Was the 26th hunter mask originally the freedom mask?
This is a theory I have, I started doing the hunter missions just for fun (Sheaffer, Kelso and Recruiter hunt mission) since I'm fascinated by the hunter theme.
As you well know when the hunt for "puppeteers" came out on twitter we were shown a promotional video of the hunter masks saying the following phrase "some secrets have not yet been solved" and it could be seen that on the wall of the hunter mask hooks in NY a new one was added. For a year there was a theorizing about what the new clue would be and that the note in a newspaper was not relevant at that time and had a relationship with the fish-shaped mask that was found in a data mining.
Now since the season "the first rogue" came out, they started doing live streams on twitch, from these live streams we were given statements regarding this topic.
First live stream, they mention "the hook was added for some reason that only the developers know" with this they started to theorize about "hook wall of the Brooklyn DLC" since if we go with the following logic that in the base game there are 12 masks, in the WONY DLC there are 13 masks therefore in Brooklyn we will have 14 masks.
A later live is that they mention that "there are no secrets to look for"
Another later live we are told "It was initially thought that a new puzzle would be added for a new mask but it was discarded"
This is where I start my theory considering the following.
I have the theory that if Freedom would be the 26th mask originally.
- As you well know, at the end of the hunt for "the recruiter" we are given a clue to get more audios, as you well know, every time we discovered a clue, an ultraviolet light or blue light always appeared and each time we were given the next clue to follow. After finishing, we entered the hideout of "the recruiter" and waited for the next hunt. Starting the Kelso hunt we were also given clues and in one of them we are told that a hunter is following me" Now when doing the Kelso mission and reaching a certain point in the mission Natalya says "agent eliminate him" and that is when the ultraviolet light and the hunter appear at the same time.
This is where I started to fit pieces together.
Maybe while we were chasing Kelso the notes would give us some clue to the next puzzle. Each time we completed the steps it would take us to a nearby area of Kelso's hunt. However, the way hunts were done back then it wouldn't make sense since the places to investigate and the activities to do were given in the unlock week. (Here mentioning "It was initially thought that a new puzzle would be added for a new mask but it was discarded")
I think that while we were on the hunt for "the recruiter" the developers decided to remove the rope puzzle and the hook is no longer it would make sense, however they decided to leave it for wall resources for brooklyn, since it happens that in the data mining there was the fish mask that was discovered during the kelso hunt and that would be the position of the mask for the brooklyn wall (giving meaning to the phrase "it's there for some reason that only the developers know")
Now you might be wondering, what does the freedom mask have to do with it? As you well know, when you eliminate the hunter called deceit in the scheaffear hunt, when you obtain it, the mask is in the yellow category. Likewise, it was theorized that Wright's mask corresponded to the hook, however it was not either and was also in the yellow category, also it was thought that it was the "the recruiter" mask, despite being paid, perhaps it could also belong to the hook, which was also wrong. However, by eliminating the "freedom" hunter (which is obtained in the same way when eliminating the hunter from a mission as deceit) he is in the green category as well as the puzzle masks. So this was the hunter planned for the hook at first.
and another more personal theory I think that maybe in Brooklyn now we should hunt down the hunters recruited by Johnson and the blue smoke is now a sign where the future puzzles of the hunters of the Brooklyn DLC are located. They are found in the maps of DC, NY and Brooklyn (since as you know some NY hunters are also in DC)