Dead by Daylight
Dead by Daylight is an online asymmetric multiplayer survival horror video game developed and published 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;[a] the Killer must hunt and 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.
This article is about the 2016 survival horror game. Not to be confused with Dead by Sunrise.Dead by Daylight
- Behaviour Interactive
- 505 Games
- Deep Silver
- NetEase Games
- Starbreeze Studios
- Ashley Pannell
- Dave Richard
- Mathieu Coté
Stéfan Beauchamp-Daniel
- Fadi Beyrouti
- Jean-Philip Desjardins
- Rémi Veilleux
- Filip Ivanovic
- Marc Salha
Farah Daoud-Brixi
Michel F. April
- Unreal Engine 4 (2016–2024)[1]
- Unreal Engine 5 (2024–present)[2]
The game was released for Windows in 2016,[3] for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017,[4][5][6] for Switch in 2019, and for Android, iOS, PlayStation 5, Stadia, and Xbox Series X/S in 2020.[7] It became Steam Deck Verified[b] in 2023.[8] Swedish studio Starbreeze Studios published the game on behalf of Behaviour from 2016 until 2018, when Behaviour bought the publishing rights.[9][10] 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.
Dead by Daylight received mixed reviews upon release, but was a commercial success; it has since attracted more than 60 million players and improved its ratings. In 2023, it was announced that production companies Blumhouse Productions and Atomic Monster had begun developing a film adaptation.
Setting[edit]
Premise[edit]
A group of four Survivors must elude one Killer obsessed with sacrificing them on hooks to a malevolent being called the Entity. The Survivors' perspectives are third-person,[10] while most Killer's perspectives are first-person.[d] 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.[13]
Plot[edit]
The Entity, an eldritch horror that exists between dimensions, is attracted to actions of great violence and malice. The majority of Killers, most of whom are serial murderers or victims of terrible tragedy, are pulled out of reality by the Entity and convinced or forced to do its bidding.[e] 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 using witchcraft. 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 are released every few months alongside a battle pass known as "The Rift".
Mobile release[edit]
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.[92] 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.[93] 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.[94] It was released in EMEA, the Americas, and South Asia on April 16, 2020.[95][96]
In its 48 hours of release, Dead by Daylight Mobile outnumbered 1 million downloads.[97] By October 2020, the game surpassed 10 million downloads.[98] By May 2022, the game reached 25 million downloads.[99] In 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 from the mobile storefronts on December 16, 2022, and announced that the improved global version will be released in February 2023. Then, it got delayed for one month and finally the improved global version released on March 15, 2023.[100]
