Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical survival horror game. It's a deadly game of hide and seek, that sees four survivors try to escape an arena without being caught by the killer. If you’re looking for news about the Dead by Daylight 2 release date, then you’re in the right spot. We’ll discuss all of the information we have so far about its development and potential features that could be in the game.
The game provides quite a unique experience compared to other multiplayer games. For the survivors, there is no way to fight back. The only way to escape the killer is by looping them around environmental objects, pulling a pallet on them or blinding them with a flashlight. Each survivor gets two chances on the meathooks before they die. Finally, there are five generators that need to be repaired on the map to open the exit games.
For more on the game, check out our Dead by Daylight killers tier list, and best perks list. We've also got the best Demogorgon build if you're working on using the Stranger Things villain.
Dead by Daylight 2 news
There is currently no news about Dead by Daylight 2. It is unlikely that the developers will release it any time soon, due to a number of reasons. The first is licensing issues. Dead by Daylight currently has a large part of their cast licensed from existing shows and games. These include Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and The Ring. It would be extremely expensive to renew these characters for a second game.
Secondly, it would split the player base. There are a lot of players of Dead by Daylight who have thousands of hours and invested heavily into their characters' progression and prestige levels. These would probably not move across to the new game. This would mean that both games would have less players queuing, ultimately making for a worse experience.
In an interview with The Loadout, creative director Dave Richard explained that there are no plans to develop a sequel to their game. “Dead by Daylight as a project and as a team has been built to be supported for as long as we could,” Richard stated.
What we'd love to see in Dead by Daylight 2
More objectives and ways to escape
At the moment, the only thing for survivors to do in the match is repair the generators. These are scattered around the map, and once they’re powered, they will power up the exit gates. This can make it easy for the killer to patrol the route between them, especially at the end game. If survivors three-gen themselves, meaning they’ve left the last three generators really close together, it’s almost impossible to win.
It would be interesting for Dead by Daylight 2 to introduce more ways for survivors to escape the Entity. These could be simple things, such as a control panel that you can use to very slowly repair all of the generators at once. They could also contribute to something that sabotages the killer, helping out their teammates who are doing the repairs.
Similarly, there could be something that the killer could do in order to sabotage the survivors. This would be balanced against the generators' progress, so the killer would have to choose what to prioritise very carefully.
Different modes
There is one mode in Dead by Daylight, and that has survivors repairing generators against a killer. This feels like a wasted opportunity. The developers have made a very solid system, complete with perks and items. The maps are interesting and diverse.
It’s surprising that there aren't more modes. These could be casual ones, such as a basic Hide and Seek mode between the survivors and killers, or even a Prop Hunt. This would eliminate the gameplay around generators, and instead focus on stealth and movement. There could even be modes that see bigger lobbies, with multiple killers.
There could also be a permadeath mode, similar to the Hardcore Survivor series led by Dowsey, Otz, Ayrun, and JRM. This mode sees survivors committing to their pool of survivors, but once that character dies they are unavailable for the rest of the run. Alternatively, there could be a permadeath mode per match. This would remove the hook states of the survivors, and make it so that once the survivor is hooked, they’re out. Once the match is balanced against fewer generators, and perhaps a slightly nerfed killer, it could change the gameplay enough to feel like a fresh experience.
A complete perk overhaul
The perk system is one of Dead by Daylight's strongest systems, and also one of its biggest flaws. As is the case with anything like this, there is a strong meta in the game that affects which perks are used most often. The developers at Behaviour have tried to nerf and buff the perks a few times in order to change up the meta, but it was not met with great approval from the fans.
If Dead by Daylight 2 wanted to be particularly controversial, it could give each of the characters one permanent perk. This could be intrinsic to them, such as Meg Thomas’s Quick and Quiet. They could get stronger each time the player prestige them in order to reward character investment.
Alternatively, it would be interesting to see a system where the perk choice is affected by the characters. A different selection of some of the stronger perks would be unavailable for each of the characters. To balance this, a handful of other perks would be buffed for them. For example, Dwight would be unable to run Adrenaline, Dead Hard or Urban Evasion, but his BT, Prove Thyself and Kindred would be much more powerful.
This would change the way that players currently run characters. While they do have personal perks, once they are unlocked then people can run them as glorified skins.
An aftergame map
Reddit user u/Nullpug proposed the interesting idea of including an aftergame map after each of the games. This would include graphics and stats such as what each survivor was doing in the game, and how the killer moved through the map. This would be great for a number of reasons.
It would allow players to learn the game a little better, such as map pressure and looping routes. The killer would also benefit by seeing how the survivors managed to avoid them and rotate through the generators in order to fix them.
Evolving maps
Finally, the last thing that Dead by Daylight 2 could include would be evolving maps. At the moment, there are some maps such as Backwater Swamp that change ever so slightly as certain generators are completed. Unfortunately, this is limited to the side of a boat being raised, or a boat horn going off.
This is a great idea that could be explored more. The generators are powerful gameplay devices that could change their environment to a much greater degree. They could drastically change the layout of rooms, such as opening and closing doors or opening up new areas. Parts of the map could affect movement speed, through things such as flooding. Lights could turn on or off, which would change the visibility of certain routes.
There is so much potential for an interactive and evolving map in Dead by Daylight. It might even work best if there’s only a chance for it to happen, making it unpredictable. This would breathe new life into what can sometimes be a very stale gameplay loop.
For more Dead by Daylight content, make sure you check out our updated list of Dead by Daylight codes. We also have the latest news on Dead by Daylight's most popular horse, Maurice.