Horror, fear, DbD, and a discussion on hypothetical game design.
it's clear to everyone at this point that DbD is a horror game in name only. There's nothing scary about the killers and there's nothing scary about playing survivor. Here's how I propose the game be "fixed" to be genuinely scary and hopefully, more fun for both sides.
First of all, I think the main thing we need to do is make playing survivor more fun. Because they are the majority of players in a match, so their role needs to be way more fun than just crouching in front of generators.
Step 1: Remove Perks.
Perks are a large problem, limiting in game design, creativity and how survivors play. There are over one hundred perks and yet, only a few of them are genuinely good. Making them all good would be nigh impossible, so what do we do?
We take game design cues from the Killer.
Look at the original four survivors. Each is clearly specialized in a specific type of gameplay. Leader. Healer. Runner. Stealth.
You can apply roles to other survivors too. If I say Bard, Defender, Witch. I guarantee you've pictured a survivor for all three of those.
So why not make them stick to that role? That way, if you like playing Gens you can play as the Generator class. Enjoy Chase? Play the character designed to be able to get away easier. Want to gamble on everything you do? Play Ace.
Each survivor can play completely differently depending on their lore and personality. Let's make survivor drops just as exciting as Killer drops because they're introducing a whole new way to play survivor.
Meme characters! Protectors! And if you're super worried about being able to use your favourite survivor with different perks... Then just make it so you unlock the class, not the separate perks.
Killers get hit by this too, losing all their perks, but in return THEIR perks become basekit to them, and they get a whole lot more of them, making each killer go from a spin on the same old concept with a different power. Each killer wildly varies in the effects they have on survivors, the map and the like. (also means they can be way stronger because their perks don't have to be balanced around the nurse and blight)
"But Dunket!" I hear you cry, "I want to play Nemesis completely differently than how he was intended!" and I hear you. But there's a tool already in the game that can be used for that.
ADDONS. Add-ons should be more than flat minor buffs that leave half of them useless. They should be the means for different playstyles.
A Springtrap focused entirely on doors? There's an add-on set for that.
Stealth Nemesis? Add-on set for it. (Mr X's hat making you undetectable but making your footsteps way louder would be my choice, personally)
Sussy Imposter Legion? Add-on set!
Now every add-on has its use, sure some of them are for meme playstyles, some of them still aren't good. But there's genuinely a reason for them to exist.
So we've got survivors playing completely differently to one another, Killers allowed to be far more powerful and unique to themselves.
Now we just need to handle the maps.
First of all, darken the maps again. Maybe not super dark, but dark enough to hide a survivor if they're clever.
Secondly, greatly decrease the amount of pallets. Being chased by the killer should be a tense search for a pallet before they get you, not a free run through 15 of them.
Thirdly, and this one is going to crush people's hearts. No loops. No simple run around in circles and waste hours of everyone's time. Because running in circles isn't fun for the survivor, and it's not fun for the killer.
And once again I hear you cry, "Dunket! How am I meant to escape the killer without 15 pallets and 12 vaults that Windows of Opportunity have shown me!?"
Simple. Use your new abilities. That's what they're there for. Or if they're on cooldown, hope to god one of your teammates is nearby and is willing to save you using one of theirs.
If you use all your abilities and you still go down, either that's a skill issue or the killer is tunneling hard, giving your team an opportunity to do gens.
Now yes, this would be hell for Solo Queue, which is why I'm also suggesting not voice chat, but a few simple chat messages to show your team. Stuff like "Killer nearby!", "Killer chasing me!", "Help!" and the like, now survivors can use their numbers advantage without needing other programs.
Yeah, killers will still have the advantage but uh, I'll be honest. They should. Have you ever seen a horror movie before?
I'm not sure how to fix every single killer or survivor in the game, so I'm interested to hear suggestions for survivor "classes", Killer Reworks that make playing as and against them almost an entirely different game, etc.
Because my main goal here was to make DbD easier to balance, more fun for both sides and most importantly, an actual horror game again.
I want my heart racing as I hear the scrape of Pyramid Head's blade. I want to spend a match against the trapper in deep paranoia because there could be a bear trap anywhere.
I want to feel the dread of Nemesis heavy footsteps approaching as the horde of the undead draws in around me, the panic of desperately flicking through cameras trying to find Springtrap, only to see him entering a door and then get jumpscared.
Sure, eventually it would stop being scary. All horror games do. but that's why every killer should feel a different kind of tense horror. The horror needs to come from gameplay, not just atmosphere.
And if it still becomes not scary after that and you're bored? Well, go play something else for a while. The entity will always be waiting for when you're ready to have the ######### scared out of you again.
Again! Would love to hear some thoughts on this! I'm obviously not expecting BHVR to do any of this stuff because I'm basically proposing a different game entirely.
I just like having discussions on game design and DbD so I figured I'd try and have one lol