I last updated my review for Dead by Daylight in 2017, and it's safe to say it's been a LONG three years since for this game. I actually stopped playing for most of 2019 just from burnout and my personal life occupying me more, but coming back towards the start of 2020 was one of the better decisions I've made. The game only continues to grow, and new content is it's lifeblood - which the devs provide PLENTY of. Even though the game still struggles with issues that have been prominent since its release, I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone if it looks interesting to them.

Pros
+ The devs are pretty active and a lot of them are lovely people who always interact with their community. I'm seriously shocked how much they accomplish in their development cycle, given that they're only really a medium-sized company. Every 3 months, you can expect a new chapter (killer/survivor pack), several new skins, new challenges to progress through, and any other ongoing projects they're working on (graphical updates, balancing, etc). Another refreshing part of this game is that none of it is pay-to-win. Every original character and perk in the game can be obtained through playing, with the only exception being licensed characters.

+ Balance is a hard one. The game has become a lot more fair in a lot of ways (no more insta-heals, no more insta-gens, no more insta-moris, etc), but there are still killers and perks which are objectively better than others. I stand by the stance that every killer in the game is viable at any rank and all survivor perks can be useful. Going into 2021, the developers seem to be making an active effort to address balancing issues more aggressively.

+ The graphical fidelity of this game may not be cutting-edge, but I believe it stands the test of time (so far). It's very obvious it wasn't built to be the most visually appealing game ever, but I still enjoy all of the environments the devs have created for this game. It's also important to note that they are actively improving the graphics in virtually every way currently - all maps are getting visually updated, character models are getting updated in 2021, and more. Dead by Daylight also isn't an intensive game, either; I played the game for 3 years on a GT 640 (yes, really) and it still averaged around 40-50FPS.

+ The art direction and worldbuilding in Dead by Daylight is incredible. The lore and characters were pretty simplistic in 2016, but they have spiraled out into so much more since: diverse characters, creative powers, and lore cinematics to name a few. There's probably at least five hours of lore to read in this game, and the Lovecraftian-esque "Entity" that everything is based around is something I adore so much.

Cons
- While this effect has personally worn off for myself over the years, I know people can get INCREDIBLY frustrated with this game at times. Unless the base mechanics of the game are somehow completely uprooted, you will have games where you 'lose' because of things out of your control; whether it be getting camped to death as survivor, feeling like you have no control over the game as killer because of certain survivor perks, or just being horrendously outmatched on either side, any reasonable human being will get annoyed with this game sometimes. However, if you're going through reviews for this game, I would take a lot of it with a grain of salt, because a lot of people just leave bad reviews because they can't win games - whether it truly be because of issues with Dead by Daylight or just their unwillingness to improve.

- Dead by Daylight has a long history with bugs. I've been through a lot of them, and they've been as silly as emote bugs to as egregious as people's entire save files getting corrupted after thousands of hours. This may be a bit of a hot take, but I personally think the (less-severe) bugs in this game make it all the better. I have laughed my ass off in this game because of them more than I have in any other game, and they aren't as utterly game-breaking as a lot of the community makes them out to seem sometimes.

- ...and that's about it. Seriously. As of the time I'm updating this review, it is my most played game, and I don't regret any of the time. People pour thousands of hours into this game, and rightfully so.

12/27/2020 Score: 93/100
11/22/2017 Score: 88/100

I last updated my review for Dead by Daylight in 2017, and it's safe to say it's been a LONG three years since for this game. I actually stopped playing for most of 2019 just from burnout and my personal life occupying me more, but coming back towards the start of 2020 was one of the better decisions I've made. The game only continues to grow, and new content is it's lifeblood - which the devs provide PLENTY of. Even though the game still struggles with issues that have been prominent since its release, I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone if it looks interesting to them. [b]Pros[/b] + The devs are pretty active and a lot of them are lovely people who always interact with their community. I'm seriously shocked how much they accomplish in their development cycle, given that they're only really a medium-sized company. Every 3 months, you can expect a new chapter (killer/survivor pack), several new skins, new challenges to progress through, and any other ongoing projects they're working on (graphical updates, balancing, etc). Another refreshing part of this game is that none of it is pay-to-win. Every original character and perk in the game can be obtained through playing, with the only exception being licensed characters. + Balance is a hard one. The game has become a lot more fair in a lot of ways (no more insta-heals, no more insta-gens, no more insta-moris, etc), but there are still killers and perks which are objectively better than others. I stand by the stance that every killer in the game is viable at any rank and all survivor perks can be useful. Going into 2021, the developers seem to be making an active effort to address balancing issues more aggressively. + The graphical fidelity of this game may not be cutting-edge, but I believe it stands the test of time (so far). It's very obvious it wasn't built to be the most visually appealing game ever, but I still enjoy all of the environments the devs have created for this game. It's also important to note that they are actively improving the graphics in virtually every way currently - all maps are getting visually updated, character models are getting updated in 2021, and more. Dead by Daylight also isn't an intensive game, either; I played the game for 3 years on a GT 640 (yes, really) and it still averaged around 40-50FPS. + The art direction and worldbuilding in Dead by Daylight is [i]incredible[/i]. The lore and characters were pretty simplistic in 2016, but they have spiraled out into so much more since: diverse characters, creative powers, and lore cinematics to name a few. There's probably at least five hours of lore to read in this game, and the Lovecraftian-esque "Entity" that everything is based around is something I adore so much. [b]Cons[/b] - While this effect has personally worn off for myself over the years, I know people can get INCREDIBLY frustrated with this game at times. Unless the base mechanics of the game are somehow completely uprooted, you [b]will[/b] have games where you 'lose' because of things out of your control; whether it be getting camped to death as survivor, feeling like you have no control over the game as killer because of certain survivor perks, or just being horrendously outmatched on either side, any reasonable human being will get annoyed with this game sometimes. However, if you're going through reviews for this game, I would take a lot of it with a grain of salt, because a lot of people just leave bad reviews because they can't win games - whether it truly be because of issues with Dead by Daylight or just their unwillingness to improve. - Dead by Daylight has a long history with bugs. I've been through a lot of them, and they've been as silly as emote bugs to as egregious as people's entire save files getting corrupted after thousands of hours. This may be a bit of a hot take, but I personally think the (less-severe) bugs in this game make it all the better. I have laughed my ass off in this game because of them more than I have in any other game, and they aren't as utterly game-breaking as a lot of the community makes them out to seem sometimes. - ...and that's about it. Seriously. As of the time I'm updating this review, it is my most played game, and I don't regret any of the time. People pour thousands of hours into this game, and rightfully so. [b]12/27/2020 Score: 93/100[/b] 11/22/2017 Score: 88/100