Chunks
"START RUNNING... ...if you want to live."
Chunks is the secondary antagonist of Dead Estate, a primary threat throughout the game, and the final boss of the normal route. He is the Valentine family's pet and Albert's lab assistant.
Appearance
Chunks is a gigantic humanoid rodent (described conflictingly as both a mouse and a rat at various points) that stands at least seven feet tall, though it is likely more. He wears a full-body orange jumpsuit, through which his abundant musculature strains against the fabric, and heavy boots. His left arm ends in a bloody stump that has been tourniqueted off, though blood-red tentacles erupt from it when he is in a state of extreme duress.
When administered the Antidote, Chunks resembles a normal-sized rat in the same jumpsuit, with one of his paws missing.
Story
Before the events of the game, Chunks was Albert's lab assistant as well as the family pet. He was the first test subject to successfully pass through the portal device to the Exit Realm, which is implied to have had a lingering effect on him. His mind was then wiped of any memory of the portal's construction, and he was given a "special serum" by Albert, with the intent of him being able to protect Cordelia and Roselia in Albert's potential absence after he himself went through the portal. Some time after this, Chunks began developing mutations that caused his intelligence to rapidly deteriorate, thereby turning him into little more than a feral monster by the game's start.
In Assignment Anya, Chunks briefly chases down Anya Pickett before his left arm is permanently bitten off by the Cordelia Mimic, thereby inadvertently saving Anya's life as Chunks is momentarily subdued by a falling bathtub. This is the explanation for why Chunks' left arm is missing in the main game.
Chunks is the only person capable of opening and operating Albert's portal device. In order to obtain the game's true ending, the player must administer the Antidote found in the coffin on the Balcony to him, thereby skipping his boss fight. After doing this, Chunks is returned to his amplified mental state.
After Albert is once again kidnapped by Cybil and the Mors Mundi cult, Chunks sends out a distress signal to rally Cordelia and her friends back to The Mansion while he leaves to try and track down Albert himself.
Behavior
Spawning
When the player spends long enough on a floor, Chunks spawns in the starting room, which is telegraphed by a growl and the screen shaking. From this point onwards, he will roam the floor and attempt to make his way to the player. Chunks will spawn faster depending on the chosen difficulty, instantly appearing in the first room the player enters on X Must Die.
Chasing
When the player is in a room adjacent to Chunks, footsteps will be heard, and the screen will shake. If the room he's currently in is entered or the player does not move to another room in time, the current music will stop and Chunks will begin pursuing the player, always appearing from the last door they entered. Whenever he enters a new room, he heals up to 200 HP.
Chunks chases at a speed similar to, but slightly slower than the players, and his speed is lowered significantly in a room with other enemies in it. When he gets close enough to the player, Chunks will pause and perform a ground slam attack, with an area of effect cloud appearing around his fist. If the player keeps their distance for too long, Chunks will perform a ground slam attack that produces a shockwave that can be jumped over. Chunks additionally deals damage to other enemies on contact, and while he is chasing the player, Challenge Rooms cannot be activated.
Chunks cannot enter Shops, the Boss Room, or currently active Challenge Rooms, and entering these can be a reprieve from his chase. However, this may not deter him and simply make him wait outside for the player. Chunks can be temporarily ditched by moving through enough rooms or using a Teleportation Crystal, though he can start a chase again.
Knocking Out Chunks
Though all damage done to him is shown as 0, Chunks can be incapacitated for the current floor, rewarding the player with a high amount of Money. There are several strategies for doing so.
- Moving in a figure-eight pattern is a reliable way to keep him from attacking the player.
- Finding a set of rooms in a circular or ovular pattern to run through, shooting Chunks when he emerges from the doorway but going to the next room before he can close the distance. A high enough strength is necessary for this to work, due to his healing whenever a new room is entered.
- Keeping cowardly or defensive enemies such as Golden Leeches, Infesters, or Cultists alive will slow down Chunks significantly. This takes some care to keep him from killing them.
- Finding a room in the Ground Floor, Upper Story, or Laboratory with hazards can help whittle down the health of Chunks, though the player must also avoid them.
- Jeff and Luis have an easier time than other characters by default, due to their low speed making Chunks slow.
- Fuji can use her air dash to easily reposition herself, making it difficult for Chunks to hurt her.
- Rat Poison will lower his health, making it easier to knock him out.
- Any items or weapons that stun can keep Chunks in place indefinitely.
Glitchy Chunks
A glitchy variant of Chunks spawns in the Abandoned Set. He does not follow the timer of the normal version, instead spawning when the player leaves the Key Room with the Boss Key, and despawning after the boss is defeated.
Glitchy Chunks is completely invincible and knocking him out is not part of the requirement for unlocking The Candidate achievement.
Mutated Chunks
If Chunks is knocked out during a looped run or on difficulties higher than Normal, he will dissolve into a bloody puddle. From then on, any time he chases the player he will be replaced with two stronger versions of himself, known as 'Tentacles Chunks' and 'Dog Chunks', each with their own unique attack patterns.
- Tentacle Chunks walks toward the player, before sticking his hand into the floor and spawning large columns of bullets into the room, telegraphed by a marking on the floor. The best approach to dealing with him in this state is to maintain distance, in order to best dodge the columns before they spawn. Alternatively, leaving the room before the attack is performed can prevent the potential danger, with the downside of allowing Chunks to heal. Chunks will also force the tentacle cluster that makes up his head open to fire off several larger tentacles in random directions, with one usually slightly chasing the player.
- Dog Chunks moves slowly towards the player, before rapidly dashing at them. The best approach to dealing with him in this state is to try and side step during these charges. Alternatively, using an ice weapon can freeze him in place, which cancels out these charges. Chunks will also stop to slam the ground with his fists, producing up to four to six shockwaves. In between the first and last shockwaves, two of them will be closer together.
When either Mutation is defeated, Chunks will dissolve again and will mutate the following floor. This will not prevent him from mutating the same way on consecutive floors.
Assignment Anya
Chunks appears at the end of the side story. Once Anya has received the final emblem. Noticeably with 2 arms, he chases her through the now burning mansion, right up to the courtyard where the Cordelia Mimic grabs his arm followed by a bathtub landing on top of him. He returns shortly after once Anya reaches the forest, his hand now torn off as he chases her once again, until she reaches Ridgewood Road.
Boss Fight
Chunks serves as the boss of the Dead Estate floor, and the final boss overall of the normal route.
After the self-destruct sequence begins, Chunks drops in the middle of the room and the player is given three minutes to defeat him. Chunks has three different attacks which he repeats in order.
- Hops in place repeatedly, sending out projectiles every time he lands. The projectile amount increases halfway through the battle.
- Charges at the player, being stunned briefly after hitting a wall. Chucks briefly chases the player while charging halfway through the battle.
- Stands in place while firing a continuous stream of projectiles in a spiral pattern. The spiral will become disorganized halfway through the battle.
After dealing enough damage to him, Cordelia (or Roselia if playing as Cordelia) will fly over the room and drop the Rocket Launcher, which the player has to use to finally kill Chunks. After being hit by the Rocket Launcher, Chunks explodes and the normal ending plays.
Antidote
If the player obtained the Antidote from the Balcony, Chunks can be injected by it if the player walks close to him, causing the fight to end abruptly. He then shrinks down to his normal size and opens the 3X1T Realm for the player.
Character Related Achievements
Exterminator - Knock out Chunks.
Mouse Trap - Get a Crusher in the Laboratory to land on Chunks.
START RUNNING... - Encounter Chunks for the first time.
RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN - Encounter Glitchy Chunks for the first time.
The President's Daughter - As Jules, defeat Chunks on the final floor in under a minute.
The Candidate - As Fuji, knock out Chunks on every floor you visit.
The College Dropout - Beat the game as Jules.
Orange County Lumber Truck - Beat the game as Jeff.
A Wizard - Beat the game as Cordelia.
Silence Kid - Beat the game as Digby.
Muh Muh, Hey Hey - Beat the game as Mumba.
Mansion on the Hill - Beat the game as Lydia.
Old and Unprofessional - Beat the game as Luis.
Hit to Death - Beat the game as Fuji.
No More Heroes - Beat the game as BOSS.
Punk Rock Loser - Beat the game as Axel.
In Ruins - Get the normal ending as every character.
Uh-Oh... - Trigger a Chunks mutation.
Unbound - Defeat Tentacles Chunks.
Nice Doggy - Defeat Dog Chunks.
Trivia
- Chunks's boss fight references a recurring trope in the Resident Evil series. The first four games (Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Resident Evil CODE: Veronica) all conclude with a timed boss fight, during which the player receives a superweapon (typically a rocket launcher) to finish off the boss after dealing enough initial damage.
- Chunks himself is inspired by various Tyrant-class B.O.W.s from the Resident Evil series, a group of humanoid biological weapons with extremely strong regenerational abilities that often pursue the main protagonist throughout the game or serve as final boss fights.
- In Dead Estate CLASSIC, Chunks' boss fight begins after the player defeats the Monster Maker, turning the beginning of the fight into more of a bait and switch.
- Chunks is referred to as both a mouse and a rat.
- There are enemies in the Laboratory resembling and behaving similarly to Chunks' monstrous form, alluding to the serum being tested on other rodents first.
- It's implied that Roselia forgot to feed Chunks, which would explain his hostility.
- The theme used for his boss fight, And Then There's Chunks, is named after the line "And then there's Chunky" from the DK Rap (2018), a parody of the original song by Brentalfloss.
- In Cordelia's unlockable cutscene, there are several rats like the little chunks in the lab.
- If the player pauses the game while being actively chased by Chunks, the pause screen will have shaky text such as "Coward", "You Wuss", and "What are you Running From?"
- Jack has described that Chunk's extreme regeneration does not really have an upper limit, and that it is likely that he could survive ground zero of The Mansion's explosion in the Normal Ending and simply start patrolling the woods around the area.