I hate that I love this game. It is absolutely flawed. Yet I can't help myself from queuing up for one more match.
The developers are out of touch:
Bugs and glitches infest the very foundations of this game's spaghetti code. Quality of life features take years to arrive after they were initially promised. Some never arrive at all. Most recently, there has been a notable increase in the presence of cheaters. Using various readily-available exploits, they are able to ruin the experience for others and even hold them hostage by indefinitely prolonging the match duration. This forces players to eat a disconnect penalty, proving especially problematic for large streamers who constantly have targets on their backs. Little effort has been made to address this, and instead the game was given away for free on the Epic Games Store—an open invitation for cheaters to run rampant without consequence. They will happily sell you more cosmetics, though! And how about that dating sim? In the words of Game Director Mathieu Cote, "Go play Civilization instead."
The community is toxic and self-destructive:
Entitled players, who main either Killer or Survivor roles, engage in perpetual shouting matches on Twitter and the official forums. Meanwhile, the developers stick their heads in the sand and make tone-deaf balance decisions that ultimately appease nobody. It is also not uncommon to experience harassment in the post-game chat, simply because the other role didn't approve of your play style; The unsatisfactory balance of the game has driven both roles to play in cruel and boring ways. Attempting to run a fun or unique perk build will rarely work out in your favor. Debates on the topic are often circular and rarely lead to meaningful conclusions. The Dead by Daylight community is home to some of the most close-minded individuals you can encounter online.
The progression system is unnecessarily grindy:
There are over 55 playable Killers/Survivors in Dead by Daylight. Each character comes with three unique perks. Players must spend copious amounts of currency to unlock all three tiers of a perk before it is worth using and available to be unlocked on other characters. With each new chapter, the grind for character perks increases exponentially. Naturally, this is the most common complaint amongst the community, but the boilerplate response from the developers has always been, "We're working on it." For years, players have been spoon-fed in-game currency through log-in rewards and promo codes as short-term, band-aid solutions to a chasmic issue. This is the single greatest barrier new players face when attempting to pick up the game, as they do not have sufficient tools to compete against long-time players who have access to a cut-throat arsenal of powerful meta perks.
The matchmaking is broken and confusing:
The developers spent years working on a flawed skill-based matchmaking system that has ruined the experience for new and veteran players alike. MMR, used to determine matchmaking, is an invisible value hidden from player view. Instead, a misleading grade emblem is displayed, which represents a linear reward system that resets each month. This is not a useful skill indicator for players looking to earnestly work towards improving their gameplay; Grades are simply a representation of a player's time commitment in any given month. Furthermore, said MMR system is utterly ineffective at accurately filling a lobby with balanced skill levels. Brand-new players being pitted against players with thousands of hours is a frequent sight. The developers have delivered contradictory answers in response to questions about the MMR system's dubious functionality, revealing that they themselves are unsure of how to classify a "win" for both roles and are naïvely confident in their own system. The stubbornness showcased by the developers when it comes to admitting and correcting their own mistakes is astounding.
Having said all of this, I would still recommend Dead by Daylight.
It may sound completely contradictory, but no other game has incited such giddy cat-and-mouse excitement as Dead by Daylight and its addictive gameplay loop. Having dedicated 2000 hours to the game myself, I can admit it is really a lot of fun when everything works as intended. It's hard to find a feeling more thrilling than just barely managing to free yourself from the killer's grasp and escape, or catch that one stealthy survivor who has evaded you all game and perform a mori finisher to close out the match. The roster of original and licensed characters continues to grow each year, with many more ambitious crossovers to come—it is irrefutably the Smash Bros. of the horror genre. No other game allows you to play as Ash Williams, surviving alongside the likes of Cheryl Mason, Steve Harrington, and Leon Kennedy, as you attempt to escape from the fences of Badham Preschool while the legendary Michael Myers hunts you down. The presence of so many horror icons in a single piece of media is nothing short of impressive and truly a sight to behold.
Beneath the tremendous grind, the egregious imbalances, and the petty infighting, I believe there is undoubtedly some enjoyment to be found in Dead by Daylight. Grab a few friends, spend an evening playing custom matches, and share some laughs, some shouts, and some scares.
The developers are out of touch:
Bugs and glitches infest the very foundations of this game's spaghetti code. Quality of life features take years to arrive after they were initially promised. Some never arrive at all. Most recently, there has been a notable increase in the presence of cheaters. Using various readily-available exploits, they are able to ruin the experience for others and even hold them hostage by indefinitely prolonging the match duration. This forces players to eat a disconnect penalty, proving especially problematic for large streamers who constantly have targets on their backs. Little effort has been made to address this, and instead the game was given away for free on the Epic Games Store—an open invitation for cheaters to run rampant without consequence. They will happily sell you more cosmetics, though! And how about that dating sim? In the words of Game Director Mathieu Cote, "Go play Civilization instead."
The community is toxic and self-destructive:
Entitled players, who main either Killer or Survivor roles, engage in perpetual shouting matches on Twitter and the official forums. Meanwhile, the developers stick their heads in the sand and make tone-deaf balance decisions that ultimately appease nobody. It is also not uncommon to experience harassment in the post-game chat, simply because the other role didn't approve of your play style; The unsatisfactory balance of the game has driven both roles to play in cruel and boring ways. Attempting to run a fun or unique perk build will rarely work out in your favor. Debates on the topic are often circular and rarely lead to meaningful conclusions. The Dead by Daylight community is home to some of the most close-minded individuals you can encounter online.
The progression system is unnecessarily grindy:
There are over 55 playable Killers/Survivors in Dead by Daylight. Each character comes with three unique perks. Players must spend copious amounts of currency to unlock all three tiers of a perk before it is worth using and available to be unlocked on other characters. With each new chapter, the grind for character perks increases exponentially. Naturally, this is the most common complaint amongst the community, but the boilerplate response from the developers has always been, "We're working on it." For years, players have been spoon-fed in-game currency through log-in rewards and promo codes as short-term, band-aid solutions to a chasmic issue. This is the single greatest barrier new players face when attempting to pick up the game, as they do not have sufficient tools to compete against long-time players who have access to a cut-throat arsenal of powerful meta perks.
The matchmaking is broken and confusing:
The developers spent years working on a flawed skill-based matchmaking system that has ruined the experience for new and veteran players alike. MMR, used to determine matchmaking, is an invisible value hidden from player view. Instead, a misleading grade emblem is displayed, which represents a linear reward system that resets each month. This is not a useful skill indicator for players looking to earnestly work towards improving their gameplay; Grades are simply a representation of a player's time commitment in any given month. Furthermore, said MMR system is utterly ineffective at accurately filling a lobby with balanced skill levels. Brand-new players being pitted against players with thousands of hours is a frequent sight. The developers have delivered contradictory answers in response to questions about the MMR system's dubious functionality, revealing that they themselves are unsure of how to classify a "win" for both roles and are naïvely confident in their own system. The stubbornness showcased by the developers when it comes to admitting and correcting their own mistakes is astounding.
Having said all of this, I would still recommend Dead by Daylight.
It may sound completely contradictory, but no other game has incited such giddy cat-and-mouse excitement as Dead by Daylight and its addictive gameplay loop. Having dedicated 2000 hours to the game myself, I can admit it is really a lot of fun when everything works as intended. It's hard to find a feeling more thrilling than just barely managing to free yourself from the killer's grasp and escape, or catch that one stealthy survivor who has evaded you all game and perform a mori finisher to close out the match. The roster of original and licensed characters continues to grow each year, with many more ambitious crossovers to come—it is irrefutably the Smash Bros. of the horror genre. No other game allows you to play as Ash Williams, surviving alongside the likes of Cheryl Mason, Steve Harrington, and Leon Kennedy, as you attempt to escape from the fences of Badham Preschool while the legendary Michael Myers hunts you down. The presence of so many horror icons in a single piece of media is nothing short of impressive and truly a sight to behold.
Beneath the tremendous grind, the egregious imbalances, and the petty infighting, I believe there is undoubtedly some enjoyment to be found in Dead by Daylight. Grab a few friends, spend an evening playing custom matches, and share some laughs, some shouts, and some scares.