with doctors and repeated failed treatments have left him somewhat jaded toward the idea of seeking further assistance or sharing thoughts regarding his mental health. He regards his hometown as a terrible place, only returning for the sake of seeing his friends again while finishing his school project.

Leo

Leo was Chase's first boyfriend who he was heavily in love with and the two dated throughout high school before separating when Chase left for college. While Chase was the one to break up with Leo (albeit in an indecisive manner), he is not completely over their relationship. Though Chase ghosted Leo throughout most of the three years of his college experience, he occasionally pines for the wolf and texts him while drunk. This indicates that Chase retains romantic feelings for Leo, which he may even act upon in the game itself, but ultimately the two do not end up back together in any route's ending. Apart from their romantic relationship, Leo was Chase's childhood friend who served as the "protector" of their friend group. Even as an adult, Chase admires Leo's confidence greatly and values his leadership.

Trivia

Like many other Echo Project VNs, Chase has a relationship with spiders. He has a strong fear of spiders.

TJ

Like most of the friend group, Chase tends to shelter TJ as the youngest among them. He considers TJ to be naive and often tries to protect him from more intense or sexual topics. Chase tends to worry about TJ's feelings and safety, and he is usually very forgiving of the lynx's mistakes. On TJ's route, however, Chase's feelings toward the lynx become more romantically obsessive as his sanity deteriorates throughout the week.

Age

26

Species

Lontra canadensis (North American river otter)

Story

Chase was born in the United States of Columbia. He has lived in Echo from a very young age and joined the Boy Scouts when he was ten years old. Chase attended school in the nearby town of Payton alongside the rest of his friend group, who bonded over being among the few children living in the town of Echo itself. This group consisted of Leo Alvarez, Jasmynn Begay, Carl Hendricks, TJ Hess, Flynn Moore, and Sydney Bronson. The group was often bullied for being outcasts, especially by Clint and Jasmynn's brother Jeremy. When Chase was ten years old, he and his friends went to play at Lake Emma. While playing at the water's edge, the children found Sydney floating unconscious in the water. Chase himself swam out in an attempt to rescue him, but by the time Sydney was able to be admitted to the hospital, he was already pronounced dead. This experience caused Chase to undergo a drastic change of personality, in which he became more withdrawn and lacking in emotion. Chase would continue to attend therapy and take medication for years after the incident.

Jenna

Jenna and Chase have been friends from a very young age and were the first of their friend group to meet. Chase greatly admires Jenna's intelligence and resolve to better herself (even agreeing to drive her to Payton to escape her family). As a result, he often looks to her for guidance. Though Chase is occasionally frustrated by Jenna's tendency to play pranks on him, he still considers her to be the most mature of their friends and one of his closest companions. On Jenna's route, Chase may realize that he has a mutual attraction toward Jenna and act upon it.

Flynn

Before Sydney's death, Chase and Flynn seem to have gotten along decently well. Afterward, their relationship became more strained due to a combination of Chase's personality change, his developing relationship with Leo, and Flynn's anger over the incident. Chase tends to feel somewhat on edge around the Gila and considers some of his behaviors "dickish." Despite the slight rift between them, however, Chase tends to look to Flynn's advice as a mentor of sorts due to the age gap between them. Due to Flynn's typically acerbic tone, however, Chase usually ends up ignoring his advice. On Flynn's route, the two also seem to share at least some degree of mutual attraction to one another on a physical level.

Carl

Chase considers Carl his best friend, and the two were nearly inseparable growing up. As a child, Chase often manipulated Carl to get things that he wanted from him. The two shared a passion for spy movies, though they eventually grew apart as teenagers due to diverging interests and Chase's relationship with Leo. The two later attended Pueblo University together as roommates, though Carl dropped out after his first year. Chase admits to having missed Carl greatly when he dropped out, and he worries about Carl's anxiety despite not fully understanding it personally. He is also somewhat attracted to Carl, though he hesitates to act upon these feelings due to Carl's perceived straightness.

Sydney

The full extent of Chase's and Sydney's relationship is unclear. If Flynn is to be believed, however, Chase didn't approve of how rough or far his fellow otter would go with his play-wrestling and would physically stop or berate Sydney for going too far. Chase was also the one to spread the rumor of Sydney having killed his father following his suicide around their school. Chase seems to repress his memories regarding Sydney's death, for which he was responsible. After this incident, Chase seemingly felt upset about the loss of Sydney's life as well as its effect on their friend group. However, when Chase is freed of Sam's influence on Flynn's route, Chase admits that he is glad to know that Sydney is dead and won't hurt anyone anymore. In this route, he recounts Sydney's increasingly disparate personality and sadistic tendencies in the final six months of his life. Conversely, and extremely ironically, Sydney seemed to consider him one of his closest friends when alive.[1] In Jenna's route, the paranormal entities of Echo seem to vindicate Chase's actions. Respectively, Micha recounts a dream he had in which Sydney feels relieved to drown and finally be free of Sam's influence, while the voice on the baby monitor comforts Chase, reassuring him that protecting TJ that fateful day was a loving act with pure intentions, and he should not blame himself.