Highlights

  • Dead by Daylight has become a hub for horror crossovers, adding over a dozen iconic characters from movies, shows, and video games.
  • Fans have been regularly requesting a Pennywise crossover, and it's only a matter of time before the creepy clown joins the game.
  • If Pennywise were to be added, his Killer abilities would likely involve shapeshifting and hiding among the Survivors, creating a new gameplay dynamic.

While Fortnite has become a hub for the entire pop-culture zeitgeist, from movies to TV shows to music to fellow video games, Dead by Daylight is content with simply being the home of horror in the gaming world. Released all the way back in June 2016, Dead by Daylight wore its horror movie influences on its sleeve, with its original Killer line-up clearly borrowing a few elements from horror icons like Texas Chain Saw Massacre's Leatherface, and Friday the 13th's Jason Vorhees. But as the years have gone on, and Dead by Daylight has remained one of the most popular horror games around, it's managed to grow into a sort of hub where many of its influences now live full-time.

Since 2016, Dead by Daylight has added a total of 13 crossover Killers, all of which have come from some of the most popular horror movies, shows, and video games of all time. From Resident Evil's Nemesis to Alien's Xenomorph to even the influential Leatherface himself, Dead by Daylight's crossovers have been fast and furious, and its next one is only a matter of time. And when that time comes, there's one long-requested crossover Killer that finally needs to float on in: Pennywise.

Mortal Kombat 1 Pennywise
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It's Time for Pennywise to Come to Dead by Daylight

Debuting all the way back in Stephen King's 1986 novel IT, Pennywise the Dancing Clown is easily one of the most requested crossover Killers for Dead by Daylight, and always has been. While Pennywise might not be the first character to come to mind when asked about iconic horror villains, his design is undeniably iconic, especially in the more recent movie adaptations.

With Dead by Daylight already working its way through the back catalog of the most iconic horror villains, it seems like it's only a matter of time before Pennywise is in the game, and that should happen sooner rather than later. There's currently an IT prequel show in the works over at HBO Max titled Welcome to Derry, and it's set to premiere at some point in 2024. Getting timely crossovers is definitely something Dead by Daylight has needed to work on in the past, with a lot of its collaborations not really tying into any concurrent releases, though its upcoming Alan Wake crossover does seem to show that Behaviour Interactive is trying to solve this problem.

While Dead by Daylight already has a Killer Clown, his visual design and Killer abilities would likely be completely different to a potential Pennywise crossover Killer.

How Pennywise Could Work in Dead by Daylight

It might be a while before Pennywise is added to Dead by Daylight, but until then, it's still fun to speculate on how the crossover Killer could play. Dead by Daylight is no stranger to having surprisingly complex, hidden lore, so Pennywise would fit right at home in The Entity's universe. Far more than just a creepy clown, Pennywise is actually part of an interdimensional species known as the Deadlights, beings that feast on fear and are capable of shapeshifting at will to best harvest it.

More recent Dead by Daylight Killers have really shaken up the usual gameplay loop and expected Killer abilities, and that's exactly what a Pennywise crossover should do. Pennywise's main Killer ability should let him shapeshift, both into one of the Survivors, and a giant mutant spider. Disguised as a Survivor, Pennywise would be able to hide among the rest, slowly harvesting fear for every second that he spends around them, hidden.

Once his fear gauge is full, Pennywise would be able to unleash his more monstrous form, immediately giving Survivors the Exposed status effect, and letting Pennywise down them in just one hit. This would introduce a whole new type of Killer gameplay loop, with the player needing to carefully decide when to strike and interrupt the Survivors' progress and when to just sit back and let them continue.