The community of Dead by Daylight is in agreement. They want a better game – and not just more content.
That the Dead by Daylight community is never really satisfied is now an old story. However, some topics keep resurfacing in the subreddit and the official forums. The developers should finally spend more time polishing the game and not rush from chapter to chapter. A demand that is once again becoming loud after the latest “Portrait of a Murder” chapter.
What is the problem with Dead by Daylight? This cannot be pinpointed to a single issue, but rather a whole range of difficulties are causing frustration. A brief summary of the community’s most pressing concerns is as follows:
- Bugs in patches: New updates come with a multitude of new bugs that are only fixed after several weeks. The first 2 weeks after a patch are just annoying for many players.
- Too much grind: The necessary grind to unlock all perks in Dead by Daylight is growing ever larger. Now you have to invest several hundred hours of gameplay if you want to have all perks on a character with a fresh account.
- Useless perks: Many perks serve no real purpose or are so weak that they are hardly ever played. A major balance and function overhaul of all perks is needed.
- Questionable matchmaking: The “skill-based matchmaking” causes dissatisfaction. It is too simplistic and does not capture many nuances of the game. It is based solely on the number of escaping survivors. This distorts the rating and leads to repeatedly questionable matches that frustrate both killers and survivors.
- Boring killers: The Legion and the Twins are considered extremely boring and one-dimensional killers that only allow for one playstyle. A revamp is desired here.
However, it must also be noted that Dead by Daylight primarily thrives on new patches with new killers and fresh perks. This continually attracts new player highs – which is why the developers apparently stick to this approach.
What does the community wish for? The wish of a large majority of players in the forum is clear. They want more time for bug fixes, problem-solving, and general quality control in Dead by Daylight. Less new content until the existing content is all in a better state.
A corresponding suggestion in the game’s subreddit has received over 1,600 upvotes, with a 98% approval rate – the players of Dead by Daylight rarely agree so clearly.
The collective wish: One or two new chapters should be skipped to focus entirely on improvements and revisions.
Why aren’t the developers doing that? Their annual plan shows that the developers do plan bug fix patches, but they do not deviate from their 3-month cycle. Many players now believe that this simply doesn’t work, as each patch only introduces further major bugs.
One of the biggest problems is probably that Dead by Daylight has – so far – remained virtually unchallenged. There are hardly any games with the asymmetrical “4 vs. 1” formula that have grown so much and survived over the past years. However, this could change in the foreseeable future, as several games with similar gameplay are currently in development. In particular, “VHS” looks enticing for the players of Dead by Daylight and could potentially outrun the horror game from Behavior in the long run.
Perhaps it is precisely this competition that ultimately prompts the developers to rethink and ensures that Dead by Daylight becomes significantly better. Because Dead by Daylight is already a pretty good game – but with more focus on the existing game and less on always new content, it could be even better.
Or how do you see it?
