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Can DBD create and release an actually SCARY killer?

I feel like Dead By Daylight needs to release a killer that in every aspect, is actually scary. To most players, the majority of the killers we have now are great yes, but not exactly scary. I wish to see an original killer of their design that actually scares people. Yes, killers like Blight and Hillbilly with deformities are disturbing, but I want to see a killer that makes me, and everyone else scared. Dead by Daylight needs a spark like this to reignite the horror theme within the game, rather than just teabagging at pallets and running around carelessly because you know the killer is a Legion (as he has low lethality). Basically, I want a killer that falls into the uncanny valley, whether it be its appearance, the way it moves, its power...idk...leave your thoughts. (I also repeated myself a bit a few times, ignore that lol)

Comments

  • StarLost
    StarLost Member Posts: 8,077

    Hag, Wraith, Myers, Ghostie, Spirit and Nurse can actually pull off some great scares.

    The problem is that playing survivor just isn't very...scary. It's very much the power role. If anything, I've been jumpscared more by players using IS from lockers/pallet saves than I've probably inflicted.

  • GeneralV
    GeneralV Member Posts: 11,199

    Honestly, Freddy, Michael, Doctor and Hag were pretty scary during DBD's Golden Age of Spookiness (2017).

  • Dwight_Fairfield
    Dwight_Fairfield Member Posts: 7,019

    Honestly I still find Michael creepy. When I pan my camera around and see him standing there staring at me gets me every time.

  • Ghoste
    Ghoste Member Posts: 2,135

    The game has been out 5 years now. Most people are desensitized to the horror aspect, and there's no reversing that. I would like to see more focus on the horror, but I don't think they could ever really accomplish it.

    I will say that Hag's traps always scare the bejeezus outta me, so there's that.

  • Nayru
    Nayru Member Posts: 567

    aside from myers/ghostface doing their things and hag jumpscares at least the scariest overt killer to me is nemesis

    because of those god damn tier-up sounds

  • Underdawg
    Underdawg Member Posts: 193

    Scary is subjective.

  • YokaiPhaseshift
    YokaiPhaseshift Member Posts: 99

    Idk man, I had a game today where I turned a corner and nearly ran into Michael's chest. Scared the ######### out of me and had me on edge the rest of the game. So some of them do well.

    Also, horror is incredibly subjective, so it's impossible to create a "universal" scary character. I have a friend who is dead terrified of the twins, but they make me laugh whenever victor comes sliding around the corner.

  • Sonzaishinai
    Sonzaishinai Member Posts: 7,976

    Scary is subjective.

    I find the concept of Legion and Trickster terrifying as humans scare me more then clearly fictional deformed monsters.

    For most people these 2 would probably be on the very bottom of the scare list.

    DbD being a multiplayer game you put 100 to 1000ths of hours in also makes creating something scary hard.

    See something often enough and it just won't be scary anymore

  • dbd900bach
    dbd900bach Member Posts: 696

    It's genuinely impossible. People are numb to any scare dbd can offer aside from the occasional jump scare from stealth killers. It also boils down to the mechanics of the game. Survivors with 360 vision 24/7 can't really be scared by killers. Yet we can't change that very much since some chases can get really intense in both speed, timing and mindgames.

    No matter what killer they make, the game will never be scary. No killer will ever actually be scary, even if they are just jump scares but nothing in this game will give me genuine dread and goosbumps.

  • Kurri
    Kurri Member Posts: 1,599
    edited October 2021

    The killers already are plenty scary. Just the game design doesn't make playing Survivor very scary at all. Everything is too bright. Everything has notifications, aura reading, and sound que's. There is no build up, surprise, or suspense. It's just "I can see so and so from across the map, I can see my next objective, oh I heard deathslingers gun shot from across the map, oh we have clocks on our faces on the screen that tells us everything from when the obsession's being chased, to who is being injured, and what hook state they are on.

    By horror's definition. Playing as Killer is more terrifying than playing as survivor. The survivor is the one with all the information a serial killer would have and know.

  • VikingDragonXii
    VikingDragonXii Member Posts: 2,885
  • Kalinikta
    Kalinikta Member Posts: 709

    The killer won't be scary just by graphical design, you will tea bag them at pallets just the same as Legion.

  • SHYHERIST
    SHYHERIST Member Posts: 165

    Only a very strong and deadly killer can scare the survs. Which pro player will be afraid of m1 insignificance?

  • SMitchell8
    SMitchell8 Member Posts: 3,302

    It could be done ..... possibly;

    * Killer would need to be down right grotesque or does something very frightening.

    * Killer would need an intimidating audio or movement style like jadded running, screeching, sirens etc.

    * Jump scares are probably the most efficient method as they do jump out at you when you least expect it.

    * Would probably need to be an OP or broken killer in order to negate flashlights, looping etc.

    The alternative;

    * Create a map/s that are much much darker with little to no visibility at certain distances. Anyone seen insideous? Now the further is the level of atmosphere id like to see in a dbd map. Actual fog and very poor visibility. Stuff the neon cosmetics and bright coloured maps and actually make the maps more intimidating, this should make the killers a bit scarier. Kpop killers, coldwind rework and every single cosmetic released nowadays leads to me to believe that the game is actually heading the total opposite direction of what I suggested 😅

  • Insidious could fit that bill but I cant imagine how it could be changed... nothing scarier than a killer walking up to you with no terror radius. Most people right now use it to camp hooks I'm sure, so changing it would be beneficial for everyone in that regard

  • Carth
    Carth Member Posts: 1,182

    The game is driven by math so no, nothing is scary that is formulaic/baseline. There are the occasional jump scares but as far as real 'fear' that comes from unpredictability and the unknown. Watching a scary movie for the first time might make you jump a few times but once you know everything I doubt you will still get jump scared at every moment. DBD is the same. Killers are locked into certain rules for balance purposes and as a result you won't really ever have a 'truly scary' killer except perhaps the first few times you vs them.

  • pseudechis
    pseudechis Member Posts: 3,904
    edited October 2021

    While people will get used to the game I don't really agree with the desensitization point because that's not really how it works.

    Fear in the game comes from threat of elimination, once you are eliminated you are out and that's that. This upsets people when they get eliminated early or feel they didn't get to play. So the threat of elimination is watered down by so called "balance" to allow people to get a full game.

    You'll see most of the killers here that people list as scary are ones that either suppress terror radius or can pop out of nowhere at you. If more killers had less "tells", higher unpredictability and suppressed terror radius, they would just be inherently scarier even in the hands of mediocre players.

    So at the moment, killers are not really that surprising and have a lot of predictability about them. Which kills the threat and generally kills the scare factor.

  • TheMadCat
    TheMadCat Member Posts: 2,203

    I find Doctor being scary... I mean, did you take a look of what he is wearing on his face?

    And I don't want to speak about some cosmetics which add more... creepy "modifications" on his body...

  • Thrax
    Thrax Member Posts: 974

    you play enough it becomes run of the mill. so for you it won't be scary

  • slendermansmoom
    slendermansmoom Member Posts: 544

    jumpscare myers?

  • Guest1567432
    Guest1567432 Member Posts: 728

    Nope...Killers aren't scary. Survivor perks and items see to that.

  • TheDuhJ
    TheDuhJ Member Posts: 475

    So here's the thing... in all the shows (except maybe the cenobites) the reason they are scary is because we don't know what they are and what they are going to do. Its scarier diving into the depths of subnautica because you don't know what is coming and the prospect of venturing into the darkness is a little spooky. But DBD is the smash bros of horror. You know for a fact that another human is in control of that character and the most they can do is spook you with a mindgame. Sometimes I get spooked by survivors. Its more whats going on in your head vs what the game is actually producing in these situations. Now what would be scary is finding out that your mom was playing the killer.

  • mynameisBlade
    mynameisBlade Member Posts: 325

    Dead by Daylight can't be scary as long as they keep the current graphical look the same. They need to just get this game out of Unreal Engine 4. Would be quite a bit of work, but it'd be worth the effort. The games unrealistic lighting/shading not to mention the pacing of the matches and map design is just poor. A scarier game requires more build-up for scares. DBD is just goofy. I don't think the devs want this game to be scary at all.

  • Updated graphics won't make the game any scarier... people will get used to that. Games are scary when you let them be scary and when they have genuine surprises

  • JacksonWise
    JacksonWise Member Posts: 651

    That won't happen when you've played this game for hundreds to thousands of hours. But I think the devs are still releasing new content that is at least unnerving. For example, they always do a good job with new terror radius music!

  • mynameisBlade
    mynameisBlade Member Posts: 325

    The most appealing part of horror games are the look. How DBD made it this far with the terrible graphics/optimization it has is just BHVR getting lucky that it has the fan base it does. Of course that is a huge generalization about scary games, but the graphics/pacing will hit the hardest up front. Over time people become less sensitive to anything. That obviously goes without saying. My point still stands.

  • ignaeon
    ignaeon Member Posts: 106

    Are you lost? This is an action adventure rpg, and killers at boss fights that need to have a tell before every attack

  • Shroompy
    Shroompy Member Posts: 6,667

    Not really

    All killers were a joke, I joined in during this time and the horror factor went away VERY quickly, Im talking like my 4th or 5th session I was pretty comfortable with the game

    How ever I did get spooked by Hag the first time I encountered her, why? Because I had no idea she existed (I had about 100 hours in the game at this point)

    I would watch countless videos every day trying to learn and improve, yet there was barely anything on Hag. Check back then there is VERY little from known content creators in mid 2017.

  • Mr_K
    Mr_K Member Posts: 9,222

    Asking for the impossible.

    Even if they did, the killer wouldn't be scary after 20 matches in a row.

  • danielmaster87
    danielmaster87 Member Posts: 9,409

    So the ones we have aren't scary?!

  • ManOMaker
    ManOMaker Member Posts: 284

    In dbd, even if you have over 40 hours and run spine chill than nothing will really scare you anymore

  • GeneralV
    GeneralV Member Posts: 11,199

    That is more of a "you" thing, tbh. I think those killers, around that time, actually reached the horror aspect that everyone desperately wants.

    If you don't, that is fine too.

  • Mister_xD
    Mister_xD Member Posts: 7,669
    edited October 2021

    no they can not.

    an actually scary Killer would be one that feels like an incredible threat, one you will want to avoid at any cost - and any Killer we already have that has that going for them are always labled "boring" by the community.

    Nurse, Spirit and Deathslinger all had that - two just got nerfed with the single goal of removing exactly that aspect in mind, the third one probaply has the longest nerf history in the whole game.


    appearance and sound design wont cut it here.

    try playing literally any horror game for a couple thousand hours, i guarantee you you wont be scared by the monster design or behavior anymore.

  • Shroompy
    Shroompy Member Posts: 6,667

    I mean it is my experience yes, how ever think about it, this game is scary the first few hours for the majority of people who play it

    You cant be scared of something if you get exposed to it over and over again.

  • A game that looks appealing is not the same thing as a game that looks scary

  • Leatherface1990
    Leatherface1990 Member Posts: 718

    Mario 64 lighting system Nuff said. They need it on Unreal 5's lighting system for a spooky atmosphere.

  • GeneralV
    GeneralV Member Posts: 11,199

    But there is still a difference between the game providing you with scary aspects (as it once did) and don't providing you with anything (as it currently happens).

  • Shroompy
    Shroompy Member Posts: 6,667

    I mean youre providing a perfect example

    Youre used to the game, what was scary for you before isnt now, and that now applies to DbD as a whole. You know what to expect and nothing can really phase you.

    Newer players will still feel the horror aspect of the game, because they dont know what to expect.