The horror title Dead by Daylight brings players into a world of never-ending torment. The torment is not from the gameplay itself or the feel of this game; it’s from the time wasted waiting to play a match. Hopefully the developer will take some time to add content that can bring in more players.
Story
Players will find themselves taking the place of either a killer or survivor. These two groups are locked in a never-ending battle to help feed the being called The Entity. The Entity feeds off the hope of the survivors by constantly reviving them and placing them around a campfire. The survivors wait until a new killer is ready to hunt them down. These killers are picked by The Entity and used to help feed it. You can pick from the Trapper, the Wraith, the Hillbilly, the Nurse, the Shape, the Hag, or the Doctor. This story is okay for a horror title given that you don’t really have an end to it.
The backstory’s for all the characters is a nice touch. Still, the developer has had plenty of time to give players a real story with something more concrete than what is currently here. It would be great to see this game’s story evolve over the years. I would love to help write something that could be used as a story in this game. I have been a horror fan since I was just a little kid watching Nightmare on Elm Street after my parents went to bed.
Audio
Music in this game is very straightforward. The dark, ominous tones and guitar riffs keep you in that slasher film mood. Furthermore, the music doesn’t overpower the rest of the experience in this game. You won’t feel like the music is going to cause you to miss out on the survivors making noises as they try to hide from the killers. Dead by Daylight just doesn’t need much in the music department. The whole game would suffer even more if it had a rocking soundtrack.
The game does not have any dialogue, but it’s not really needed. Too many sounds would cause you to lose out on the experience of hunting down the survivors. I recommend playing this game with headphones on and away from any loud noises outside of the game.
Graphics
The graphics in Dead by Daylight are just dark. The setting in each level are set like that with a purpose: to help bring the player into a world of despair and angst. For the most part this does work out great. That is until you try one of the lumbering killers that has a huge weapon that takes up most of the screen. This causes the player to run around in circles looking like some kind of idiot. I received a few messages from spectators taunting me because I just couldn’t see what was going on.
Each level may look different in their respective albeit shallow ways. From the haunted corn fields with animals hanging from trees to the haunted forests, they all feel the same after a while. This can easily be fixed with new levels that could involve cemeteries, haunted houses, amusement parks, floors in an office building, or the always fun high school.
The look of the characters are nice. Being able to customize the appearance of the killers and survivors is something I wasn’t expecting in this game. In fact, I had no clue what I was about to play when I was downloading this game. Each killer has a great look to them. I loved the different horror movie vibes from each character. It made waiting in a lobby almost bearable.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Dead by Daylight is easy to understand. When playing as the killer, you use their unique power to capture and sacrifice the survivors by placing them on hooks all around the map. These hooks are placed on the map by The Entity so it can keep feeding off the hope the survivor has. This is the only way to kill them. As a survivor, you need to repair five engines that will open the doors allowing you and the three others to escape. I had more fun when all four of us actually worked together. Since I didn’t have a friend that was playing this game at the same time I was, I never had the chance to enjoy real teamwork.
Speaking of the killers, each one has a unique power that will help them in a match. From bear traps to cloaking these powers can have items added to them to help. After each match players are rewarded Blood Points that can be used to purchase new perks, items, or offerings. Each of these can be used to help out either a survivor or killer. It all depends on which charter you spend those points on. The one thing I really liked was being able to play as different characters collecting Blood Points, yet I could spend the points on any one I wanted.
Survivors can bring in an item into the match. This could be either a flashlight or med-kit depending on what you might have. Bringing these items in to help is great unless you fail to work as a team. At that point the killer has won causing the four survivors to panic and not work towards escaping. This happened a few times at which point players would just leave the game.
The game has some awesome features that really work great in this game. The downfall of the gameplay is the fact you wait so long for a lobby to fill up. Being you only need five people total this was something I couldn’t believe. I played the game only a few days after the release date; that should not be a factor. Having no mode that lets a bot take a spot is just something that is sorely missing to me. It may cheapen Dead by Daylight a little, but at least you get a chance to play it.
Verdict
Overall, Dead by Daylight is a good game that has so much potential to build on. Given that I had to wait so long for a match or that I had to constantly leave lobbies just doesn’t work for a game like this. The price though is cheap enough that some players shouldn’t be bothered too much by this. Switching between killers and survivors after a match is so flawless and was the best part of this game.
I know I will continue to play this game throughout the year in hopes of more content, including maps, a story mode, or new characters. Even with the waiting I can’t recommend this game enough to all PS4 and Xbox One players.
