Summary
Among the most beloved horror video games in the industry,Dead by Daylighthas earned its reputation as a one-of-a-kind asymmetrical multiplayer experience through its revolving door of iconic new characters and gameplay improvements. There are, however, a number of things that appear inDead by Daylightthat can sour the experience of players.
In the most recent Developer Update for the October Midchapter, Behaviour Interactive has addressed two of the most contentious features in the current build ofDead by Daylight; namely, the strategy of camping hooks, and the generatorcamping potential of The Skull Merchant. With the upcoming Public Test Build just around the corner, the developers arelooking to significantly change these controversial aspects of the game.
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Camping hooked Survivors has long been a strategy available to the most desperate – or most vindictive – Killers looking to secure kills. Against killers like The Cannibal, who can instantly down Survivors out in the open,no safe hook trades can be madeand altruistic Survivors are severely punished for helping their teammates. While this strategy can prove effective when Survivors are going in for a rescue, standing by a hook all game promotes incredibly stale gameplay. To combat this,the developers are introducing an Anti Face-Camping mechanic in the next patch.
Now, when a Killer stands near a hook, a meter will gradually build up for the hooked Survivor. The closer the Killer is, the faster the meter will build. Meanwhile, the more Survivors that stay nearby, the slower the meter will build. At maximum, the camped Survivor will be able to unhook themselves safely, even during stage two, though this ability will be deactivated in the Endgame Collapse.
The Skull Merchant entered the Fog in March and since then has beena bastion of a different kind of camping, “three-genning.” This strategy involves the Skull Merchant setting up her Drones at three generators that have spawned close together and excessively guarding these generators withpowerful regression perks. This playstyle can lead to excruciatingly long games where Survivors fight for small amounts of generator progress while The Skull Merchant refuses to commit to hooking or chasing.
In the Developer Update, Behaviour lists a wide range of changes to The Skull Merchant’s Eyes in the Sky power that will drastically limit her ability to camp generators, encouraging Killers to use her drones in chase instead. Among the list of interesting changes, includingfurther penalties to Claw Trapped Survivors, the drones can no longer detect stationary Survivors, meaning those working on generators and cleansing totems are completely safe from The Skull Merchant’s camping tendencies.
While both these changes are welcome additions, it will be curious to see how well these new features are implemented and how effective they will be at changing the way people playDead by Daylightfor the better.
Dead by Daylightis currently available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
