Dead by Daylight is an indie horror game developed and published by Behaviour Interactive. Dead by Daylight is both an action and survival horror multiplayer game in which one crazed, unstoppable Killer hunts down four Survivors through a terrifying nightmarish world in a deadly game of Cat & Mouse. It was released on 14 June 2016 for PC, 20 June 2017 for Xbox One and PS4, and 24 September 2019 for Switch.
Gameplay
- As a Survivor, go in alone or team up with friends to face an unknown threat. Use Items at hand, Unlocked Abilities and Environmental Objects to outwit the monster and escape from its killing ground.
- Set in a procedurally generated World, you'll never know what to expect, what you're facing and how to get away. You will have to make stressful choices under desperate circumstances. Every decision impacts your chances of survival.
- Killers come from all horror genres, from brutal slashers to terrifying paranormal entities. Master these monsters' unique powers and exploit the knowledge of your “home” to track, hunt down, break and sacrifice your victims before they get a chance to escape to safety.
- The asymmetry, procedural factors and unique thinking of human individuals make each Dead by Daylight match an unexpected scenario where the combined behaviour of each player creates a truly terrifying and thrilling narrative.
- Dead by Daylight Characters each have a deep progression and Unlockables which can be customised into your own personal strategy. Use your experience, Skills and load-out to climb up the competitive ladder and you might eventually discover the truth beyond the fog.
Editions
Dead by Daylight comes in several different Editions across the storefronts on various platforms.
The same Edition (in name) may also include different content based on the platform it is being sold on, due to the Standard Edition itself being different across platforms.
The following table sorts the various Editions by platform and in release-order within that.
It provides an overview of the content included with any given Edition.
It should be noted that several of the bundled and some of the special Editions are no longer available due to having been time-limited, with others also only having been available in certain regions of the world.
Trailers
Old Tutorial Videos
Before the implementation of the playable Tutorial Maps, Dead by Daylight featured short Tutorial videos to give new Players an idea of how to play the Game. There were 6 videos: 3 for the Killer and 3 for the Survivors:
Killer 1: How To Win | Killer 2: How To Hunt | Killer 3: How To Find Them |
---|---|---|
Survivor 1: How To Win | Survivor 2: How To Stay Alive | Survivor 3: Help Others |
Steam Trading Cards
- Main article: Steam Trading Cards
Dead by Daylight contains a number of Steam Trading Cards, which are virtual cards earned by playing the game on Steam. After collecting all trading cards, a badge can then be crafted and the player will receive: the next badge level, Steam XP, potential profile backgrounds, and emoticons. Steam Trading Cards can be obtained through playing the game, in which the player will receive free card-drops over a period of time, as well as buying them from the Steam Marketplace, or by trading with other players.
Official Links
Channels
Forums
Social Media
Websites
Trivia & Tidbits
Theme Music
Associated Side | Audio | Playing Condition | Melody Instrument |
---|---|---|---|
Neutral | Loading into the main menu (default Lobby) | Piano | |
Killer | Selecting Play as Killer | Overdriven Guitar | |
Survivor | Selecting Play as Survivor | Acoustic Guitar |
Voice Actors
- For the majority of the game's lifetime, the Developers at Behaviour Interactive used members of their own team to provide the voice-acting for Killers and Survivors, with many Killers having been voiced by their Art Director: Filip Ivanovic.
- With the release of CHAPTER 11.5: Ash vs Evil Dead, actor Bruce Campbell reprised the role of Ashley J. Williams, his character from the Evil Dead franchise, and again with the release of Tome 15 - Ascension with rift cosmetics which include the possessed puppet: Ashy Slashy.
- Starting with the first Resident Evil franchise release in 2021, CHAPTER 20: Resident Evil™, Behaviour Interactive has collaborated with La Fabrique de Monstres (The Monster Factory), a Canadian voice talent company, on licensed and original characters' voice lines.
- Doug Bradley, the original actor for Elliot Spencer, AKA Pinhead and The Cenobite, reprised his iconic role from the Hellraiser movies to provide his in-game character with his voice with the release of CHAPTER 21: Hellraiser™
- A special mention is reserved for the original John Kramer / Jigsaw actor, Tobin Bell, who reprised his iconic role from the Saw movies to provide his voice to Billy, the Puppet for the Reveal Trailer of Tome X - SAW which features the characters from CHAPTER 7: The SAW™ Chapter
- Nicolas Cage is voiced by the actor himself, released in CHAPTER 28.5: Nicolas Cage, where the actor portrayed his eponymous character with an aspect of being unhinged after being taken by the Entity.
- CHAPTER 30: Chucky brought an addition from the Child's Play film franchise, where the actor Brad Dourif returned to voice the vulgar lines of Charles Lee Ray, AKA The Good Guy or Chucky, and Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine, AKA The Good Gal, a Legendary Outfit.
Dead by Daylight BETA
This paragraph lists some trivial facts about the Dead by Daylight BETA build that was available to some Content creators and lucky few prior to the Game's original release in June 2016:
Characters
- While all four original Survivors were available to play as, Killers could only play as The Trapper.
Cosmetics
- Some of the Killer's Cosmetic options did not yet have dedicated icons and used the icon of the Skeleton Key as a placeholder instead.
Items
- Several Items that would not become available until Patch 1.1.2 were already implemented and functional, but remained locked and hidden.
Levelling
- It was impossible to level past Level 5.
- However, a bug allowed some Players to circumvent this restriction and even prestige.
Locomotion
- When walking on stairs, BETA Survivors would realistically place their feet on the individual steps.
However, this system was scrapped.
Map Offerings
- All Map Offerings with a tremendous modifier were of Very Rare Rarity, compared to the Rare they were changed to after a few Patches.
Maps & Realms
- Despite only having the original The MacMillan Estate Maps available to play on, the BETA already contained the other two Release-Realms, Autohaven Wreckers and Coldwind Farm, as well as several early version of future Maps for other Realms.
- Unreleased Sawmill Map:
- Loading into the Sawmill Map reveals that it uses assets of The Thompson House on a different lay-out.
This Map never made it past early development.
- Loading into the Sawmill Map reveals that it uses assets of The Thompson House on a different lay-out.
- Early Backwater Swamp Maps (CHAPTER 3: Of Flesh and Mud):
- Loading into the Backwater Swamp Maps reveals many missing assets, but also some that never made it to release, such as a large tree with tunnels in-between its massive roots.
- The Pale Rose was nearly finished already.
- Grim Pantry's main-building featured some slightly altered lay-out.
- A Map was intended to feature the cannibal-village from The Hag's Lore and was even modelled and textured by 1.3.1, but never released.
- Early Crotus Prenn Asylum version (CHAPTER 1: The Last Breath Chapter):
- The BETA version was located in Coldwind Farm, which, judging by other unreleased Maps, appears to have been used as a Template-Realm by the Developers.
- The Asylum building featured essentially the same lay-out as it did at release.
- Unreleased Coldwind Farm Map:
- The BETA featured an unreleased Map called "Farm Cross", which was in the shape of large '+', as well as fully modelled and textured.
Curiously, it featured the main Landmarks of several Coldwind Farm Maps, almost as if the Map itself was a compilation.
It featured the Silo (Torment Creek), the Slaughterhouse (Rancid Abattoir), and the Farmhouse (The Thompson House).
- The BETA featured an unreleased Map called "Farm Cross", which was in the shape of large '+', as well as fully modelled and textured.
- Unreleased Sawmill Map:
Prestige
- Prestige Cosmetics were of Ultra Rare Rarity, compared to the Rare they were changed to after the first Bloodweb Rework.
Teachable Perks
- While Teachable Perks already existed, hovering above them in the inventory would only mention its Rarity and omit the Character they belong to.
Phobias
Due to the very nature of horror games, Dead by Daylight encompasses and/or portrays a large variety of phobias and fears for atmospheric purposes.
The following table details several phobias:
Phobia | Translation | Manifestations |
---|---|---|
Acrophobia | Fear of Heights | Drops from two-story buildings/structures on various Maps. |
Agoraphobia | Fear of Open Places | Many outdoor Maps. |
Agyrophobia | Fear of Crossing Streets | Haddonfield, Badham Preschool. |
Aichmophobia | Fear of Sharp Objects | Various Killer weapons. |
Ailurophobia | Fear of Cats | Cat-themed cosmetics in the Cursed Cats collection. |
Algophobia | Fear of Pain | Getting hit, downed, hooked, being injured. |
Apotemnophobia | Fear of Dismemberment | The Spirit, Clown's Memento Mori. |
Anthropophagososphobia | Fear of Cannibalism | The Cannibal, Hag's Memento Mori. |
Arachnophobia | Fear of Spiders | Entity-spider-legs on Hooks and Visceral Cankers. |
Atychiphobia | Fear of Failure | Losing progress on generators and hooking Survivors. |
Automatonophobia | Fear of Mannequins/Puppets | Mannequin props on The Game, Shelter Woods. |
Basiphobia | Fear of Falling | Drops from two-story buildings/structures on various Maps. |
Blennophobia | Fear of Ooze/Slime | The Blight, Visceral Cankers, Blighted Cosmetics. |
Coulrophobia | Fear of Clowns | The Clown, Coulrophobia. |
Claustrophobia | Fear of Tight Spaces | Claustrophobia. Several maps also have corridors and areas that may trigger claustrophobia. |
Demonophobia | Fear of Demons | The Oni, The Nightmare, The Cenobite |
Ecclesiophobia | Fear of Churches | The Temple of Purgation and Father Campbell's Chapel |
Electrophobia | Fear of Electricity | The Doctor. Regressing Generators also make an electrical sparking effect. |
Emetophobia | Fear of Vomit | The Plague. |
Equinophobia | Fear of Horses | Maurice on Father Campbell's Chapel, the Dredge's Very Rare "Memory of Maurice" cosmetic. |
Ergophobia | Fear of Work | Repairing Generators. |
Haemophobia | Fear of Blood | Various visual effects, Haemophobia. |
Hierophobia | Fear of Sacred People/Objects | The Plague and The Temple of Purgation |
Latrophobia | Fear of Doctors | The Doctor and The Nurse. |
Lupophobia | Fear of Werewolves | The Huntress (see Lore Trivia). |
Masklophobia | Fear of Masks/Costumes | Various Cosmetic options. |
Monophobia | Fear of Isolation | The Void, being the last Survivor alive, Killers. |
Murophobia | Fear of Mice/Rats | Rats in various Maps. |
Necrophobia | Fear of Dead Things | Various slaughtered animals in Coldwind Farm and human corpses in Hawkins National Laboratory. |
Nosocomephobia | Fear of Hospitals | Léry's Memorial Institute and Crotus Prenn Asylum. |
Nosophobia | Fear of Disease | The Plague, The Nemesis T-Type. |
Nyctophobia | Fear of Darkness/Night | Maps are usually dark and not very bright, especially during Nightfall caused by The Dredge. |
Oikophobia | Fear of Home Environments | Haddonfield, Badham Preschool, Mother's Dwelling. |
Oneirophobia | Fear of Dreams | The Nightmare |
Ornithophobia | Fear of Birds | The Crows, Vultures on Dead Dawg Saloon, The Artist's Dire Crow ability. |
Pediophobia | Fear of Dolls | The Good Guy, The Dredge's Very Rare "Twisted Plaything" cosmetic. |
Pharmacophobia | Fear of Medicine | Being healed by other Survivors, Vaccine, First Aid Spray, Med-Kits. |
Phasmophobia | Fear of Ghosts or Phantoms | The Wraith, The Onryō, The Spirit, The Nurse, The Artist |
Phonophobia | Fear of Loud Sounds | Various map-wide sounds, Hook screams. |
Photophobia | Fear of Light | The Entity, Killers. |
Pyrophobia | Fear of Fire | Remote Flame Turrets |
Robophobia | Fear of Robots | The Singularity, especially the Very Rare "Huxlee Hybrid" cosmetic. |
Samhainophobia | Fear of Halloween | Overall horror theme. Especially notable in Haddonfield. |
Scopophobia | Fear of Being Watched | There are several killers able to stalk the player. |
Somniphobia | Fear of Sleep | Falling asleep when facing The Nightmare. |
Swinophobia | Fear of Pigs | The Pig, props on Coldwind Farm. The Hillbilly's Very Rare "Sunday Slaughter" cosmetic. |
Taphophobia | Fear of Graves | The Eyrie of Crows Map. |
Tetraphobia | Fear of the Number 4 | Showstopper, after its rework, has a default capacity of 44 Blades. In several Asian languages, the number 'four' is a homophone to the word for 'death' and therefore associated with similar levels of superstition as the number 'thirteen' in Western cultures. |
Teraphobia | Fear of Monsters | The Demogorgon, The Entity, The Blight, The Executioner, The Oni, The Nemesis T-Type, The Dredge, The Xenomorph |
Thanatophobia | Fear of Death | General theme, the Killers, the Sacrifice Ritual, Thanatophobia. |
Tonitrophobia | Fear of Thunder | Hexes getting cleansed and Boons getting blessed are both accompanied by a thunder sound effect. |
Toxiphobia | Fear of getting poisoned | The Clown's bottles. |
Traumatophobia | Fear of Injury | Getting hit, Deep Wound. |
Trypanophobia | Fear of Needles | Nurse Cosmetics, injecting a Vaccine. |
Trypophobia | Fear of Holes | The Twins: Charlotte's chest cavity when Victor is on the prowl. The Cenobite or the visual effects for the Singularity's Slipstream may also trigger trypophobia. |
Wiccaphobia | Fear of Witches/Witchcraft | The Hag, Mikaela Reid's boon totems. |
Zoophobia | Fear of Animals | The Huntress's animal skin cosmetics, The Pig, Crows, Vultures, Rats. |
Content Codenames
Dead by Daylight makes use of internal codenames to distinguish between and classify different content, usually the Game's numerous DLCs.
All files associated with a specific content release will have a reference to said codename.
This practice originally started during the Development of CHAPTER VI: A Nightmare on Elm Street™, codenamed "England", likely originating as an internal joke as a wordplay on Robert Englund's last name, the original portrayor of the character of Freddy Krueger.
Dead by Daylight Mobile
The Dead by Daylight Mobile port and any data associated with it features a special internal reference: "Atlanta"
- "Atlanta" is the Capital of the State of Georgia in the US and finds its origins in "Atlantic", a reference to the transcontinental Atlantic-Pacific Railroad.
Country-based Codenames
Starting with the aforementioned "England" Chapter, each successive Chapter, and eventually each Mid-Chapter as well, were named after an apparently random country in alphabetical order, with the Developers occasionally skipping some letters.
This practice continued until the release of the Mid-Chapter Patch 4.3.0, codenamed "Zambia".
Astronomy-based Codenames
Having reached the end of the alphabet with Patch 4.3.0, the Developers switched the idea pool of their codenames from countries to terms found in astronomy, starting with the release of CHAPTER 18: A Binding of Kin (Patch 4.4.0), codenamed "Aurora".
This practice continued until the release of the Mid-Chapter Patch 7.5.0, codenamed "Zodiac".
Food-based Codenames
Having reached the end of the alphabet with Patch 7.5.0, the Developers switched the idea pool of their codenames from astronomical terminology to foods, starting with the release of CHAPTER 31: All Things Wicked (Patch 7.6.0), codenamed "ApplePie".
This practice continues to this day.
Codename Table
The following table lists all Content Codenames used in Dead by Daylight:
Name Explanations
- "Aurora" is the Latin terminology used to describe the polar lights, also called "Aurora borealis" (Northern Lights) or "Aurora australis" (Southern Lights).
- "Big Bang" refers to the most popular scientific theory about the creation of the Universe.
- "Comet" refers to objects in the solar system that are mainly composed of rocks and ice.
When they approach the sun, its heat causes them to heat up and leave long trails of gas trailing after them, that make them visible in the sky under the right conditions. - "Draco" refers to a star-constellation in the Northern Sky that was first discovered by Ptolemy in the second century AD.
- "Eclipse" refers to an astronomical event in which an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another object or by having another body pass in-between it and the observer.
The most common examples of eclipses on Earth are Solar and Lunar eclipses. - "Flare" here likely refers to solar flares, events that suddenly increase the sun's brightness in certain spots on its surface.
- "Gemini" refers to the star-constellation of the same name, as well as the third zodiac sign, for people born between 21 May and 21 June.
- "Guam" is an organised, unincorporated territory of the United States in Micronesia.
- "Hubble" is a reference to the space telescope of the same name, as well as the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, who the space telescope was named after.
- "Ion" refers to either a particle, an atom, or a molecule that carries an electric charge.
- "Jupiter" refers to the largest planet in the Solar System, as well as the Roman equivalent to Zeus, the Greek God of the Sky.
- "Kepler" refers to Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer who lived and worked in the 17th century, best known for his discoveries regarding planetary motion.
- "Libra" refers to the star-constellation of the same name, as well as the seventh zodiac sign, for people born between 23 September and 23 October.
- "Meteor" refers to small rocky or metallic bodies in Outer Space.
- "Niagara" refers to the famous "Niagara Falls", as well as a town of the same name.
Both are located in South Eastern Canada. - "Nova" refers to a transient astronomical event that causes a sudden appearance bright point of light, often appearing as a 'new star'.
- "Orion" refers to a star-constellation on the celestial equator that can be observed across the globe, with its distinctive shape having been recognised by numerous cultures throughout history.
- "Pluto" refers to the dwarf planet in the Solar System that was formerly known as the 9th planet, as well as the Roman equivalent to Hades, the Greek God of the Underworld.
- "Quantum" refers to the concept of Quantum Physics, which is the study of matter and energy at their most fundamental level.
- "Rocket" refers to a vehicle using jet-propulsion to transport cargo or people into space.
- "Saturn" refers to the second-largest planet in the Solar System, as well as the Roman equivalent to Cronos, the Greek God of Time.
- "Titan" refers to the largest moon of the planet Saturn, as well as the Elder Gods in Greek Mythology, of which Cronos was the leader.
- "Umbra" refers to the shadow cast by celestial bodies when they temporarily block the light of a star, such as during solar or lunar eclipses.
- "Venus" refers to the second planet in the Solar System, as well as the Roman equivalent to Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love.
- "Wormhole" refers to a hypothetical structure that connects two disparate points in spacetime, based on a special solution to Albert Einstein's field equations.
- "Xipre" is the Catalan name of "Cyprus", an island republic situated in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
- "X-Ray"' is a type of electromagnetic radiation that is generally employed as a medical imaging technology.
- "Yerkes" refers to an observatory of the same name, which is was named after Charles Yerkes, one of its financiers.
- "Zodiac" refers to the Zodiac belt, a region in the sky about 8° north and south of the Ecliptic, marking the path of the Sun throughout the year.
Unreal Engine Versions
Dead by Daylight runs on Epic's Unreal Engine.
Patch 1.4.0
- Updated Engine to version 4.13
Patch 2.4.0
- Updated Engine to version 4.20
Patch 2.6.0
- Updated Engine to version 4.21
Patch 3.3.1
- Updated Engine to version 4.22
Patch 4.2.0
- Updated Engine to version 4.25
Patch 5.7.0
- Updated Engine to version 4.27.2
Patch 7.7.0
- Updated Engine to version 5
Localisation
There are 15 languages currently available in Dead by Daylight:
- German
- English
- Spanish
- Mexican Spanish
- French
- Italian
- Polish
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Turkish
- Russian
- Thai
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Japanese
- Korean
Spin-offs
There are several spin-off games of Dead by Daylight, including a Dating Sim and a physical board game.
Crossovers
Dead by Daylight had several crossover events with other media products, including the following:
- For Honour
- Move or Die
- PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
- Flippin Misfits
- Meet Your Maker