Stranger Thingstakes the cake for being the most interesting piece of licensed DLC that has ever come toDead by Daylight. Its killer character, the Demogorgon, and its survivor characters, Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler, were received positively in terms of the Demogorgon’s fun gameplay, as well as Steve and Nancy’s competent likenesses. Its realm map, the Hawkins National Laboratory, was favored much less.
Players were relatively pleased to seeHawkins National Laboratory’s departure fromDead by Daylightafter Netflix’sStranger Thingslicense expired, even if it was unfortunate that the DLC’s characters went along with it. Because licensing deals are finite and Netflix may not have been perceivably benefiting fromDead by Daylightholding onto the license,Stranger Thingscontent was effectively discontinued. This may seem like a done deal, butDead by Daylightwould have infinite potential with a secondStranger ThingsChapter if it was to ever have the license renewed.
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It is unknown ifDead by Daylighthas any say in reclaiming Netflix’sStranger Thingslicense after it has expired. This puts into perspective how fortunateDead by Daylightis and has been in order to not only procure the licenses for characters from beloved horror media, but also to have held onto them for this long without any implication that they could be stripped from players in the near future.
Even though the asymmetrical horror game features fantastic original characters,Dead by Daylightprides itself on crossoverswith the iconic likes of Michael Myers, Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, and more that would not be possible without these licensing partnerships. For example, new killer characters such as the Dredge are exciting demonstrations of what Behaviour is capable of producing on its own, but a huge draw to its player-base is the possibility of character collaborations from fan-favorite franchises.
Some fans may not even be interested inDead by Daylightuntil one of their favorite franchises is included, as was likely the casewhenDead by Daylightannounced its firstResident EvilChapter. This DLC introduced Nemesis, Leon S. Kennedy, and Jill Valentine from the remakes ofResident Evil 2andResident Evil 3, and could ride the popularity of that franchise with new players interested inDead by Daylight.
Further,a secondResident EvilChapter was recently announced, with many leaks suspecting it is the next Chapter to release this September. Indeed, it is unfortunate that theStranger Thingslicense was revoked at all, particularly due to the show’s continued popularity. There is currently nothing suggesting that theStranger Thingslicense will be renewed, but there are now many charactersDead by Daylightcould introduce to accompany the Demogorgon, Steve, and Nancy.
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It would make the most sense for a secondStranger ThingsChapter to capitalize on the current season of the Netflix show—the biggest reason being thatDead by Daylightcould then introduce Vecna as its newest killer character.Stranger Thingslacks a lot of humanoid or otherwise physical enemies who could stand amongDead by Daylight’s cast of colorful killersand seem as powerful.
Vecna is a terrifying presence with the unique ability to target his victims’ traumas, which could make for exciting environmental and gameplay effects as his killer power. Vecna could have two starting skins: one as the hideous, tendril-laden figure, and another as the orderly One, formerly known as Henry Creel. Moreover, Vecna already has the perfect Mori already designed and fleshed out, as he hoists his victims into the air before snapping their limbs, breaking their jaw, and crushing their eyeballs.
No other potential killer character fromStranger Thingseven comes close with regard to Vecna’s adaptability. In terms of a survivor character, though, there are a ton of optionsDead by Daylightcould consider. Looking back at what it traditionally does,Dead by Daylightprefers to add survivor characters paired as one male and one female.
Considering that, potential canonical pairs could be Eleven and Mike Wheeler, Max Mayfield and Billy Hargrove or Lucas Sinclair, Suzie Bingham and Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley and Eddie Munson, Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper, or a number of other character pairings.Dead by Daylightwould also get the most of a renewed license by creating skins for whichever survivor characters it chose that would resemble other characters, such ashow a skin for Steve changes the model to resemble Jonathan Byers.
If a secondStranger ThingsChapter was ever released, it could conclude its associable content with a killer and survivor. But seeing as howDead by Daylight’sStranger ThingsDLCdebuted a realm map, it would only make sense to substitute its lost Hawkins National Laboratory with another map.
Hawkins National Laboratory was an incredibly claustrophobic interior map with tight corridors and not a lot of loop potential. Hawkins was arguably killer-sided because of this, but it was also undesirable for killers who require a line of sight to either hurl a projectile or stalk survivors.
Overall, fans were decidedly pleased to see it leaving the game, and a secondStranger ThingsChapter could rectify the issues players had with Hawkins. With season four still in mind, an option for a realm map inDead by Daylightcould be Vecna’s red-hued lair in the Upside Down.
Of course, the blue-hued Upside Down itself was not included in the game and could be featured in a way that is unique to other maps. The Upside Down could be represented similarly to other neighborhood maps such as Springwood’s Badham Preschool orHaddonfield’s Lampkin Lane, with the significant difference being that it could transition into the Upside Down.
This could effectively mirror the regular map but with key details being swapped or changed procedurally, such as generator, chest, and hook placement. Gameplay mid-match would be exciting with RNG deciding who benefits and who suffers a drawback. Many locations could be considered, just as many characters could be considered, as there would bea great potential opportunity forDead by Daylightif itsStranger Thingslicense could be renewedin the future.
Dead By Daylightis currently available on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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