Dead by Daylight: See more than others – Clear cheating?

Since the developers clarified that this also constitutes cheating in their eyes, however, supportive voices have become less frequent.

What do you think of players who resort to such tricks?

The “Stretched Resolution” is a controversial topic in Dead by Daylight. “Cheat!”, some say. “Looks prettier”, others claim.

In Dead by Daylight, minor disputes in the community are just part of the game. People either get upset about too strong killers, too strong survivors, or new bugs. However, one topic keeps coming back. The so-called “Stretched Resolution” is considered a clear cheat.

What is happening in Dead by Daylight? For months, one issue has repeatedly arisen in Dead by Daylight. There are images and recordings of players who apparently have a quite distorted screen resolution. Instead of playing in the usual 16:9 aspect ratio, the game is often shown in peculiar resolutions where the width contains exactly as many pixels as the height – that is, 1:1.

This is made possible by manipulating the game data – these options are not offered by the game itself.

Why is this problematic? The perspective in Dead by Daylight is extremely important as it determines the fairness of the game. What survivors and killers can see is extremely crucial for achieving a good balance. There are many objects in the game that are so tall that survivors cannot look over them – not even from a third-person perspective.

However, if you manipulate the game’s resolution, it becomes child’s play, as the following images show. It is possible to see the killer over objects and thereby always know exactly what they are doing and from which direction they will strike. Two examples illustrate this well. On the left is the image with normal resolution, on the right with “Stretched Resolution”. It is clearly visible that much more can be seen in the right images (Click to enlarge).

Combining this knowledge with a somewhat experienced survivor, the chances for the killer decrease rapidly. Killers can also utilize this manipulation, although the advantage for survivors is significantly greater because killers are trapped in the first-person perspective.

What do the developers say about it? The developers of Dead by Daylight have already stated that such manipulation of the resolution is considered cheating – thus aligning with the opinion of a large part of the community.

Some streamers who have openly played with such manipulation have also been removed from the “Fog Whisperer” program. This is a collaboration with the developers of Dead by Daylight, where streamers are showcased, receive advance information about new content, or get codes to share with their community.

The developers clearly view this behavior as cheating.

Anyone caught manipulating in this way risks their account and thus the achievements and unlocks of many hours of gameplay. It is therefore strongly advised against manipulating the resolution.

What do the supporters say? However, there are also sporadic players in the forum who defend this “Stretched Resolution”. They claim that the game just looks “nicer” when you can see more. It is also often said that it cannot possibly be cheating since then the developers would have effectively prevented the option.

Usually, such comments receive many downvotes and reactions claiming that these are just excuses from typical cheaters who would diminish the enjoyment of Dead by Daylight for everyone.

Since the developers clarified that this also constitutes cheating in their eyes, however, supportive voices have become less frequent.

What do you think of players who resort to such tricks?