Playstyle Denial Between Killers and Survivors
I'm sort of a killer main. I probably play killer 70% of the time, and survivor 30% of the time. And I noticed something.
When I lose as killer, most of the time I have less fun than games where I lose as survivor. Even when I win as killer I can often end a game frustrated, but don't mind dying as survivor...
except in 3 cases. Freddy, Legion, and Cannibal.(and nurse sometimes)
And it got me thinking. What is it that leads to the incredible frustrations in some cases, and not others. And it hit me. In the cases that lead to the worst frustration, it's not losing, but being denied the chance to play the game you want to play.
There's a lot of different playstyles in this game. Some players like to run chases. They absolutely love it. You know the types running OOO and a bunch of looping perks. Others pack spine chill, urban evasion, and even a killer-sense key. And others still bring tactics such as gen rushing, or sabotage(though it sucks), or hyper altruism with borrowed time and the like.
And vs most killers, these are all well and good. The most frustrating killers aren't strong. Most are bottom tier. But they all share one trait in common. They hard counter a strategy, to the point that survivors cannot even play the game they want to play. Freddy hard counters stealth, Legion hard counters chases, and Cannibal hard counters fun(if they camp).
The problem was never raw power, but the taking away of a playstyle.
With killers, the same thing is a problem in many cases. But it's more prevalent. No matter what perks a survivor brings, a killer can always outplay them(if they're good) unless they're playing Freddy or something. But in almost every case it is the survivor that sets the tone of the game, while the killer sets the pace.
If a killer is playing a chase build, but the survivors are running stealth perks, the killer may win but still walk away feeling sour. If the killer is running stealth setup but the survivors are running hard chase, the killer is denied the game they want even if they win.
A killer is forced to play a different game in many cases. And a survivor is forced to play a different game vs certain killers. In the case of cannibal it's a phone game while sitting on a basement hook.
I don't have any solution in mind really. This runs through all the game mechanics, and is so deeply intertwined that it couldn't really be fixed. I think this is a large part of the animosity between killers and survivors. We all walk into a game wanting to use our playstyle, and some games we simply can't. We're forced to do something else.
I'm not saying anyone should be allowed to exclusively sneak or exclusively chase. The game doesn't support such a binary split. But when a game falls 95% into one category it really drives people up a wall.
Am I crazy or does this seem like a valid theory?
Comments
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In my opinion it's honestly fine it's that way, it's a place where both the killer and survivors go into the game blind unlike the killer being able to see survivors/items and survivors for obvious reasons not knowing what killer they will go against. Specialized builds are a risk as there's usually a build or killer that can counter it to some extent.
Wanted to grab people off gens with prayer beads but the survivors have spine chill and just walk away constantly? Unlucky. Did you put on infectious fright + knock out and stuff to try to build some nutty slug pressure but there's 4 Unbreakables? Unlucky.
Decide to do something funky like bringing balanced landing AND dead hard to have a surprise for a chase or something but you go against a clown with an exhaustion addon? Unlucky. Bring a stealth build but it's a Legion that finds you with killer instinct and your build lacks power in the chase? Unlucky.
It's just how it is, and how it tends to be in any game that has a distinction between generalist and specialist options. Generalist builds are typically safer while specialist builds have clear weaknesses, but at the same time can REALLY shine in the right situation.
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