Imagine yourself running away from a killer in your favorite slasher flick. That is exactly what Dead by Daylight is. A game where 4 players are survivors and another player is the killer. How could they go wrong? Well they could, and oh boy did they.
The Gameplay
The gameplay, as you might have guessed, is fairly straightforward. Four players can pick between four different survivors with different perks and appearance, and one player can pick from four killers with several differences between them (appearance, abilities, weapons, etc.). The survivors have to turn on four of the procedurally placed generators across the map, to unlock an exit and leave. On a side note, “procedurally generated” seems to be one of those words indie devs love to throw around, like Tumblr loves cultural appropriation.
The survivors have absolutely no means of defense against the killer and can only run about and pray the killer doesn’t see them. How does the killer not see them? Simple, the survivors are in 3rd person and the killer is in 1st which drastically reduces his FOV. This can work as an advantage since survivors have no means of defense so credit where credit is due.
Now you might think, hey, doesn’t this get awfully repetitive after a while? You’re right it does. So what do the devs do? Simple, make the generator-turning-on mechanic last forever and throw in a random way-too-quick QTE in there for good measure so the game lasts longer because God forbid should you fail that QTE, the killer will see you through the map and get on you faster than fleas on a dog.
With this hide-’till-the-killer-goes-far-enough-away-so-you-can-go-turn-on-the-generator-again mechanic, the game lasts way longer than it should be, further proof that the core idea of it is boring.
There’s also this part where the killer takes you and puts you on a hook. Now your friends can come save you or you can try to escape. Long story short, don’t, because apparently there’s only like a 10% chance of actually escaping from it on your own AND it makes it harder for other players to save you. So basically, the escape mechanic should not even be there.
The Technical Issues
Sweet hell are there plenty of these. Let’s start with the already world-famous queuing system. There is a “Play with Friends” mode which is neat because it can place you and your friends in a queue to find a lobby…which is a monumentally difficult task. Not just because it takes 15 minutes to find a game that will last just as long if not less, but because every time the game decided to be lazy and stop looking for matches, it just says “Match not Found” and throws you back to the lobby. Most good games have some sort of loop code which tells the game to KEEP LOOKING FOR MATCHES so you don’t have to keep readying up over and over and over again.
And if you DO find a match, and the killer decides your level is too high/low, he has the option to leave. When he does leave, it throws everyone in that lobby BACK TO THE MAIN MENU. When you do get into a game, there is also the chance of the game essentially giving you the middle finger, and vomiting out a “Failed to join game” message because yes.
The Devs
Oh boy, the devs. Not only have they thrown out a game that should be in alpha and not version 1.1.10 or whatever it was, they are also very killer biased. As Steam user michaellally01234 states in their review of Dead by Daylight:
“They have slowed survivors vaulting speed, because Killers complained.
They buffed several Killer perks, because Killers complained.
They nerfed several Survivor perks, because, you guessed it, Killers complained.”
The game has apparently only had a few patches and just now are they implementing some sort of measure to punish killers who abandon matches because they don’t like the other players’ ranks. Good one.
Conclusion
If you still want to buy this game, don’t, save your $20 for something else. The devs had a good concept in mind but didn’t execute it very well. Perhaps they’ll make the game better with future patches! However, I doubt it.
