The Old Bear is a unique Bear and the primary antagonist of Episode 2 of Wintermute. It also appears as the antagonist of The Hunted Part One, Part Two, and Part Three Challenges.
Story
The Old Bear is first seen in the closing seconds of Episode 1, where Will Mackenzie sees it attacking Jeremiah and takes his rifle to shoot it.
In Episode 2, the Old Bear makes his first appearance at the Carter Hydro Dam, where he charges Mackenzie right when entering the fenced-in area. Mackenzie manages to close the gate, stopping the charge but is knocked out. When the mission is completed, Jeremiah tells Mackenzie that the bear will hunt them both across the island unless they kill it, and recounts a story where the Old Bear was nicknamed the "Demon Bear" after a Hunting party of three members failed to kill it despite allegedly unloading their rifles into it. Jeremiah concludes that the only possible way to kill the bear is with the legendary Bear Spear, and directs a reluctant Mackenzie to the Hunting Lodge in Broken Railroad to retrieve it.
The Old Bear is encountered again in Broken Railroad, where he pushes over a Train Shuttle that Mackenzie is inside of, knocking him unconscious. When he awakes, Mackenzie finds the bear missing, replaced instead by Methuselah sitting by a fire under an Aurora.
After Mackenzie find and repairs the Bear Spear, the Old Bear is seen keeping it's distance from him on a nearby ledge as he makes he's way through Forlorn Muskeg back to Mystery Lake. Mackenzie wonders that perhaps the Bear Spear does have some magical protection to it, at least for now, before taunting the retreating Old Bear.
In the third mission, Signal to Noise, the Bear guards two of the Shortwave Towers required to get the radio parts from. He can be driven away by using the Bear Spear before struggling with him. When returning to Mystery Lake after getting all the parts, the Old Bear ambushes Mackenzie and drags him to his den. This activates the mission What One Man Can Do, where the player must navigate through the cave den while avoiding the bear in order to retrieve the Bear Spear. Mackenzie successfully kills the Old Bear for good with the spear, apologizing to the creature's remains that he did not intend to kill it, but unfortunately "this new world makes killers of us all."
Challenges
As well as its role in the story, the Old Bear appears in both The Hunted, Part One and The Hunted, Part Two challenges. In both challenges the bear is invincible and cannot be killed.
Part One
The challenge revolves around the bear stalking the player through Pleasant Valley to the Trapper's Homestead so they can get the Bear Spear. The Old Bear will hunt the player throughout Pleasant Valley and Mystery Lake until the player reaches the Trapper's Cabin.
Part Two
After completing part one, part two is unlocked and begins where the first part ended. The roles are switched, with the player hunting the bear as it runs through Mystery Lake back to its den.
Gallery
Trivia
- An older model of the Old Bear featured 2 arrows imbedded behind the bear's head. This feature can still be seen in The Hunted challenge posters.
- Aside from aesthetics, the bear is similar to any other bear the player might encounter. Wolves will run from the Old Bear.
- In The Hunted, Part Two, the bear follows a very specific path as it runs across Mystery Lake. If the player doesn't see the old bear, they might need to walk along a certain path to get it to spawn.
- Unlike normal bears you can not stop the the old bear from charging at the player by shooting the flare gun.
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