The beginning game for the Killer vs Survivors PvP genre, originally launched on Steam in June of 2016, is Dead By Daylight by Behaviour Digital Inc. This game has been getting a mostly positive review rating, and it completely deserves it!
Being the first to a genre is always a difficult thing to come up with, let alone build it up properly without previous games to really base it off of. So with that in said, I want to answer a question that I know many of you have. Which is better: Friday the 13th or Dead by Daylight?
To answer it simply, I think Friday the 13th is more fun as a survivor while Dead by Daylight is more fun as a killer. Ultimately, they both are fun and challenging games, but for different reasons. Let's break it down further.
Gameplay
While playing as the survivors, the only way to win is to escape. There is no timer, so you have to complete the tasks and there is only one actual task. The only way out of the dangerous field is to power up five of the multiple generators located around the map, which will give you the ability to open one of the two exits so that you can run to freedom!
There is one alternative to the exit and that is the escape hatch. The hatch opens up if all five generators are powered on, or if you at least power on two generators and are the last survivor left alive. Finding this hatch requires listening for the sound of wind blowing through a tunnel and following the direction that the sound gets louder.
As the killer, your goal is to kill the survivors (of course)! However, this is quite difficult because there is only one true way to kill anybody, which are on the hooks. You must weaken the players with two strikes from your weapon, which has a one to two second cool down per use, and then picking them up to take to the nearest hook. While they are on your shoulder they can try to wiggle free, which makes your movement more difficult.
On top of the difficulty of doing that once, you have to do it three times - or hang out when you hook them to make sure none of the other survivors save their comrade. The survivors get an option to attempt escaping, but this is practically futile because it rarely works and doing so counts as another hook. From my own experience, I have never saved myself once hooked, so it is a nigh impossible task!
I explain more details of the game in my gameplay footage below:
Graphics
The visuals of the game is actually rather well done and have a more, supernatural, but believable death. I didn't see anything that showed a loss to the realism brought by the visuals within the levels.
There are crows that give away positions, but their standing animation is really basic. I mention this because it is honestly my only issue with the graphics in the game!
Sound
While there are the sounds of notifications regarding different aspects in the game, such as failing or passing a generation start up, but there is little to no music and instead gives the ambiance of the location you are in.
Each killer has their own sounds they make as well, except the Wraith who is silent, and when they are near the survivors, they can hear a heart beat which indicates how close you are by how fast the heart is beating.
And as mentioned above, the sound of the wind in a tunnel to indicate the escape hatch is a nice touch to make listening to the environment incredibly important!
Replayability
There is always room to improve and everybody plays differently, as well as there are multiple ways to play the game depending on which perks you have, which killer you choose, and even which survivor you choose! This game has nothing but replayability!
What Could Be Better
I would of liked to have more options for the survivors to be able to escape and more obstacles that could of been used in the killers favor. I also think there should be better balance for the blood points, as it is way easier to get them as the killer than as a survivor.
Conclusion
The game is a lot of fun and easily will be taking up more hours of my time than it already has! It has a lot of aspects that benefit both sides, but being a survivor is a very limited set of tasks in order to win while the killer hunts them down. I enjoyed the leveling system and find it fair, as well as, helpful since it provides items to be used in matches. A good game to add to any horror fans library!
