Dead by Daylight - Death is Not an Escape

Hello again!

In my first post I mentioned that I post a lot of content from Dead by Daylight.
In case you've never heard of it, I thought I'd explain some of the basics.

What is it?

Dead by Daylight is a 4vs1 asymmetrical horror game, (sorry I still don't really know what that means 😂) which puts you into the role of either a survivor or the killer. The goal of the survivors is to work together to repair 5 generators, which will allow them to open the exit gate and escape (hopefully).

The role of the killer is simple; kill as many survivors as possible.

This game takes place in the realm of 'The Entity', a powerful being, able to pull people and places out of time and bend them to it's will. This realm is not like Earth; The Entity is in complete control. Every time a survivor escapes (or dies) they find themselves back at the campfire (the lobby), ready to face one of many nightmarish killers once again.

There is a whole lot of lore regarding the game in general, and the individual characters themselves, but I'll be honest, I've never been interested, so I won't write about that.

So how do I play?

On either side, there are several actions that you can do in a match. As survivor, the main thing that you'll be doing is repairing the generators. This sounds easy enough, but you will be periodically stopped by the killer. If that wasn't bad enough, you'll also have to intermittently complete skill checks. Failing a skill check creates a loud noise notification for the killer, alerting them to you location.

You'll also be able to heal you fellow survivors as well, again however you'll be at the mercy of the killers presence and skill checks.

As a killer, your main action will be hitting the survivors. This can be done via your basic attack or with your killers unique power, (more on this later). Hitting a survivor once will put them into the injured state, hitting them twice will put them into the dying state. When a survivor is in the dying state, they are knocked to the floor, but are not completely incapacitated. They are still able to crawl to try and hide or reach a teammate so that they can be healed.

Once a survivor has been put into the dying state, the killer is then able to pick them up and then place them onto one of many sacrificial hooks. This then begins the sacrifice phase, (although they can be rescued by a teammate at anytime).

The sacrifice phase is split into three sections. I don't know what to actually call the first section, but all you can do really is sit and wait to be rescued, (or try and escape, but there's only a 4% chance of this happening. If you fail to escape 3 times then you will immediately be put into phase 2). The second phase is the struggle phase. During this section, you will complete a series of skill checks, to try and prolong your life before being taken by the entity. As long as you are unhooked by a teammate before your life bars runs out you will be safe. The last section is, you guessed it, death. Your body is taken by The Entity, and that specific hook is rendered useless for the rest of the game.

Now I know it seems like a losing game for the survivors, but they do have some tools to fight back with. The first one is pallets. The killers may move faster than them, but the survivors are agile, and can move tightly around objects. Throughout the map there are several pallets that the survivors can pull down to block the path of the killers. Time it right, and you'll stun them giving you a few extra seconds to get away. Even if you don't, putting something between you and the killer is always a bonus.

The killer can choose to break the pallet once it has been pulled down, but if they don't, you then have something to vault across to escape their reach. Which brings me onto the second thing survivors have in their arsenal: windows. It sounds ridiculous I know, but vaulting a window at the perfect time can be the difference between life and death. You can be hit whilst vaulting or through the window to it's imperative that your timing is perfect.

Perks

Ok this is where it gets interesting. In the lobby, you can equip your character with up to four perks which will make your game easier or make your opponent’s game harder. You unlock perks by levelling up your chosen survivor/killer in the bloodweb. You can do this with blood points, which are earned by playing the game. With each new survivor/killer introduced to the game, there comes three new teachable perks, but I’ll explain those in a moment. There are 14 basic survivor perks that can be used by all survivors instantly, and 12 basic killer perks which work the same way. These basic perks don't change the game too much, but focus on allowing players to enjoy and get to know basic elements of the game.

Each character starts with their three teachable perks unlocked for them already. The reason that they are called teachable perks is because they can eventually be unlocked for the rest of the characters to use. This can be done by levelling said character to level 30, 35 and 40. This will then allow said perks to be learned by the rest of the characters.

So what are the differences between characters?

For the survivors, the differences are quite marginal compared to the killers. Their main differences are their teachable perks, because they are unique to each character. Each character's teachable perks usually interact quite well with each other, which means you can have a slightly different play style between survivors. For example, Claudettes perks focus on healing whilst Dwight’s perks focus on speeding up the generator repair speed. Apart from a slightly different play style, the only other real difference between the survivors is how they look. So you are able to unlock all survivor perks on your favourite survivor and just use them.

Now I said earlier that each killer has a unique power. This vary in different ways from, incapacitating survivors, injuring them, putting them into the dying state or allowing the killers to transport themselves. I won’t list the powers of every single killer, but I’ll explain a few of them to try and highlight the variety of gameplay styles.

First up is The Trapper. His power is bear traps, (kinda lame I know). He is able to hide bear traps around the map, waiting for an unwitting survivor to step in one. Once they do, he will receive a loud noise notification. The trapper then can pick up the survivor and hook them. A survivor can escape or be rescued from a bear trap, but if they were healthy, they will now be in the injured state.

Next is The Nurse. The Nurse is the slowest moving killer, and actually moves slower than the survivors. Despite this, she is actually the most powerful killer in the game IF you can put time and effort into mastering her playstyle. Her power allows her to blink (teleport) at various distances to catch up to survivors, and she can even blink through walls.

The last killer I’ll showcase is The Hillbilly. This guy owns a chainsaw. He takes a few seconds to charge up his chainsaw attack, but once he does, run!. Upon activating it, he will begin to take off sprinting at 150% of his normal movement speed. This makes it useful for map traversal, but if you hit a survivor with it, it will allow you to put them into the dying state, completely bypassing the injured state.

So who are my favourite characters?

Honestly, I don't think I have a favourite survivor. If I had to pick one it would probably be Feng Min, mostly because I like the cosmetics I’ve unlocked for her XD.

My favourite killer is without a doubt The Huntress. Basically, she throws hatchets. There is nothing more satisfying than hitting two distant hatchet shots, to put a survivor into the dying state. She is so much fun to play, and you can do really interesting perk builds with her as well.

Why should you play it?

DBD is an amazing game for casual and hardcore horror fans. As well as original characters, there are also several licensed characters as well, including: Michael Myres - Halloween, The Tyrant - Resident Evil and Pyramid Head - Silent Hill. There are also matching survivors to go with the killers, but let's be honest, the killers are more exciting.

I apologise if this was a long read, but I really enjoy this game. There aren’t many games like it, but there are a few starting to pop up here and there, VHS being an example of one.