Review of Dead by Daylight - The 'fun' nightmare that never ends

Publisher : Starbreeze Studios

Developer : Behavior Interactive

Genre : Horror

Release date : June 14, 2016

ESRB : Mature

Platforms:
PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android

Asymmetrical multiplayer is a great concept, it's basically a game designed to have unequal numbers of people between teams. In fact, I've seen big hits like Left 4 Dead and bad decisions that lead to failure like Fable Legends and Shadow Realms. Dead by Daylight from developer Behaviour falls somewhere in the middle, with exciting gameplay, heart-stopping scares, and tension unlike anything I've ever felt in a multiplayer game.

Dead by Daylight is like a playable horror movie that sends an unstoppable villain - the Killer - hunting down a group of four survivors - Survivor - who are racing against time to save their lives. take their lives. The team of Survivors had nothing to rely on but their wits while evading a lone but pressured foe. The goal is the same in each map: Survivor must locate and fix some generators, find one of two exits, flip the switch, and escape. And the Killer needs to stop them.

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To survive, Survivor needs to escape from one of a series of monstrous Killers. Each has different special abilities, like setting a bear trap or ringing a bell to become invisible. Right from the start of the game as Survivor, you need to think and act quickly. Identifying the Killer you are up against is very important, but you also need to find a generator and start fixing them as soon as possible.

Various unexpected situations and bloody slashing sequences make you always feel the need to try, no matter which side you are on. Both sides provide a thrill; I screamed like a girl when a Killer snuck in and grabbed me like a frog, and I revealed my psycho as I was a Killer chasing a helpless Survivor in the woods.

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The developer of Behavior has created the scares in a multiplayer game that most of the time has the same pacing and identical goals every time you play. While each match follows the same loop of finding and repairing generators while trying to sneak, each match contains tension, terror, and ultimately a sigh of relief in victory. Elements are created through careful and random environmental design such as creepy cornfields, rotting houses and rusty scrap yards.

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Once the Killer captures your teammates, you will have a hard time completing your objective. When the supernatural Killer hangs your friends in a ritual sacrifice to his god, you need to make a tough decision. Do you risk saving them, knowing that the Killer is probably keeping a close eye on his prey? Or do you take advantage of the time he wastes shoving his face into a hanging comrade like a piece of pork chop to find and repair a generator in relative safety?

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As a Killer, you need to move quickly. While you can capture survivors easily, they are faster and have the advantage in third person (as opposed to Killer first person). It is easy to lose track of prey, which makes each chase more intense. More than once, my game got into a situation where there was only one Survivor left which eventually resulted in a fun game of cat and mouse.

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As a Survivor, revealing your location is easy. The act of running leaves a trail for Killer to track and doesn't do a good job on QTEs while repairing generators that clearly signal Killer that you've played dumb. Walking, crouching, and even hiding in tall grass are often the best options. This creates strategy in moves and makes wise choices from time to time. It's easy (and dangerous) when you run away. However, if you want to get back to working on the generator you had to leave, you'd better move slowly and quietly, hiding until Killer walks away.

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Dead by Daylight rarely feels one-sided, and I love that many of the matches are bloody dry. One side is likely to prevail early, but those cases are a welcome exception, suggesting skill is more important than quantity.

Survivor and Killer each have a unique, randomly generated upgrade called Bloodweb. To level up, you need to earn Bloodpoints simply by playing games. Filling up a branch by unlocking all nodes, you level up and start over with new skills and items, which can make the Killer stronger, can change environment elements or give an advantage to Survivor.

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The upgrade system provides perks that help tweak the way all of the game's characters are played, such as Killer receiving audio cues when Survivors are nearby or Survivors earning self-healing, power-up to other Survivors or a 'sixth sense' that helps you sense when others are nearby. They make sense without causing serious disparities when players of different levels are matched for the same match. Since the Bloodweb network is random, you cannot easily customize for specific roles, such as mechanic or medic. Instead, since you have to use every available button to level up, you're seeing a completely random system. The rank system serves as meta progression, but character-specific perks drive replay value.

Many of your Dead by Daylight matches are likely to be with random players, which feels alien in a gaming world that's tended to be more focused on playing with friends in recent years. After joining the game, you can't communicate, whether it's text chat or voice chat. This goes well with this genre of game, but I like a voice system based on neighborhood radius, which Killer can also hear. Removing the in-game chat function entirely seems counterproductive. This means you want to utilize the pre-match chat to strategize, especially since you won't know which Killer will be hunting you down.

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You cannot team up with friends to play ranked. However, you can put your earned perks and items into a private match with your friends. Since you can play with two to four Survivors (with the number of generators to repair calculated by the number of players), it is a good solution. As a Killer, you will have to wait a little longer to find the match. However, I rarely have problems finding a group of Survivors to hunt. Because the developer Behaviour lets players choose the experience they want, you'll never have a hard time playing on the side you don't want. Matching definitely makes more sense than just picking groups of five and putting them in the same waiting room, resulting in people rage quitting if they don't get to the side they want.

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In terms of the idea of asymmetrical multiplayer , where up to four Survivors have to escape a warped Killer is a good choice for a horror-like-but-no-thriller-like game. - weird. In terms of graphics, a creepy atmosphere and Killer scene designs beat the rather bland Survivors and environments that could have needed more variety. In terms of sound, you should play with headphones and listen to the pounding heartbeat that indicates the Killer is near. You need to turn up the volume because sound is important.

The gameplay and controls are tight, whether playing with a mouse and keyboard or a gamepad. Be prepared for random QTE situations that add to the challenge. The entertainment factor comes from the tension that runs high in each match, with heart-stopping scares and intense chases every time you encounter Killer. .

Jessica Tanner

Update 05 January 2022