Dead by Daylight, the popular asymmetrical multiplayer survival-horror game from Behaviour Interactive, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Over the past decade, the game has received dozens of content updates. You can play with DLC featuring iconic horror villains ranging from Saw’s Jigsaw to Springtrap from Five Nights at Freddy’s. In their 10th anniversary livestream, Behaviour Interactive showed no signs of slowing down support for the game.
By far the biggest news was the new killer coming to the game. After years of community requests, Jason Voorhees from the cult-classic Friday the 13th film franchise is finally coming to Dead by Daylight on June 16. Coincidentally, the Jason universe celebrates 45 years in addition to Dead by Daylight’s 10th, making for a legendary year in the realm of horror media. The Jason IP was a license that Behaviour was chasing for a while, as they were waiting for the “right time” to ensure that Jason could come to Dead by Daylight and stay in the game.
“There was never a question that our 10th Anniversary Chapter couldn’t just be big – it needed to be something really special,” shared Sr. Creative Director, Dave Richard. “When we started to see a path to finally making this partnership a reality for our 10th, we knew then the perfect Jason moment had come. We’re just thrilled the stars aligned and we were able to work with the great folks at Jason Universe to deliver this for our players on such a major milestone for Dead by Daylight.” See the reveal trailer below.
Jason’s Gameplay
Jason’s abilities are split into two distinct components: Omnipresent Evil and Improvised Carnage. Omnipresent Evil is a stealth-based ability that pays tribute to Jason’s knack for popping up in unexpected places to catch victims off guard. Activating this ability lets Jason vanish from the map entirely, giving him increased movement speed with no indication to the Survivors on his whereabouts. Conversely, Jason’s view of the Survivors is faint, as he can only see footsteps they leave behind. This gives Jason the opportunity to anticipate where the Survivors will go and prepare to strike.
Emerging from Omnipresent Evil is not a simple toggle, as Jason must target environmental points such as Pallets, Vault points, and breakable walls to resurface. Upon doing so, he reappears with explosive force and destroys breakable obstacles around him and triggers screams from nearby prey. This adds a layer of tension to matches where players can easily lose track of Jason’s location until it’s almost too late.
“Jason’s chapter will also come with a Collection of Outfits that pay homage to his legacy.”
In the source material, Jason is known for being creative when it comes to finding items to carry out his murders—and in Dead by Daylight, he is just as resourceful. With his Improvised Carnage ability, Jason can find makeshift projectiles in containers scattered across the map containing items including fragments of lockers, broken generator parts, and even hooks. Jason can throw these items with extreme force, with successful hits staggering Survivors. Jason can also perform these staggers with style by striking an injured Survivor near a wall, where a successful hit will leave them pinned in place until he claims his victim.
While these projectiles can be devastating, keep in mind that unlike other ranged Killers, each projectile must be gathered individually and will only be replenished the next time Jason enters Omnipresent Evil. This makes his gameplay more technical, requiring players to plan ahead for his skill execution before moving forward with, well, his ‘physical’ execution!
Jason’s chapter will also come with a Collection of Outfits that pay homage to his legacy. Of course, we have the unmistakable original Outfit designed by Greg Nicotero that we all know and fear. Next, there is the Backwoods Terror Outfit that puts Jason in a flannel and replaces his machete for a heavy axe. Then, there’s the Death Forsaken Outfit which gives Jason decayed features, exposed bone, and a shovel in hand. Finally, we have the Depths of Despair Outfit which sees Jason emerging from the depths covered in barnacles, coral, and seaweed.
Enter the Fog
Behaviour Interactive spared no details designing Jason both mechanically and visually, and he will no doubt be one of the most thrilling additions to Dead by Daylight. Jason’s chapter will be available on May 26 as part of the Steam public test build, and will officially release on June 16.
Stay tuned to Behaviour Interactive’s social channels for updates on what they have in store for Dead by Daylight’s 10th anniversary. In the meantime, we can finally rejoice that one of the most iconic characters in horror media is finally joining the Dead by Daylight roster.
Dead by Daylight and all of its DLC is available on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
