http://dbd.game/killswitch
DBD: A horror game that's lost its "horror"
Title pretty much describes it all. A game marketed as a horror survival game and yet there's like barely any spine chilling or horror elements nowadays to the game with how a lot of the maps look, not even mentioning the whole "feeling hopeless" vibes of the game seem to also be out the window with gameplay now all these various perks allowing survivors to fight or harass the killers.
Like here's an example with maps, literally right now The Walking Dead themed update being brought to the game, a series that revolves around a zombie apocalypse and dark atmosphere and yet like the map doesn't feel like that really at all, sure got some creepy elements to it and a few references from the show but without understanding the update or knowing the reference you would never guess that map is themed around a zombie apocalypse. Another example I think of is like Coldwind Farm, a game titled "Dead By Daylight" implying you're in the dark and that you will not live to see daylight yet hear you are running around a farm and cornfields in what looks to be late in the day or sunrise, the old versions of the Coldwind Farm maps with their much darker skies and lighting and having more dense cornfields were way more spooky.
Another thing about The Walking Dead update I find disappointing is didn't even get a new like zombie themed killer. In terms of horror there really isnt much killers these days offer that could give some player a good scare, there aren't any like jumpscares from killers, even from the recently added Animatronic which is from a game that's literally about jumpscaring you. There are some things in maps like on the FNAF Pizzeria map with an endoskeleton popping out of a vent that could spook a few players but still a bit weak. Midwich Elementary School is one of the few maps that seems to get this down, it has a room where a corpse falls out of a locker for survivors which after a couple times probably wont cause any scare, the atmosphere of the map with all the ambience from like the corpses scattered about and other small noises does have ways of making you stay more on your edge cause don't always know if a noise you heard is the killer or not.
The game really needs to do better on its spooky and horror theme by adding more chilling atmosphere to its maps, fog by default should definitely be made thicker on most maps, the maps should have more ambience to them to better make survivor players look around more cautiously. The terror radius heart indicator even though is optional to be enabled or disabled should probably be entirely removed so survivor players are more forced to rely on hearing and sound like in other survival games and not just be using a simple indicator to tell how close the killer is, that would address other issues as well with survivors being able to just flee a gen as their heart icon grows.
Comments
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Yeah back then when freddy kruger was a literal horror show to play againts, michael used to be fully terror less.
Idk today players i get as michael feel way too comfortable to loop me
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Not only has DBD not lost any horror, it's gained a lot of horror over the years.
Horror is more than not being able to see. It's a whole genre with a rich and varied history- it's more than old slasher films and a gloomy atmosphere.
In fact, Coldwind is one of the best examples you could give. Sure, it used to be much gloomier, but they updated it and while I don't remember if they ever said this outright, it's extremely clear that the inspiration for how new Coldwind looks is Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one of the most critically acclaimed horror films of all time that often gets cited specifically as having a great atmosphere for horror.
I would argue that the best maps for horror atmosphere in this game aren't actually the visually dark ones. Coldwind is up there for the evoking of oppressive, sun-baked heat that shows grisly remnants of violence, but there's also Lery's for being a rundown old hospital showing through implication spaces where people had horrific things done to them as a strong contender for horror atmosphere.
There are also really well-done maps that aren't directly spooky but clearly lean in to the storytelling they're part of, like Toba Landing being an alien and unfamiliar location where things clearly went wrong and pretty much the whole Withered Isle realm doing a great job of seeming like a crumbling patchwork of fading memory.We've also had some great examples of horror storytelling that aren't based on this narrow perception, either. Trickster and Yun-Jin's intertwined story is a fantastic example of this, it's a really well done story about a vicious predator getting away with his crimes because of his high status and because of people looking the other way— and Trickster doesn't look visually in line with the OG killers despite this.
Obviously it's fine to prefer the gloomier, visually-darker aesthetic, but I do feel the need to push back when the alternatives are presented as less horror because of it.
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I think it's interesting that everyone seems to be very vocal about that they want the "horror" themes back, but everytime the Lights Out gamemode comes back, which is a "pure horror" gamemode, people doesn't seem to like it?
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Ik, I think people should appreciate what we have right now and wait and see what comes up later down the line, bc I want lights out back, it's fun & it definitely puts the "horror" in the games genre, at least, compared to other game modes anyways
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Is this some kind of joke? First you complain about lost horror, then complain about killers having it too hard and then complain about coldwind being too bright. Who do you think this changing are coming from? Right, from killer palyer complaining they cant see survivors in the fog, on dark maps or whatever, while the game atm is literally a killer fantasy simulator.
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I loved the first Lights Out though.
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Yeah…it basically went from a game of hide and seek, to a game of tag. It is largely because of the clickbait content of popular streamers. As you are probably aware, a dark stream is bad for content creators because it is hard for the audience to see what is happening. Then BHVR assumes that whatever the popular DBD streamers create is what most of the player base wants, when they're really just a loud and vocal minority of extraverts whose opinions get regurgitated by their casual worshippers.
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This is not a fair comparison. Old DBD had much better atmosphere than today's DBD, but it was not pitch black like lights out. Lights out is just so dark that it is largely unplayable, especially since most of the modern DBD mechanics are designed to function in a high visibility environment.
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Horror =/= Scary.
They're connected to one another, but they're not the same thing. The former is objective while the latter is subjective.
Horror can exist in multiple different forms than just the most conventional idea of the meaning, there's a reason why so many subgenres exist within horror. Hell, even with slasher horror that DBD is based off of, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most famous examples of horror taking placing during both night & day time.
Also the game's title is more like a saying, than it is a literal meaning.
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