Traditionally, horror games have been strictly single-player or co-op experiences, rarely dipping their toe in the versus multiplayer space. That changed on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with asymmetrical multiplayer horror games becoming a trend with titles like Friday the 13th: The Game and, more recently, Resident Evil: Resistance. However, there is one game that arguably pulled off asymmetrical multiplayer horror better than any of its counterparts, and that is none other than Behaviour Interactive's Dead By Daylight.
The concept of Dead By Daylight is simple, yet effective. Four players take on the role of "survivors," who have the goal of activating generators that will open a gate and let them escape with their lives. One player, meanwhile, takes on the role of the killer, who relentlessly pursues the survivors, typically with supernatural abilities to aid them. The killers are able to hang the survivors on meathooks to immobilize them temporarily while they hunt down their friends, and eventually, can kill the survivors completely.
What makes Dead By Daylight even more appealing to hardcore horror fans is that it features a robust roster of killers and survivors to choose from. Along with devilish original creations by Behaviour Interactive, the roster also features a wide variety of iconic horror villains from movies, TV shows, and even other video games. This includes the likes of Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, Ghost Face from Scream, Michael Myers from Halloween, and even the Demogorgon from Netflix's Stranger Things show.
As far as video game killers go, Dead By Daylight has so far only added one to its roster, but it has proven to be quite the popular addition. Pyramid Head from Silent Hill recently made his debut in Dead By Daylight, along with a slew of other content based on Konami's classic survival-horror franchise.
Of course, these famous killers were added to Dead By Daylight over time, so the game at launch wasn't quite as impressive. It was also plagued with a slew of technical issues that held it back, but those have since been resolved. Behaviour Interactive has sold millions of copies of Dead By Daylight, and the playerbase seems to only be growing with time.
Looking ahead, Behaviour Interactive has more major updates in the works for Dead By Daylight. This includes plans to update Dead By Daylight for next-gen consoles with superior graphics and more improvements. Needless to say, Behaviour Interactive is in it for the long haul, ensuring horror fans can look forward to plenty of Dead By Daylight content for years to come.
Dead By Daylight is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.
