How Time Works ind DBD

When it comes to fantasy/horror/eldritch/lovecraftian magic stuff like this, sometimes the inner workings of a fictional universe are so broad that even writers can't properly explain it themselves. But with DBD, it's definitely something that can't be explained without a breadcrumb trail of lore to follow. And while DBD HAS lore, there isn't a lot to work with in how the Entity works.

The best possible explanation I can think of is that it's kinda similar to a H.P Lovecraft novel, but it's a theory and nothing more. Here's what I think:

The Entity is choosing to start plucking killers and survivors from the 20th and 21st Centuries, because of the many bad things happen in this era (and frankly I don't even need to list them) and it was able to gain lots of power during that time. Before the Industrial revolution people still believed in magic and the supernatural. This was a time before science and automation started to become a mainstay of modern life, where the common folk were god-fearing peasants that regularly prayed to God (or whomever the think He is, I won't judge) and (mostly) avoided all things sinful for a shot at a good afterlife.

But with the Victorian Era came, people started to turn away from religion in favour for more logical and fact-based beliefs which lead to fewer people keeping the Entity at bay. As a result, it was regaining enough power from a lack of occultists & other like-minded groups/individuals pushing it away to start pulling people into a purgatorial game of cat-and-mouse in some off-world pocket dimension by the time the >1900s came around. But because the 20th century is often regarded as a time of civil strife and human tragedy, despite our huge advancement in technology and science, thanks to the World Wars, the Cold War, The War on Drugs, The War on Terrorism, ruthless dictatorships, etc. And because the Entity feeds off of human tragedies that result in (often) multiple human fatalities, it was essentially like an all-you-can-eat buffet, thus allowing it to hijinx anyone from any era from the point when it became powerful enough to do so.

However, and this next part will probably contradict what I just told you, because it lies somewhere between the material world and the immaterial world, time is borderline irrelevant to the Entity. Sure, plenty of horrible events took place before the 20th Century, but between 1900-present day, most folks were able to make a decent living with the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But it's also in this era and beyond that the the worst of humanity started to emerge, which is why the Entity is picking individuals from 1900 onwards.

Anywho, that's just what I think. I'm probably wrong, but it's just a hypothosis.