DBDlike games

DBD's popularity has more or less spawned a genre all its own, and I wondered which ones other people here play.

Ones I've played so far:

Horror Legends

This is easily my favorite of the DBD clones, just due to the aesthetic. Like VHS, it's a B-movie and retro horror-inspired theme, but with a hearty dose of Halloween spirit. Halloween is my favorite day of the year; walking through the Halloween aisle of any store in October just gives me chills, so this caters to my tastes perfectly.

It's also the only one so far other than DBD to receive movie licenses, as the creator has a deal with Full Moon Productions, and a Subspecies DLC has already been added. The original killers are also interesting and well-designed.

Games are played daily, although you might have to go to the Discord to find someone.

Identity V

Probably the most obvious example. Blatant DBD ripoff that directly cribbed most of DBD's mechanics and gameplay elements.

I love the goth comic-inspired art style, but I haven't played much of it, and I'm not sure if it's worth delving into. (Someone else can enlighten me here.) I also know it's probably got the biggest playerbase of any of the DBD clones, some of which are extremely dead.

My first impression is that the gameplay didn't have an original bone in its body, so I just went back to playing DBD. I may give it another try at some point.

Secret Neighbor

Cute. Fun. Horribly unbalanced gameplay.

Downright... nightmarishly unbalanced gameplay. The people who complain about DBD's balance issues should get a load of this. In truth, you're only playing the game because you're hoping that the RNG picks you as the killer so you can blow some steam eating children for ten minutes. Playing as a survivor and actually trying to win is sweaty as #########, not helped by the fact that the game is rife with griefers who beat other survivors into the ground with throwable objects for kicks.

I like this game in spite of its flaws, and it's also one of the only games on this list to actually maintain a consistent playerbase. New Ghost killer is kinda cool.

Friday the 13th

We all know about this one.

Unfortunately, I didn't get into it until last year, so I never got to see a lobby or experience the game as it was originally meant to be played.

The current state of the game feels more like an afterparty than anything. You can drop in and out of matches mid-game, which consist of three Jasons playing at once against a potentially unlimited number of survivors, a third of whom are hackers and all of whom are well-versed enough in the meta to bully Jason all the way to the endgame. On the plus side, every game you play rewards an ridiculous amount of EXP, and you can always host your own game.

The game has EAC, so it won't start on Linux. Now that Epic has made enabling EAC on Proton that much easier, maybe the devs can do something about it even though they can't make/release any actual new content.

White Noise 2

Got this one recently, and I have a good time with it when I actually feel like playing. It's one of the only games other than DBD that has gone meta, and some people in the WN2 community are as knowledgable about its killers and corresponding counterstrategies as any DBD player. I'm not very good, but neither are most of the players (and there doesn't appear to be any ranking system or SBMM). It's fun.

Native Linux support is always a plus.

VHS

Got into the closed beta a couple weeks ago. Initial impressions positive. The aesthetic is fun, although I think one of the killers looks goofy and doesn't belong in a horror game. (Still not as bad as Trickster, though.) I've only played a handful of games so far, though, so not enough to know whether I'll love it as much as DBD.

Ones I haven't played:

Predator: Hunting Grounds

In Silence

White Noise Online

Last Year: The Nighmare

Which ones have you played? What are your favorites and why?

Do you play any non-asymmetrical online horror games? (I only play L4D2 and occasionally No More Room in Hell.)