PAX EAST 2017 | "Dead by Daylight"
Since last June, Behavior Interactive's Dead by Daylight has been offering frights, gore, and 80's-styled chills on Steam. This year, the 4 vs 1 multiplayer is sharpening its machete to take on the console realm. Those hankering to either be a crazed slasher or a dumb teen who can't see the danger signs all around will no doubt wanna jump into this haunted cabin in the woods.
At PAX East I was given the opportunity to try out the upcoming PS4 build of the game, with my task being that of killing the other four players. As they're attempting to start up generators, I was setting bear traps and seeking them out from higher areas. The object of the mission is for my killer to take down the teens, carry them into the basement, and impale them with hooks to sacrifice them to whatever evil deity my psycho character believes in. As my character wasn't the best runner, I found myself having to sneak behind my victims and quickly taking them out.
What surprised me the most about Dead by Daylight is how the core mechanics of the game fit well with the lore of the slasher horror genre. Even though my character was slow, I still managed to find a way to take out any of my victims thanks to a keen eye and a powerful weapon in my possession. As the killer, strategy was key to my victory, as I found myself laying out traps near the generator so as to injure my victims and get in that one final blow to fully capture them. In about five minutes, I was shocked to find that I had won the match.
Thus far, Behavior Interactive has pieced together a nice transition from PC-to-console. Although there were a couple framerate issues from time-to-time, the overall gameplay experience flowed pretty well. Even when it came to hunting down my character's victims, there was a good amount of strategy that led me to knock off each of them one-by-one rather than trying to tackle them all at once. Plus, as a fan of old-school horror films, this game has my upmost attention once it leaves the PC-only base.
Dead by Daylight is due for release on PS4 and Xbox One later this summer. Until then, if you've got a good-enough PC, you can prep your cabin stay on Steam.
