People Act Really Weird About Dead By Daylight

I need more bloodpoints…

The story is simple. A powerful cosmic monster known as The Entity takes dangerous and bloodthirsty killers from different times and worlds and tasks them with snuffing out the last hopes of survivors. For years, I had heard that the only thing more grueling than dying over and over as sacrificial lambs for The Entity was actually downloading Dead By Daylight and playing it for yourself. 

I’ll put my cards on the table: I’m only 10 hours in, but I’m absolutely obsessed. I’m a killer main, and I’ve started reaching a point where I’m playing against coordinated survivors with some real skill and it is damn satisfying to fly around the map as Kaneki (with the legendary Rize skin to escape his loud voice lines) or Dracula catching people off guard and forcing them into complicated and unique gameplay puzzles. There’s a nice blend of macro and micro skills, where you need to simultaneously be good at the executional challenges of chases while also keeping track of which pallets you’re destroyed, where other survivors are, and what gens need a nice kicking. I really love a lot of the quality of life changes, like nerfing the ability to camp in front of a survivor you’ve hung off a hook, that raise the skill ceiling while also incentivizing new and low skill players like me to go and put widespread pressure across the map.

The game certainly has its balancing and design issues, but the sheer horror on the faces of people when you tell them you’re into this game is strange to me. The grind to get all your perks up to speed and get a nice collection of add-ons can be a pain, and the monetization of cosmetics is pretty intense, but not enough to where people should be concerned about my health. 

It’s not just outsiders though. DBD’s community is full of bizarre faux pas and social rules that go directly against the design of the game. Of course, I went in knowing not to t-bag or shake my head in obvious game transcending disrespect, but if you unhook a survivor 2 seconds after I put them on there, I’m not camping the hook! You’re just playing poorly! I’m playing the game casually, but I’m still trying to win. It’s like playing Mario Kart. I’m doing my best to win AND ALSO it’s no big deal if I don’t. 

Listen, I get it. I complain about design problems as much as the next gal. I play Guilty Gear Strive for money after all, but the game encourages you to get creative with your builds and try your best to win! I don’t  get why the average gamer still can’t wrap their head around the fact that in a competitive game, one team has to win and the other has to lose. And sometimes that loser is going to be YOU. If you are incapable of having fun while losing, you should probably find a genre that’s better for your mental health. Especially because DBD still rewards you for your play even when you lose, and your MMR is hidden so you can’t fall for rank brain poisoning.

I think being a long time fighting game player has heavily shaped my relationship to multiplayer games and my willingness to learn and lose. The FGC heavily values the ability to quickly adapt to new strategies, to learn your fundamentals, and choose how far you’re actually interested in pushing your skill. I find the skills that DBD tests extremely fun so I study and practice them to get more and more depth out of them. Not because I need to win, but because more depth means more room for reads, macro map pressure, and satisfying moments. In the end, every game is a learning process, and you’re always going to make lots of mistakes that get punished by better players. 

My advice is that you shouldn’t be afraid to enter the fog. Pick a killer or survivor you really click with, original or licensed, and just experiment. Don’t stress about results. Don’t drive yourself crazy with a bunch of random arbitrary rules. And maybe you’ll escape with your life.