In Dead by Daylight, survivors fight back with weapons. A new direction for the game?
Dead by Daylight is constantly evolving. But with nearly 200 perks, one must start to wonder what the developers can come up with next to bring exciting abilities that have never existed before. The latest answer to the question of new mechanics: survivors build their own weapons. This happens in the Resident Evil patch.
It must be clarified: The killer can of course still not be permanently stopped. Survivors have no way to take down the killer, and that would stray too far from the essence of the game. Nevertheless, survivors are gaining more and more abilities to “strike back,” interrupt the killer, or at least be a nuisance to them.
For the killer, this is never fatal – but still annoying.
What weapons do survivors use?
Explosive trap at the generator – a gimmick: The first new “weapon” perk is the “Blast Mine” from Jill Valentine. This allows the survivor, after repairing a generator for a while, to place an explosive mine on it. The mine remains active for 45 seconds and is triggered if the killer attempts to damage the generator.
In that case, the mine explodes, stuns the killer, and blinds all nearby players.
As cool as this sounds in theory, it is likely to be primarily a “troll perk”. Stun the killer at the generator only provides a time gain of a few seconds. In most cases, the killer is not in a chase when damaging a generator anyway. The blind effect is also rather unnecessary, as the killer is already stunned.
With this perk, survivors have a weapon, but it already looks like it is only useful for trolling.
Flashbang – Really good and useful: It’s a different story with the “Flashbang” from Leon S. Kennedy. The flashbang is also available when a generator has been repaired for a while and one subsequently enters a locker (without an item in hand).
The flashbang works similarly to the party poppers that have appeared a few times before. It can be thrown over a medium distance before it explodes after a short delay. The grenade creates a loud sound that alerts the killer and simultaneously blinds all players in the vicinity. If the killer is carrying a survivor while being blinded, they will drop them to the ground.
The flashbang can therefore be used both as a distraction and as a rescue opportunity.
Current trend – More stuns: This reveals a trend in Dead by Daylight. The developers are giving survivors more and more ways to confuse or stun the killer with false signals. What began with “Diversion,” a perk where survivors can throw a small stone that creates a sound, continued with “Head On,” where survivors could stun the killer when they popped out of a locker.
This can be particularly intense when survivors combine perks – first throwing a flashbang and then a diversion, like in this clip:
It is clear that Dead by Daylight continues to evolve even after 5 years. The general power dynamics between killers and survivors will likely never change, as that is the DNA of the game. However, still having fresh ideas after half a decade – regardless of how strong they will ultimately turn out in the live version – is a good sign.
For this could mean that Dead by Daylight still has a bright future ahead of it. At least as long as new issues are not introduced in every other patch.
