Anniversary Broadcast Recap
Hello People of the Fog!
Our Dead by Daylight 5th Anniversary Broadcast took place on May 25, and it was a blast. Not only did we take a fond look back at five year of DbD, but we also pulled back the curtain on everything we have coming up for the next year – including key details of our Resident Evil Chapter.
Couldn’t watch live? No problem. We’ve got you covered.
Below you’ll find all the main beats of the broadcast broken down by segment. And if you’d rather just watch the broadcast in its entirety, you can also do that right here!
5 YEARS OF DEAD BY DAYLIGHT
Mat Côté, Game Director on Dead by Daylight since Day 1, takes a stroll down memory lane to revisit DbD’s unlikely journey to success. Since launch, Dead by Daylight has grown from having 3 Killers and 4 Survivors, to 24 Killers and 27 Survivors (and counting), while establishing itself as gaming’s Horror Hall of Fame.
Mat also takes the opportunity to thank Dead by Daylight’s community, content creators, and team for making the game what it is, while still standing firmly by his famous words, “I think we’ve done a pretty good job so far.”
THE RESIDENT EVIL CHAPTER
We’re all fans of Resident Evil here at Dead by Daylight, and Creative Director Dave Richard is no different. Dave takes a moment to share a bit about what Resident Evil means to him personally, following a dive into the Chapter details.
- New Map: The Raccoon City Police Station. The team did an amazing job recreating the map from the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes and its iconic locations – all with a twist from the Entity’s Realm of course.
- New Survivors: Jill Valentine and Leon S. Kennedy. Both these classic characters will have Perks that match their skills and personalities, with one of Leon’s Perks adding a new type of gameplay to Dead by Daylight. Under the right conditions, Leon will be able to spawn a unique item – a Flashbang – inside the map.
- New Killer: The Nemesis. The Nemesis’ Power is the called T-Virus which lets him use a Tentacle Attack to contaminate Survivors while also making him stronger in the process.
- Vaccines: The only way for Survivors to cure themselves from contamination is to inject themselves with the limited number of vaccines found in Supply Cases around the map.
- Zombies: For the first time in Dead by Daylight the Killer will be accompanied by AI zombies that will spawn on the map and look to bite, contaminate, and damage Survivors.
Dave also announced that the PTB would open at the end of the broadcast. That means you can try out the Resident Evil Chapter ahead of its official launch on June 15th!
YEAR 6 ROADMAP
Building on the Resident Evil announcement, Dead by Daylight Producer Aurélie Gérault and Product Manager Justin Banks have a chat about the team’s focus for Year 6 of the game.
- New Chapters: Year 6 will include a total of 4 new Killers, 5 new Survivors, and 2 new maps.
- The Archives: Fans can look forward to 4 new Tomes that will continue to expand the lore of Dead by Daylight.
- Events: The team’s main focus will be on the major Anniversary and Halloween events, with two smaller Winter and Lunar events also taking place.
To help narrow the developmental focus of Dead by Daylight, each year the team decides on a series of pillars that shape and define our projects. The four Pillars for Year 6 are:
- First Steps into the Fog: From the tutorial to first matches, matchmaking incentives, combating in-game toxicity, and localized news, Dead by Daylight is focused on creating a top-tier first experience for anyone new to the franchise.
- Game Health: There will be a major focus on game stabilization, optimization, and gameplay fixes, while also improving our own internal processes and technology.
- The Realm Beyond: We’ll be continuing the huge project of visually overhauling our maps, characters, and animations to present the best looking, most immersive version of Dead by Daylight possible.
- Live Design: Tweaking, improving, and redesigning some of our core gameplay mechanics to keep things fresh and exciting for all our players.
THE REALM BEYOND UPDATE
Dead by Daylight’s Art Director, Fil Ivanovic and Lead Level Artist Stephanie Héllin talk through why this was the perfect time for a graphical rework, showcasing some of the amazing work done to date, and discussing what’s still to come.
- The Goal: Updating everything from maps and animations, to character models and lighting to present the most atmospheric, immersive Dead by Daylight fans have ever seen.
- The Challenges: Dead by Daylight is a live game that’s five years old. The way the game was built then isn’t the way it’s built now. We’re going back and rethinking our tools, processes, and pipelines to empower our artists in ways we couldn’t before.
- Terrain: An interesting new element of this rework is allowing us to explore doing more with the terrain in Dead by Daylight. There’s a possibility of creating areas that are less flat and more varied, opening up gameplay possibilities for both the Killers and Survivors as they navigate the map.
- Textures & Animation: We’re updating textures to bring older characters closer to where we are today on Chapter releases. This will add more emotion and allow fans to better connect with their favorite characters.
- Lobbies: It’s one of the first things a player sees when entering the game and we’re putting some care into ensuring the experience here draws you in immediately.
LIVE DESIGN
Design Director, Matt S., breaks down some of the team’s goals for redesigning elements of core gameplay in Dead by Daylight including Killer updates, new Perks, and an update to the Memento Mori system.
- Killer Updates: Moving forward the team is hoping to review, update, and release balance patches for every new Killer within the next 2-3 major updates after they go live, on top of any hotfix adjustments made along the way.
- New Perk Type: Unlike Hex Totem Perks and Obsession Perks, we’re working on a new type of perk that’s just for Survivors. Boon Totem Perks will offer new types of interactions for Survivors standing next to dull Totems in a trial. More details to come!
- Memento Mori Update: We’re also revisiting Moris and discussing a new approach where triggering them is no longer based on the Killer playing an offering, but rather earning them through gameplay during a trial. This would both provide an interesting new game mechanic with new objectives and strategic decision-making, as well as an opportunity for Survivors to either engage with the system or not. This is still in the very early stages and will likely go through several changes before release.
5th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
And since our anniversary wouldn’t be complete without some fun community activations and an amazing in-game event, Lead Community Manager not_Queen, and Product Manager Justin Banks close things out with the details.
- Social Media: All in-game events and community activations will be updated and run through our social channels, so be sure to follow us if you want to take part!
- Tips and Tricks: Resident Evil is bringing a lot of new players into the Fog and so we’ll be posting tons of tips and tricks on our social channels. If you’re a DbD veteran step up, join in, and share some pointers with those just starting out.
- Call to Artists: Got the skills? Reach out on social – we’re hiring to design a new community line for our merch store!
- Community Stories: Use #DbDCommunity to share your DbD stories with us on social media.
- Pride Month: We’ll be hosting a Pride celebration called Into the Rainbow. In-game we’ll have a new Pride charm.
Our 5th Anniversary Event taking place from July 1 – 15 will also be one of our biggest of the year, so don’t miss out.
- Anniversary Crowns: Crown Pedestals will spawn within trials. Interact with them and escape or finish the trial to earn an Anniversary Crown for any original character.
- Community Challenges: We’re giving away exclusive outfits and charms that players can unlock by reaching community goals for crown collection which will be announced on our social channels.
- Special Items: As a Survivor you can find special Toolboxes, Medkits and Flashlights in the Bloodweb that toss confetti when used.
- Iridescent Shard Giveaway: Over the first week of the event, we’ll be giving away enough Iridescent Shards to each player just for logging in to unlock one full original character.
- Shrine of Secrets: For the duration of the event, the Shrine of Secrets will shuffle every day and the cost of every Perk will be 500 shards less than normal.
Last but not least, we’re also giving away two incredible custom Dead by Daylight consoles (one PS5 and one Xbox Series S). Entry details will be posted shortly on our social channels so keep an eye out for more info, coming soon!
And that’s a wrap! Thanks for being part of the Dead by Daylight community and here’s to an amazing year ahead.
Oh yeah, we’re getting Funko Pops too.
See you in The Fog,
The Dead by Daylight team.
