Dead by Daylight’sChapter 31: All Things Wicked update launches today, bringing a brand new map, Killer, and Survivor to the asymmetrical multiplayer survival-horror title. The new Survivor, Sable Ward, and the new Killer, The Unknown, stand to shake up the game’s status quo in frightening and flavorful ways, with exciting new perks and hunting abilities. And even thoughDead by Daylight’s latest update has been available on the PTB for a few weeks, Behaviour Interactive has stated there are still a few secrets that players have yet to discover.
The new analog horror-themed chapter aims to redefine relationships betweenDead by Daylight’s Survivorsand Killers with disruptive abilities and perk combos that will keep players guessing as they battle across the new Greenville Square map. Creative director Dave Richard and Killer designer Nicolas Barrière-Kucharski recently spoke to Game Rant, offering advice and insights on these exciting new mechanics.
Dead by Daylight’s latest Survivor, Sable Ward, has a goth aesthetic and, according to Richard, is “closer to a monster” herself, with supernatural perks that can give Survivor players a serious leg up on Killers. The best friend offellow Survivor Mikaela Reid, Sable’s abilities are all double-edged swords that could make the best out of bad situations (or just make them worse). Her new Invocation Perk is particularly powerful, as it imparts team-wide and map-wide effects that can drastically change the dynamic of a match. As Barrière-Kucharski explained,
“Invocation: Weaving Spiders reduces the total amount of charges you need to bring to a generator to repair it. So that’s like progress, it’s something that the Killer cannot take away. The downside is, you are making a dark deal with something that is pretty somber and deadly, so the person who initiates the Invocation will become permanently injured.”
Even putting self-harm aside, Invocation: Weaving Spiders is a risky maneuver. It requires Survivor players to gather in the basement and perform a ritual together, taking approximately two minutes of in-game time to complete, making it the longest survivor interaction mechanic in the game. While permanent progress toward repairing generators may sound great, players know that two minutes is an eternity when being stalked by one ofDead by Daylight’s Killers.
Fortunately, Sable has some other perks to help mitigate the risks of her ritual, including Wicked, which allows her to self-unhook while in the basement. Sable’s other perk, Strength in Shadows, allows her to heal at 70% efficacy—but again, players must be in the basement to use the power. Multiple players running Invocation will also allow them to speed up the ritual, but the player who initiates the ritual will still be injured, making it a risky proposition. Players have already pulled off some impressive coordinated maneuvers with these perks on the PTB, but time will tell where they rank amongthe best perks for Survivors.
With a huge roster of playable baddies, including a who’s-who of iconic, crossover Killers, it’s hard to imagine how Behavior Interactive could shake things up with a newcomer. But the cryptic horror dubbed The Unknown has a lot of cool tricks up its sleeve that have a huge impact on how players move across the map, with Barrière-Kucharski saying,
“I think one of the cool things about The Unknown is—because of its power either through placing the hallucinations around the map and trying to hide them or the fact that its unique projectile bounces—it redefines players’ relationship to the map in a really great way.”
The Unknown’s husk ability creates illusory copies of itself throughout the map. The husks themselves are harmless—but the player controlling the Killer can teleport between these copies unpredictably, instantly turning a decoy into a lethal threat. Pair that power with the InsidiousKiller perk inDead by Daylight, and a cunning Unknown player can run all sorts of mind games by simply standing still and waiting to strike a foolhardy Survivor.
Bank Shots and Blind Spots
Unsurprisingly, All Things Wicked’s new Greenville Square map (which is partially based onStephen King’s cursed fictional town of Derry, Maine) is designed to help The Unknown make the most out of its unique, ricocheting ranged attack. The centerpiece of the map, a claustrophobic cinema with a screening room and an arcade, has a number of narrow windows that allow skillful players to shoot Survivors from around corners. As Barrière-Kucharski explained,
“There are a few holes that you can curve a shot into, and I’ve seen a few people manage it on PTB. I teared up, it was beautiful. The one-in-a-million “Kobe!” shots that people have been doing are beyond my wildest expectations.”
The Unknown’s death-from-around-a-corner attack gives it a threat range that other Killers simply cannot compete with. It is also in the top tier of movement speed for Killers, making it an extremely quick menace, even without leveraging its teleport ability. And, if players pair The Unknown withthe Lethal Pursuit perk, as Barrière-Kucharski recommends, it becomes an absolute mobility nightmare for survivors.
Given Sable and The Unknown’s powerful new abilities,Dead by Daylightplayers have a fun toy box of new and terrifying tools to play with. Barrière-Kucharski hopes these new abilities will encourage players to “think outside the box” and experiment with new combos, which is at the core of what makesDead By Daylightfun.
Dead by Daylight
WHERE TO PLAY
Ever wished to play as one of the characters from your favorite horror movies? Dead by Daylight is a 1v4 multiplayer game that draws from all corners of the horror world from a powerful slasher to a terrifying paranormal entity.Choose between playing an unstoppable Killer and one of 4 Survivors trying to evade a gruesome death. Each character has their own deep progression system and plenty of unlockables that can be customized to fit your personal strategy. Work together to escape, or stalk and sacrifice every Survivor.This Edition of Dead by Daylight gives you access to a roster of 7 Killers (The Trapper, The Hillbilly, The Wraith, The Nurse, The Hag, The Huntress and The Doctor) and 9 Survivors (Meg Thomas, Claudette Morel, Jake Park, Dwight Fairfield, Ace Visconti, Nea Karlsson, Bill Overbeck, Feng Min and David King). It also includes two cosmetic add-ons packed with outfits for various characters.
