Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight
Developer(s)	Behaviour Interactive
Publisher(s)	505 Games Behaviour Interactive Deep Silver NetEase Games Starbreeze Studios
Director(s)	Ashley Pannell Dave Richard Mathieu Coté
Producer(s)	Stéfan Beauchamp-Daniel
Programmer(s)	Fadi Beyrouti Jean-Philip Desjardins Rémi Veilleux
Artist(s)	Filip Ivanovic Marc Salha
Writer(s)	Farah Daoud-Brixi
Composer(s)	Michel F. April
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One Nintendo Switch Android iOS Stadia Xbox Series X/S PlayStation 5
Release	Windows WW: June 14, 2016 PlayStation 4, Xbox One NA: June 20, 2017 AU: June 22, 2017 EU: June 23, 2017 Nintendo Switch WW: September 24, 2019 Android, iOS WW: April 17, 2020 Stadia WW: October 1, 2020 Xbox Series X/S WW: November 10, 2020 PlayStation 5 NA: November 12, 2020 EU: November 19, 2020
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Dead by Daylight is an online asymmetric multiplayer survival horror game developed by Canadian studio Behaviour Interactive. It is a one-versus-four game in which one player takes on the role of a Killer and the other four play as Survivors; the Killer must impale each Survivor on sacrificial hooks to appease a malevolent force known as the Entity, while the Survivors have to avoid being caught and power up the exit gates by working together to fix five generators.

The game was released for Windows in 2016; PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017; Switch in 2019; and Android, iOS, PlayStation 5, Stadia, and Xbox Series X/S in 2020. It became Steam Deck Verified in 2023. Swedish studio Starbreeze Studios published the game from 2016 through 2018, when Behaviour Interactive bought the publishing rights. Italian company 505 Games publishes the Nintendo Switch version, while Austrian company Deep Silver publishes physical copies for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. The game received mixed reviews upon release, though it was a commercial success and has since attracted more than 50 million players. A film adaptation is currently in development by Blumhouse Productions and Atomic Monster.

Gameplay

A player (center) repairing a generator with a toolbox, with another Survivor on the right

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical horror game where one player is the Killer and the other four are Survivors. Matches are referred to as trials. The Survivors' objective is to escape the trial by repairing five of seven generators scattered throughout it to power the two exit gates. The Killer must impale all Survivors on hooks before they escape, which will cause them to be sacrificed to a malevolent force known as the Entity. If only one Survivor remains, an open escape hatch appears at a random location on the map. If the Killer closes the hatch or an exit gate is opened, the "Endgame Collapse" begins and the Survivors must escape within two minutes, with the timer being extended if there are any incapacitated or hooked Survivors. When the timer ends, any remaining Survivors are stabbed by and forcefully sacrificed to the entity where they stand.

When hunting Survivors, the Killer must capture them by either striking them with their weapon two times and picking them up off of the ground while they’re in the dying state (one strike injures Survivors and a second strikes puts them into the dying state) or by grabbing them in one move by catching them unexpectedly while they perform an action. Although Survivors can attempt to escape the hook the first time they are impaled, success is unlikely and failed attempts lead to a faster death. They can also be saved by other Survivors. If they are hooked a second time, they enter a "struggle phase", where they must resist the Entity as it attempts to take them out of the game by performing skill checks until they are either killed or rescued. If they are hooked a third time, they will be sacrificed to the Entity.

The Survivors' movement options consist of sprinting, walking, crouch-walking, or crawling if they are in the dying state. They must elude the Killer by losing their line of sight in a chase or by successfully hiding from them. Most Killers can move at a pace that is moderately faster than that of a sprinting Survivor. However, the Killer is slower in other movements, such as vaulting obstacles, which can buy Survivors time. Survivors can throw down pallets of wood placed at key locations on the map, and if the Killer is inside of or in front of the pallet when the Survivor throws it down, they will be stunned for a brief moment. The Survivor can then vault over the downed pallet, but the Killer may not, and must either spend time to break the pallet to pass through that area again or go around it. The Killer also has an aura-reading ability, constantly revealing the location of generators, hooks, and sometimes Survivors. Every Killer has their own unique power. For instance, the Wraith can turn invisible and move faster (though is unable to strike Survivors while hidden) and the Hillbilly wields a chainsaw which allows him to dash quickly along the map and instantly knock down any Survivors in his path. These powers can be altered using add-ons obtained through gameplay. A significant amount of the gameplay revolves around chases, with Survivors using their environment and wits to try and outmaneuver the Killer and escape them or at least buy time for their allies to complete objectives.

Survivors can search chests to find useful items or bring them in at the start of the trial, such as maps that highlight the locations of objectives, keys that can be used for certain aura-reading abilities with different add-ons and enable re-opening of the hatch after it has been closed, toolboxes that enable quicker generator repairs, med-kits for quicker healing, and flashlights that can be used to blind the Killer and stun them, which, if they are carrying a Survivor, will let that Survivor escape. All Killers have an innate "terror radius" that surrounds them, although the size of the terror radius varies depending on the Killer, the state of the Killer's power, and what add-ons or perks they may have. Survivors inside the radius will hear a heartbeat, which increases in intensity with proximity to the Killer. They can also see a red light (called the "red stain") emanating from the Killer's head onto the ground, which reveals the direction they are facing and can help the Survivors determine when the Killer is about to come around a corner. Some Killers have the ability to suppress their terror radius and red stain under certain conditions, enabling them to surprise unaware Survivors.

Objectives

Survivor interactions with many objects in the game can cause random skill checks to trigger. The player can either perform a good skill check which has no additional effect, a great skill check which speeds up the progression of the action the player is taking, or a failed skill check which usually notifies the Killer of the Survivor's location and may also cause a loss of progress. Great skill checks require more precision, and may not always be possible depending on the type of interaction or the perks being used by either the Survivor or the Killer. Killers have the ability to damage generators, which will slightly regress their repair progress and continue regressing them slowly over time until a Survivor resumes repairing it, and may trigger certain perks.

If the Killer catches a Survivor, the Killer can pick them up and carry them to one of many sacrificial hooks scattered throughout the map. While being carried, the Survivor can attempt to wiggle out of the Killer's grasp by successfully hitting consecutive skill checks before they reach the hook. When a Survivor is hooked, they gain a hook stage, progressing through summoning, struggle, and sacrifice stages. Whenever the Killer succeeds in impaling a Survivor on a hook, their hook stage increases by one. If a Survivor is left on a hook too long without being rescued, their hook stage also increases by one. During the summoning and struggle stages, the Survivor is immobile until another Survivor rescues them. During the summoning stage, the impaled Survivor can attempt to get off the hook by themselves. If a Survivor reaches the sacrifice stage, they die and are removed from the match.

Once five generators are repaired, the exit gates are powered, allowing Survivors to open the doors and escape from the match. The game only ends when all Survivors have either escaped or died; thus, while some Survivors may escape and finish early, those still inside must keep playing. Players who have escaped or died have the ability to observe the remaining players through the game's conclusion or return to the menu and join a new game.

If only one Survivor remains, repairing generators is typically not practical. When the other three Survivors have escaped or have died, an escape hatch will appear somewhere throughout the map. If the Survivor finds this hatch first, they may escape through it, but if the Killer finds it first, then they can close it. If the Killer closes the hatch, the exit gates become powered as though the generator objective was completed, allowing the remaining Survivor a way to escape the trial. A special item, the key, allows the Survivor one final way to escape by reopening the hatch to exit the trial.

If an exit gate is opened or the hatch is closed by the Killer, a system known as the "End-game Collapse" begins, which starts a timer. If the timer runs out, every Survivor that has not escaped is instantly killed by the Entity.

Perks

Survivors and Killers each have the option to use up to four perks in their loadout, which gives their characters special abilities. Perks differ between Survivors and Killers; a Survivor perk may not be used by Killers and vice versa. Examples of Survivor perks include a burst of speed when running from the Killer, the ability to self-heal without a medkit, disabling sacrificial hooks without a toolbox, and many more. Examples of Killer perks include seeing Survivors through walls, hindering the effects of struggling Survivors while taking them to a hook, preventing generators from being worked on, regressing generators, speeding up the recovery of their basic attack, and many more.

There are a number of "general perks" that start unlocked for any character to learn. Additionally, each specific character starts off with a set of three perks that are unique to them. Perks, add-ons, and items can be unlocked through the Bloodweb, a skill tree where each character can spend in-game currency. Advancing to level 50 in a character's Bloodweb allows the player to "prestige" that particular character. Doing so resets the character back to level 1 and unlocks the next tier (level) of the character's unique perks to every other character owned of the same role if there is a higher tier.

Setting

Premise

A group of four Survivors must elude one Killer bent on sacrificing them on hooks to a malevolent being called the Entity. The Survivors' perspectives are third-person, while the Killer's perspective is first-person. The Survivors can only fight back by stunning the Killer or using items such as flashlights to blind them. Survivors can also vault over obstacles much faster than the Killer, providing a means of escape. Survivors use these obstacles and tools to help them elude the Killer for as long as they can. In order to escape, Survivors must repair five of the seven generators scattered across the map to power up the exit gates. They must then open the exit gates and escape through them; the final Survivor may also find an unmarked escape hatch to jump into, though the hatch can be shut if the Killer finds it first. Repairing generators can be made quicker with items such as toolboxes, or if the player repairs a generator alongside other Survivors, or if certain perks are equipped to help the process along.

Plot

The Entity, an eldritch horror that exists between dimensions, is attracted to actions of great violence and malice. The Killers, mostly serial murderers or victims of terrible tragedy, are pulled out of reality by the Entity and convinced or forced to do its bidding. In order to maintain its existence, the Entity requires sacrifices and demands that they hunt and kill the Survivors so it can feed off their emotions and steal a piece of their souls upon death. In order to continue this hunt, the Entity blocks off the gateways of death and puts the Survivors into a dreamlike state that leads them back to the Entity's purgatory-esque world to get hunted again.

The Survivors are pulled into the Entity's constructed world when they wander into the woods or explore abandoned buildings, disappearing from the real world without a trace. More recent survivors have entered through other methods such as being taken right before they die, or sending themselves there by using magical symbols. They end up at a campfire in the woods, where they rest between trials until a Killer pursues them again. Each trial takes place in a series of realms constructed by the Entity of areas related to each Killer's history. Escaping from the grounds always takes the Survivors back to the campfire, and offerings can be created to be burnt at it and appeal to the Entity. Since the Entity feeds off of Survivors' hopes of escaping, it helps them just as much as it helps Killers, acting as an impartial observer of the hunt and stepping in only to claim those successfully sacrificed to it.

Each original Survivor and Killer also has their own individual backstory which explains their personality and their unique abilities, along with how they end up in the realm of the Entity. These backstories are expanded in "Tomes" where completing in-game challenges unlocks more information. These Tomes release every few months along side a battle pass known as "The Rift".

Maps

The game takes place across 20 realms, which contain one or more maps. These are based on places related to the Killer of each map's respective chapter: the MacMillan Estate (Trapper and Skull Merchant), Crotus Prenn Asylum (Nurse and Clown), Autohaven Wreckers (Wraith), Coldwind Farm (Hillbilly), Haddonfield (Shape), Backwater Swamp (Hag), Léry's Memorial Institute (Doctor), the Red Forest (Huntress and Plague), Springwood (Nightmare), Gideon Meat Plant (Pig), Yamaoka Estate (Spirit and Oni), Ormond (Legion), Hawkins National Laboratory (Demogorgon), Grave of Glenvale (Deathslinger), Midwich Elementary School (Executioner), Raccoon City (Nemesis and Mastermind), Forsaken Boneyard (Artist), Withered Isle (Dredge), Decimated Borgo (Knight), and Dvarka Deepwood (Singularity and Xenomorph). The Cannibal, Ghost Face, Blight, Twins, Trickster, Cenobite, Onryō, and Good Guy did not receive maps. Over time, the level of evil of each Killer's actions accumulated there until it attracted the attention of the Entity, an unknown force of darkness from a place with no name. Many realms are split into multiple maps with similar features but small variations.

Most maps features a map-specific building or landmark that remains in the same place in the map every game. Two features are present across most of the maps. The first is the "killer shack", a building identical in its layout and appears on most maps. The second is the "basement", an underground room which spawns on every map in a predetermined location. The basement is a special room with only one entrance and exit, and consists of one item chest for the Survivors to scavenge in and multiple lockers for them to hide in. It is also home to a special four-pointed hook that cannot be destroyed or tampered with in any way by Survivors.

Characters

Survivors

Players may choose from 39 Survivors, some created specifically for the game and some licensed from other horror franchises. They are listed below in the order in which they were released.

Survivor	Franchise	Description
Dwight Fairfield	Original characters	A nervous leader.
Meg Thomas		An energetic athlete.
Claudette Morel		A studious botanist.
Jake Park		A solitary survivalist.
Nea Karlsson		An urban artist.
Laurie Strode	Halloween	A determined babysitter.
Ace Visconti	Original character	A lucky gambler.
William "Bill" Overbeck	Left 4 Dead	An old soldier.
Feng Min	Original characters	A focused competitor.
David King		A rugged scrapper.
Quentin Smith	A Nightmare on Elm Street	A resolute dreamwalker.
David Tapp	Saw	An obsessed detective.
Kate Denson	Original characters	A hopeful songbird.
Adam Francis		A resourceful teacher.
Jeff Johansen		A quiet artist.
Jane Romero		An influential celebrity.
Ash Williams	Evil Dead	An alone wolf. [sic]
Nancy Wheeler	Stranger Things	An aspiring journalist.
Steve Harrington		A former jock.
Yui Kimura	Original characters	A hardened street racer.
Zarina Kassir		A plucky documentarian
Cheryl Mason	Silent Hill	A young veteran of terror.
Felix Richter	Original characters	A visionary architect.
Élodie Rakoto		An occult investigator.
Yun-Jin Lee		A self-interested music producer.
Jill Valentine	Resident Evil	A founder of STARS.
Leon S. Kennedy		A rookie police officer.
Mikaela Reid	Original characters	A young mystic.
Jonah Vasquez		A mathematical mastermind.
Yoichi Asakawa	Ring	A brilliant marine biologist.
Haddie Kaur	Original character	A brave podcaster.
Ada Wong	Resident Evil	A mysterious secret agent.
Rebecca Chambers		A gifted medic and squad member.
Vittorio Toscano	Original characters	An endless wanderer.
Thalita Lyra		A skilled and competitive kite fighter.
Renato Lyra
Gabriel Soma		A resourceful engineer.
Nicolas Cage	Real life	A superstar.
Ellen Ripley	Alien	A warrant officer of the Nostromo.

Additionally, nine Legendary skins have been added which turn their respective Survivor into alternate Survivor characters. They are listed below in the order in which they were released.

Legendary Survivor	Franchise	Original Survivor
Lisa Garland	Silent Hill	Cheryl Mason
Cybil Bennett
James Sunderland
Maria
Jonathan Byers	Stranger Things	Steve Harrington
Chris Redfield	Resident Evil	Leon S. Kennedy
Carlos Oliveira
Claire Redfield		Jill Valentine
Sheva Alomar

While not Legendary skins, these outfits give original Survivors appearances reminiscent of licensed characters from other series. They are listed below in the order in which they were released.

Outfit	Franchise	Original Survivor
Francis	Left 4 Dead	Jake Park
Zoey		Meg Thomas
Ellis		Dwight Fairfield
Rochelle		Claudette Morel
Eren Yeager	Attack on Titan	Dwight Fairfield
Mikasa Ackerman		Yui Kimura
Levi Ackerman		Jake Park
Annie Leonhart		Meg Thomas
Armin Arlert		Felix Richter
Historia Reiss		Kate Denson
Hange Zoë		Zarina Kassir
Kenny Ackerman		Ace Visconti
BSAA Uniform	Resident Evil	Felix Richter
Jill Valentine Cosplay		Feng Min
Princess Heart Cosplay	Silent Hill	Feng Min
Wonderful Alice	Alice in Wonderland	Kate Denson
Cheshire Life		Nea Karlsson
Mad Hatter		Ace Visconti

Killers

Players may choose from 33 Killers, some original and some licensed from other horror franchises. Each Killer has a power that is unique to them. They are listed below in the order in which they were released.

Killer		Franchise	Power
Killer name	Real name
The Trapper	Evan MacMillan	Original characters	Sets bear traps to catch and injure Survivors. These traps can be disarmed by Survivors. The Trapper can pick up, relocate, and reset his traps.
The Wraith	Philip Ojomo		Rings his bell to gain increased movement speed and near-invisiblity at the cost of being unable to attack Survivors until he rings his bell again.
The Hillbilly	Max Thompson Jr.		Sprints with his chainsaw that instantly puts Survivors into the dying state. Repeated use of the chainsaw can cause it to overheat, making it unusable for a short time.
The Nurse	Sally Smithson		Has the ability to teleport significant distances and through objects and walls, at the cost of reduced base speed and incurring a temporary fatigue after teleportation.
The Shape	Michael Myers	Halloween	Stalks Survivors to increase his power. The Shape starts the match with a hidden terror radius albeit with major debuffs to his speed and attack power. After stalking Survivors he becomes stronger, and eventually becomes strong enough to instantly put survivors in the dying state.
The Hag	Lisa Sherwood	Original characters	Places traps that are triggered by survivors when they walk near them. Triggered traps show an illusion of the Hag and allow her to teleport instantly to them. Survivors can wipe away traps.
The Doctor	Herman Carter		Drives Survivors insane with electric shocks, making skill checks more difficult, hallucinations of The Doctor appear, and temporarily removes their ability to fight back against him. When driven fully insane, survivors cannot interact with most things until they snap out of it.
The Huntress	Anna		Throws hatchets to injure Survivors from afar, reloading hatchets at lockers.
The Cannibal	"Leatherface" Sawyer	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	Uses his chainsaw for increased movement speed and a sweeping attack that instantly puts Survivors into the dying state.
The Nightmare	Freddy Krueger	A Nightmare on Elm Street	Survivors fall asleep over time, making them vulnerable to traps set by him. The Nightmare can also teleport directly to generators.
The Pig	Amanda Young	Saw	Places reverse bear traps onto Survivors, which activate when generators are completed and kills Survivors after a period of time if not removed. Can also crouch, hiding her terror radius and granting her a longer-range ambush attack.
The Clown	Kenneth Chase ("Jeffrey Hawk")	Original characters	Throws bottles of either poison gas to slow down Survivors and blur their vision or an antidote that increases the movement speed of both The Clown and Survivors.
The Spirit	Rin Yamaoka		Phases through an alternate dimension where her speed is increased, though she cannot see Survivors during this and has to rely on other environmental cues such as scratch marks or moving grass. Survivors cannot see The Spirit while she phases, but can hear a directional sound that indicates her current location.
The Legion	Frank Morrison, Julie Kostenko, Susie Lavoie, and Joey		Enters a mode which grants increased movement speed and the ability to vault over objects. If they attack a Survivor during this time, the locations of other Survivors are revealed and the injured Survivor must mend their injury before being able to heal to their full health state.
The Plague	Adiris		Infects Survivors and objects by vomiting on them; all infected survivors loudly cough and vomit, making noise to reveal themselves, and can spread their infection to other survivors and objects. Survivors can cleanse the infection at fountains around the map. After cleansing, the fountain becomes corrupted, which The Plague can interact with to temporarily gain a deadly version of her vomit attack which deals damage to Survivors instead of infecting them.
The Ghost Face	Danny Johnson ("Jed Olsen")	Ghostface	Temporarily able to enter a period of stealth which hides his terror radius and gives him the ability to stalk Survivors. Fully stalked Survivors can be put into the dying state. Survivors can deactivate this ability by looking at The Ghost Face to reveal him.
The Demogorgon	—	Stranger Things	Places portals anywhere on the ground in order to enter the Upside Down and quickly traverses the map. Also has an extended lunge attack.
The Oni	Kazan Yamaoka	Original characters	Consumes the blood of injured Survivors to enter a period of heightened power, granting a dash and a lunge attack that can instantly put Survivors into the dying state.
The Deathslinger	Caleb Quinn		Shoots Survivors with a spear gun to reel them towards himself, reloading after every shot. Survivors can break the chain using objects in the environment.
The Executioner	Pyramid Head	Silent Hill	By dragging his great knife across ground, The Executioner may attack from a short distance away through obstructions and leave trails on the ground. Survivors who walk on these trails are afflicted with "Torment" and can be sent to cages or instantly killed when downed. Survivors can remove Torment by rescuing another Survivor from a cage.
The Blight	Talbot Grimes	Original characters	Injects a serum into himself that grants him the ability to bounce off walls at a high speed to travel quickly across the map.
The Twins	Charlotte and Victor Deshayes		A pair of conjoined twins who can detach from the other. The smaller twin, Victor, detaches from Charlotte and has no terror radius, a significantly shorter stature, a faster movement speed, and an extended lunge attack. He can notify Charlotte of Survivors who are near him or hinder them by jumping on their backs.
The Trickster	Ji-Woon Hak		Uses small throwing knives to gradually injure Survivors from afar. Injuring Survivors with knives charges his "Main Event" that allows him to throw his knives at a significantly faster rate. Has to reload knives at lockers, but has infinite knives during "Main Event".
The Nemesis	Nemesis T-Type	Resident Evil	Uses a short-range tentacle attack to infect Survivors with the T-virus. Infected Survivors will take damage if hit by the tentacle again. AI-controlled zombies also roam the map, able to infect and damage infected Survivors.
The Cenobite	Elliot Spencer ("Pinhead")	Hellraiser	Binds Survivors with chains, reducing their movement speed until they break free. The Lament Configuration appears and controls the "Chain Hunt", an indefinite period of time where chains bind Survivors. Survivors may solve the Lament Configuration to end the Chain Hunt, but this allows The Cenobite to teleport to their location.
The Artist	Carmina Mora	Original character	Summons crows that can deal damage at close range, or swarms a Survivor if the crow travels a long range. Survivors swarmed by crows allows The Artist can see them through walls and a second summoned crow causes damage.
The Onryō	Sadako Yamamura	Ringu	Able to "de-manifest" to replace her terror radius with a faint lullaby and teleport to televisions around the map. After teleporting, all survivors are inflicted with a "Condemned" status, and once fully Condemned, can be killed instantly. Survivors must take videotapes from televisions to remove their condemned status.
The Dredge	—	Original character	Teleports to lockers around the map and is able to return to a remnant of itself left at the teleport origin. A "Nightfall" meter is slowly charged by attacking Survivors, and once full, makes the map near-completely dark for all Survivors while enhancing the Dredge's power. Survivors can lock lockers to slow The Dredge's exit from a locker.
The Mastermind	Albert Wesker	Resident Evil	Uses the Uroboros virus to quickly lunge a short distance, vault over obstacles, and grab Survivors on contact; this either deals damage if they are slammed into an object or throws them a significant distance. Survivors become infected if grabbed and must use an antidote to be cured. Fully infected survivors that are grabbed by the lunge attack are immediately put in the dying state.
The Knight	Tarhos Kovács	Original characters	Summons 3 AI-controlled guards (Carnifex, Assassin, and Jailer) who each have a unique skill. The guards can be sent break obstacles or independently patrol the map and catch Survivors; if detected, the Survivor is hunted by the guard for a short time and can become injured if the guard catches up with them.
The Skull Merchant	Adriana Imai		Places stationary drones on the map which emit yellow scanners as it rotates and gives The Skull Merchant momentary stealth. If a survivor passes through a drone's beam three times, they are instantly injured. The Skull Merchant can use her radar to track survivors and interact with drones from afar.
The Singularity	HUX-A7-13		Shoots pods onto surfaces in the environment which The Singularity can control. While in control of one, it can watch survivors and shoot projectiles which tag them. Tagged survivors can then be teleported to by The Singularity, which activates an empowered state that prevents stuns. EMP devices, which are printed in cases throughout the map, temporarily disables the pods and removes tags.
The Xenomorph	—	Alien	Using control stations around the map, The Xenomorph enters a tunnel system to quickly traverse the map and travel to other control stations. After a short time, The Xenomorph moves on all fours, making it stealthier and granting access to a special attack with its acidic tail. Survivors can interact with control stations to access flame turrets, which when deployed can momentarily stun The Xenomorph.
The Good Guy	Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray	Child's Play	Played from a third-person perspective, The Good Guy can enter a stealth mode when he can lunge at survivors and crawl underneath pallets.

Additionally, there are certain Rare, Ultra Rare, and Legendary skins that turn their respective Killers into alternate Killer characters. They are listed below in the order in which they were released.

Legendary Killer	License	Original Killer
The Minotaur	Original character	The Oni
The Krampus	Original character	The Trapper
The Look-See	Crypt TV	The Doctor
The Mordeo		The Huntress
The Ferryman	Original character	The Blight
The Chatterer	Hellraiser	The Cenobite
Baba Yaga	Original character	The Huntress
The Armored Titan	Attack on Titan	The Oni
The War Hammer Titan		The Spirit
HUNK	Resident Evil	The Legion
William Birkin		The Blight
The Jabberwock	Alice in Wonderland	The Artist
Red Queen		The Huntress
Xenomorph Queen	Alien	The Xenomorph
Naughty Bear	Naughty Bear	The Trapper
Tiffany Valentine	Child's Play	The Good Guy
Eddie	Iron Maiden	TBA

Downloadable content

Alongside original characters, the game licenses characters and settings from several franchises. As of November 2023, the game has featured 35 individual DLC releases in total. Most DLC releases include both a new Survivor and Killer, except for eight where only one character was introduced and four where three characters were introduced. 23 of the DLCs released have also introduced new maps that are accessible to all players. The DLCs release with an average of three months between each one. Prior to the release of every DLC since the Clown, a Public Test Build (PTB) is opened, which allows the developers of the game to test and receive community feedback on the major upcoming changes. Once the PTB has been out for roughly two weeks, it is disabled for further maintenance on the upcoming DLC, such as bug fixing, adding missing features, etc. The estimated time span between the opening of the PTB and a new DLC's release is approximately 2–3 weeks, and the DLC typically releases a few days after the shutdown of the PTB.

16 of the currently released DLCs have featured licensed Killers and Survivors from both popular horror franchises and other video games. The DLCs can be acquired by either purchasing them normally through Steam or non-licensed characters can be purchased through a shop within the game using an in-game currency called iridescent shards. This alternative way of obtaining the DLCs was introduced in the 2.0 update. Each DLC has its own trailer and a so-called "spotlight" that exhibits the Killer and Survivor as well as a new in-game map. The relevant DLC does not need to be purchased in order for any map to be played on. Three DLCs (The Last Breath, Left Behind, and A Lullaby for the Dark) have been distributed for free.

In August 2021, Behaviour announced that the Stranger Things DLC (including individual characters from the DLC and their cosmetics) would no longer be available for purchase after November 17 and that the Hawkins National Laboratory map would be removed from rotation. All characters from the DLC, as well as their cosmetics, were usable by players who purchased them before the removal date. On November 6, 2023, Behavior announced that all previous content would be returning to the game.

In October 2021, Behaviour collaborated with Boss Protocol to release the Pinhead character model from the Hellraiser DLC as an NFT as part of the Boss Protocol Masters of Horror NFT collection. This led to criticism from players, with Steam reviews of the DLC falling down to a "Mostly Negative" rating. However it was later revealed that Behaviour gave license holders access to character models and the license holder had collaborated to make the NFTs using the model without Behaviour's involvement.

In addition to DLCs, other collaborations have resulted in purely cosmetic items being added to existing characters. Collaborations with Crypt TV and Attack on Titan added cosmetic items to original characters in order to make them resemble characters from those franchises. Other cosmetic items have been added from titles such as For Honor, Meet Your Maker, and Rainbow Six Siege. Similarly, original Dead by Daylight characters have appeared in other video games including For Honor, Deathgarden, and Move or Die.

Key

• † This symbol denotes DLCs that unveiled licensed characters

Downloadable content for Dead by Daylight

Title	Release Date	Killer	Survivor(s)	Map
The Last Breath	August 18, 2016	The Nurse	Nea Karlsson	The Asylum (Crotus Prenn Asylum)
Halloween †	October 25, 2016	The Shape	Laurie Strode	Lampkin Lane (Haddonfield)
Of Flesh and Mud	December 8, 2016	The Hag	Ace Visconti	The Pale Rose (Backwater Swamp)
Left Behind †	March 8, 2017	—	William "Bill" Overbeck	—
Spark of Madness	May 11, 2017	The Doctor	Feng Min	Treatment Theatre (Léry's Memorial Institute)
A Lullaby for the Dark	July 27, 2017	The Huntress	David King	Mother's Dwelling (Red Forest)
Leatherface †	September 14, 2017	The Cannibal	—	—
A Nightmare on Elm Street †	October 26, 2017	The Nightmare	Quentin Smith	Badham Preschool (Springwood)
Saw †	January 23, 2018	The Pig	David Tapp	The Game (Gideon Meat Plant)
Curtain Call	June 12, 2018	The Clown	Kate Denson	Father Campbell's Chapel (Crotus Prenn Asylum)
Shattered Bloodline	September 18, 2018	The Spirit	Adam Francis	Family Residence (Yamaoka Estate)
Darkness Among Us	December 11, 2018	The Legion	Jeffrey "Jeff" Johansen	Mount Ormond Resort (Ormond)
Demise of the Faithful	March 19, 2019	The Plague	Jane Romero	Temple of Purgation (Red Forest)
Ash vs Evil Dead †	April 2, 2019	—	Ashley "Ash" Williams	—
Ghost Face †	June 18, 2019	The Ghost Face	—	—
Stranger Things †	September 17, 2019[a]	The Demogorgon	Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler	Underground Complex (Hawkins National Laboratory)[a]
Cursed Legacy	December 3, 2019	The Oni	Yui Kimura	Sanctum of Wrath (Yamaoka Estate)
Chains of Hate	March 10, 2020	The Deathslinger	Zarina Kassir	Dead Dawg Saloon (Grave of Glenvale)
Silent Hill †	June 16, 2020	The Executioner	Cheryl Mason	Midwich Elementary School (Silent Hill)
Descend Beyond	September 8, 2020	The Blight	Felix Richter	—
A Binding of Kin	December 1, 2020	The Twins	Élodie Rakoto	—
All-Kill	March 30, 2021	The Trickster	Yun-Jin Lee	—
Resident Evil †	June 15, 2021	The Nemesis	Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine	Raccoon City Police Station (Raccoon City)[b]
Hellraiser †	September 7, 2021	The Cenobite	—	—
Hour of the Witch	October 19, 2021	—	Mikaela Reid	—
Portrait of a Murder	November 30, 2021	The Artist	Jonah Vasquez	Eyrie of Crows (Forsaken Boneyard)
Sadako Rising †	March 8, 2022	The Onryō	Yoichi Asakawa	—
Roots of Dread	June 7, 2022	The Dredge	Haddie Kaur	Garden of Joy (Withered Isle)
Resident Evil: Project W †	August 30, 2022	The Mastermind	Ada Wong, Rebecca Chambers	Raccoon City Police Station East Wing/West Wing (Raccoon City)[b]
Forged in Fog	November 22, 2022	The Knight	Vittorio Toscano	Shattered Square (Decimated Borgo)
Tools of Torment	March 7, 2023	The Skull Merchant	Thalita Lyra, Renato Lyra	Shelter Woods (The MacMillan Estate)[c]
End Transmission	June 13, 2023	The Singularity	Gabriel Soma	Toba Landing (Dvarka Deepwood)
Nicolas Cage †	July 25, 2023	—	Nicolas Cage	—
Alien †	August 29, 2023	The Xenomorph	Ellen Ripley	Nostromo Wreckage (Dvarka Deepwood)
Chucky †	November 28, 2023	The Good Guy	—	—

Notes

a.^{^ ^} The Stranger Things chapter was removed from the game on November 17, 2021, and was reintroduced on November 6, 2023. The characters introduced were still available to play for those who had purchased them prior to the removal, however the Underground Complex map was not accessible during this time.

b.^{^ ^} The Raccoon City Police Station map introduced in the Resident Evil chapter was reworked and split into two separate maps for the Resident Evil: Project W chapter due to issues with sizing and pathing. The original map is no longer accessible.

c.^{^} The Shelter Woods map was introduced with the release of the game in 2016. However with the release of the Tools Of Torment chapter, a new landmark, The Hunting Camp, was added to the map. This landmark is modeled after The Skull Merchant's lore and can be seen in the chapter's reveal trailer.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	PC: 71/100 PS4: 64/100 XONE: 58/100 NS: 61/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
GameSpot	PC: 9/10
IGN	9/10
PC Gamer (UK)	88/100

Dead by Daylight received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. GameSpot awarded it a score of 9 out of 10, saying "At launch, Dead by Daylight suffered because of its reliance on peer-to-peer hosting and absent social features, but over time it rectified these issues. And while a brief and premature tussle with skill-based matchmaking turned the new player experience into a bit of a horror show (a problem which is now [was] fixed), thanks to its community of players Dead by Daylight is without peer in the asymmetrical competitive multiplayer arena, and has grown into one of the most robust horror experiences around." Luke Winkie of PC Gamer awarded it a score of 88 out of 100, saying "In the five years since Behaviour Interactive released Dead by Daylight on Steam, the game has developed razor-sharp mechanical intrigue, an ultra-complex web of versatile builds and strategies, and a diverse suite of characters, each equipped with relative strengths and weaknesses."

Sales

During its first week, Dead by Daylight sold more than 270,000 copies. The game sold more than 1 million copies within 2 months. On November 16, 2017, more than 3 million copies were sold. As of May 2019, the game sold more than 5 million copies. In August 2020, the game reached more than 25 million players across all platforms. This number reached 36 million by May 2021, and 50 million by May 2022.

Originally, the game had a "Deluxe Edition", that grants cosmetics for the game Payday 2 as a part of promoting the game, coming with a discount for Payday 2 owners who pre-order the game. The Deluxe Edition was discontinued in 2020.

Popularity and impact

Dead by Daylight has become increasingly popular in Japan due to Behaviour catering to Japanese players with the release of Japanese-themed chapters like "The Shattered Bloodline" and "The Cursed Legacy", as well as expanding the lore of its in-game universe, which the Japanese gaming community tends to favor in video games. In return, the country has become one of the biggest markets for the game, becoming so popular that a Dead by Daylight-themed Entity Café opened on the fourth floor of the Tokyo Skytree in August 2021.

From October 21 to November 11, 2021, a Dead by Daylight crossover event called "Survivors of the Fog" was held in Ubisoft's fighting game For Honor. The event featured Dead by Daylight-inspired cosmetic items and a limited-time game mode that featured the Trapper as an AI-controlled enemy.

From October 21 to November 7, 2022, PUBG: Battlegrounds featured a crossover event with Dead by Daylight which saw the traditionally battle royale game introduce a new mode in which players would repair generators and escape from the killer, alongside cosmetics that emulate certain survivors and killers from the game. In return, Dead by Daylight saw the release of a set of cosmetics for its Dwight Fairfield character, which are replicas of the outfit of the character on PUBG's cover art. By playing at least one match of the special PUBG game mode, players were given a unique code for use in Dead by Daylight to receive the cosmetic set.

Mobile release

On June 19, 2019, Behaviour Interactive Inc. announced the plan to release Dead by Daylight to iOS and Android for free in an attempt to make the game more accessible to players around the world. A different development team was formed that is fully dedicated to optimizing the game for the mobile experience. Dead by Daylight Mobile was initially slated for launch in 2019, however the developers had to push the release to 2020, citing their need for more time to work on bugs and optimize. On February 27, 2019, Behaviour announced that the mobile versions will be published by Chinese video game publisher NetEase Games in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea. It was released in EMEA, the Americas, and South Asia on April 16, 2020.

In its 48 hours of release, Dead by Daylight Mobile outnumbered 1 million downloads. By October 2020, the game surpassed 10 million downloads. By May 2022, the game reached 25 million downloads. On December 2022, Behaviour Interactive announced that an improved global version is being developed co-operatively by Behaviour Interactive and NetEase Games. They removed the old global version on December 16, 2022 and announced that the improved global version will be released on February 2023. Then, it got delayed for one month and finally the improved global version released on March 15, 2023.

Spin-offs and other media

Games

Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim is a visual novel dating simulator game released on August 3, 2022. In 2021, Behaviour Interactive held a survey regarding Dead by Daylight, with one of the questions asked of the fans was about what type of genre they would like the company to explore in the future featuring Dead by Daylight's characters; one of the possible options was a dating sim. On February 22, 2022, it was discovered that on February 16, Behaviour Interactive had filed a trademark for a project titled Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim. The description for the trademark states that it covers video games, as well as comic books and graphic novels. The game received an official announcement on May 17, 2022, during a developer livestream and officially released later that year on August 3. The dating sim is a visual novel text-based game with an anime style. Created in collaboration with Psyop, Hooked on You allows the player to date four of Dead by Daylight's original Killers, the Trapper, the Huntress, the Wraith, and the Spirit, guided by original Survivors such as Dwight and Claudette.

Two spin-off video games were announced on May 19, 2023. The first was described as a singer-player narrative game "filled with powerful life-or-death choices" and is being developed by Supermassive Games, known for horror video games Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures series. The second game was described as a four-player co-op PvE experience "centered around greed and the lust for power" with Midwinter Entertainment developing the game.

Board game

A board game adaptation, Dead by Daylight: The Board Game, was created by Level 99 Games and distributed by Asmodee in the United States. Featuring original characters up through the All Kill chapter from the original video game, one player takes on the role of the killer and two to four players take on the role of survivors. Players use perks, items, props, and powers to traverse the map in order to either repair generators and escape or hunt down and kill the survivors. Following a successful fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, the game was released on April 7, 2023.

Comic series

On October 29, 2022, Behavior Interactive tweeted an announcement for a comic series featuring the four members of The Legion, which details more of their backstory. It is published by Titan Comics, written by Nadia Shammas, illustrated by Dillon Snook, and colored by Emilio Lecce. The first issue was released on June 14. It is a prequel that takes place before they become Killers.

In the first issue, Frank stabs a man to death outside of a train, but he is soon woken up from this dream by his new foster parent. Later, he meets Julie and Susie, and Julie tells him about a party happening later. Joey arrives at the party, and then Frank suprises Julie by revealing that he broke in through an open window instead of using the front door. He shows off a bottle of alcohol and says that they should leave the party and hang out somewhere else. They play truth or dare in the woods, where Julie and Frank kiss. Later they decide to vandalize the school with paint and break a window, which attracts the police. The use paper plates to cover their faces as they escape the cops, then steal the cops car and go on a joyride where they steal hood ornaments. To end the night, they set the roof of the car on fire and then return home.

Film adaptation

In March 2023, it was reported by Variety that Jason Blum and James Wan were producing a film adaptation through their Blumhouse Productions and Atomic Monster banners, respectively alongside Behaviour Interactive.

See also

• List of horror video games

External links

• Official website