Dead by Daylight is nothing if not content-rich, and as a live-service, asymmetrical horror title that is ultimately what fans expect and eagerly await. This is why Dead by Daylight’s sixth anniversary broadcast was important, because not only did it share news about its June festivities, but it also shared many details about some considerable changes that players should expect in the near future.
Between different developers in segmented sections, Behaviour Interactive detailed a lot of overhauls and updates alongside its sixth anniversary celebrations, and many of these changes are scheduled to arrive as soon as this summer. The sixth anniversary broadcast was fairly important in terms of updates that dedicated players would do well to catch up on and prepare for, as well as some pleasant surprises and confirmation for a couple significant Dead by Daylight leaks.
Structural Reworks and Changes to Gameplay in Dead by Daylight
Dead by Daylight will not be reducing its sheer number of survivor and killer perks as many players have advocated for, but instead will be overhauling around 40 perks that Behaviour has decided are exploitative for static metas in the game. To probably nobody’s surprise, Behaviour has isolated several perks from both survivor and killer sides that have been instrumental to these static metas.
On the survivor side, these perks include Dead Hard, Decisive Strike, Borrowed Time, Iron Will, and Self-Care; on the killer side, these perks include: BBQ & Chili, Corrupt Intervention, Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance, Hex: Ruin, and Pop Goes the Weasel. In an effort to emphasize and encourage “perk variety and viability” on both sides, nearly 40 perks will be reworked in some fashion at a later date.
Further, Dead by Daylight is working toward a rework on character prestiges as well as how progression and Bloodwebs are approached. In this rework, Behaviour plans to rid Bloodwebs of teachable perks, instead awarding each killer’s and survivor’s teachable perks to all respective killer or survivor characters once prestige level one is reached. Upon reaching prestige level three with any character, their third tier of that perk will unlock for all associable characters.
Players will apparently be able to prestige characters beyond level three, but details have not been shared about what that may entail. Rewards will allegedly be given to players who have already prestiged characters to level three by the time that this update launches, which has a tentative release window of this summer, and tier upgrades will allegedly be given to players who have been accumulating certain perk tiers but have not yet prestiged their characters. These changes are intended to reduce the grind in Dead by Daylight, but it has yet to be seen how effective these reworks will be.
Other changes to gameplay and UI features include an inconclusive “major rework” to the Raccoon City Police Department Map. Loadouts were also shared as a new feature that players can utilize for preset inventories, and even cosmetic loadouts, which will be viewable on Dead by Daylight’s new vertical main menu loadout. This new vertical menu is supposedly implemented to make menu tabs more readable, and will also feature how many days are left on current Rifts on the Archive tab.
The Next Chapter Confirmed for Dead by Daylight
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Unfortunately, community leaks had shared a first look at Dead by Daylight’s Chapter 24: Roots of Dread before its intended announcement at the sixth anniversary broadcast. Still, fans got their first official look at its killer character, the Dredge, and its survivor character, Haddie Kaur. Launching soon on June 7, Dead by Daylight will also feature a new Realm map. This particular map is intriguing, as it was shared that other Realm maps may be implemented upon in association to it, which would play into its contrast of eerie, supernatural interiors and idyllic yet enigmatic exteriors.
For any fans of the highly anticipated Chapter, the 6.0.0 PTB is live now for them to hop into and play as either the Dredge or Haddie Kaur on the Garden of Joy map. This way, players who have access to the beta can already start to learn how the Dredge’s unique abilities and perks work, as well as how Haddie’s perks work, while they learn the ins-and-outs of the Garden of Joy.
It is uncertain whether this killer and survivor pair has already had their perks implemented to work with Behaviour’s new overhaul scheduled for this summer, but they may receive a change themselves and their current stats may change as well between the time that Chapter 24 releases and the summer update launches. Following its Chapter release, fans will be able to celebrate Dead by Daylight’s sixth anniversary in style later in June.
The theme for this year’s festivities has been revealed as a masquerade party, where original killer and survivor characters will be able to earn and wear festive masquerade masks that are unique to each character. Likewise, traditional festivities with ornamental items, add-ons, and the like will all be available in this theme to celebrate.
Unexpected and Expected Surprises Coming to Dead by Daylight
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It was also mentioned in an art design segment that Dead by Daylight will be receiving a crossover collaboration with Attack on Titan for several cosmetic skins. Further, an announcement shared that custom matches will include the option for bots so that players may practice in relaxed scenarios; however, this update is not expected to launch until winter.
Perhaps the biggest surprise from the sixth anniversary broadcast has little to do with what is in store for Dead by Daylight itself in the future, and more on a select number of its characters in an iteration that nobody saw coming. Dead by Daylight announced Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim, which arrives this summer and allows players to enjoy their time lounging beach-side with the Trapper, the Huntress, the Wraith, and the Spirit.
Nothing has been shown besides these killer characters in their jarring choices of beachwear, but the desire for these iterations to be made into cosmetic skins for Dead by Daylight has already been greatly expressed. Moreover, Dead by Daylight announced a second Resident Evil Chapter, titled Project W, which confirms the rumored leak about more Resident Evil content.
Since this leak has been confirmed, it may be safe to assume that Dead by Daylight’s second Resident Evil Chapter will indeed feature Ada Wong and Rebecca Chambers as survivor characters, as well as Albert Wesker as a killer character. The only official details shared are its title, and with a ‘W’ in it, fans will likely agree that it stands for either Wong or Wesker.
Otherwise, it seems likely that Project W will be Dead by Daylight’s next Chapter following Roots of Dread, as Behaviour stated that it will release in 2022. Behaviour may not have even wanted to share this chapter so early, but leaks could have encouraged the developer to get out in front of it sooner than later. Either way, the announcement of a second Resident Evil Chapter was a fantastic way to close out the broadcast, and fans now have many updates and content to look forward to well into the end of 2022.
Dead by Daylight is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and mobile devices.
