I never used to understand why people with hundreds or thousands of hours of a game would ever dare to write off a game or speak poorly of a game. The whole idea of “Why would you spend hundreds or even thousands of hours to unironically not like a game?” Well, I’ve come to realize that it is genuinely okay for someone to play a game for a long time, especially a live service game, and not quite understand why we don’t like something initially, and take a long time to form an idea, as the sands are always shifting.
I feel as though there does need to be some major points brought up because I have spent more time playing this game than any other game I’ve played. And I know I'll go against the absolute swarm of active Dead by Daylight players by giving this a negative review, but I will also do my best to make sense of why, after all this time, I don’t like it here.


✅ Multiplayer with your friends, forming good memories – The main reason why I’ve even stayed with Dead by Daylight for as long as I have is the fact that I have had other people that I have made friends with over this game. My friends that I’ve made have been around for a while and even though some friendship has been almost entirely contingent on playing Dead by Daylight, it’s been a great time. It’s so excellent thinking about the artificial goals we set for ourselves and the ideas we come up with: The new builds ideas that are funny, the combination of our collective focus and skill with regards to wanting to win matches, and just overall the casual enjoyment playing together. It’s been the glue that’s kept me here.

✅ Plentiful cosmetics for your favorite survivor characters – Once you end up playing the survivor side of this asymmetrical horror game long enough, you come to realize that the survivors are all essentially cosmetic. (Meaning that, if you get all the teachable perks, you don’t have to use any other survivor other than the one you want.) There are plentiful cosmetics for all your favorite characters. (This, of course, depends on how new they are to the game, if they are a licensed character, etc.)


➖ One Singular Gamemode with a Straightforward Objective The game of dead by daylight, the center of everything, is that the survivor team must repair generators to power the exit gates to escape the match, and the killer must stop them from doing so. That is it.


❌ Hours Spent Playing and Over-Competitiveness as Disruption – I once thought that hours played in a game correlate directly with how much we enjoy a game. I’ve realized that this isn’t really the case with Dead by Daylight for me. I’ve spent most of my time playing this game semi casually while being social and only sometimes other than the social aspect by being bound by obligation to complete “the rift.” (For those of you who are just reading this, “The rift” is this game’s version of a battlepass. Something to get money from the players and keep their money in the game.)

I realize that in the case of people who have a few hundred hours of this game, it becomes a much more competitive landscape. The idea of being scared by the killer is shed after the first few matches played as a survivor, and the idea of “trading hooks,” “slugging,” “tunneling,” etc. (all of which are terms specific to only DBD) comes into view as a survivor and the frustration of being outmaneuvered by skilled players is felt almost as soon as you begin playing killer. Survivor teammates almost have a responsibility to play well, with little encouragement at their small victories, and have the same complaints broadcasted repeatedly ad nauseum. It becomes disruptive to enjoyment of the game if we’re done with a stressful day of whatever we do in the daytime only to then arrive at a game where people don’t unwind. People continue to be wound up, it seems, on purpose.

A rule 0 almost seems wise to be implemented where we discuss the level of competitiveness, and the “dos” and “donts” of playing the game. Which leads into the next idea.

❌ Highly Individualized Ideas of How We Must Play the Game & A Necessity of Compassion – I have found myself here occasionally, but once I realized that there is no particular way to play this game, then I have escaped this cycle. But when we take on the Sisyphean task of taking it upon ourselves to explain to others what they should and should not do in Dead by Daylight, we will forever end up in a struggle of frustration and stress when we’re playing with others.

It is possible for us all to have a rule 0 (Rule 0 being defined as a discussion that is had before any games are played about what we think about what it’s like to play Dead by Daylight) of discussing amongst each other that we will have some amount of compassion for our fellow teammates who we are likely discussing some modicum of strategy with on discord. Why, in secret, do people despise others that aren’t directly aligned with their idea of how the game is played? 1,000, 4,000, 50,000 hours. It makes no difference if there is a compassionless intolerance for skill difference if it isn’t stated in a rule 0 discussion.

It’s difficult to have spent so much time doing something only to arrive at the conclusion that maybe quality of game time was almost assuredly far lower than quantity of game time. That I would like to become skilled at playing certain games and playing them well rather than playing every game there is in existence. Because it’s difficult. I would say that it had its time. I prefer to rate scores out of 10 and if I could avoid giving this a score and continue to meander on endlessly through conjecture, I would. In the labyrinth of considerations for Dead by Daylight on whether or not it is a good game, I thought a long time about “do I really like this game?” The last thought that I arrive to is that I can’t recommend it unfortunately.

Strong 4 to a light 5 out of 10.
❌❌❌➖➖

[h2][b]Introduction:[/b][/h2] I never used to understand why people with hundreds or thousands of hours of a game would ever dare to write off a game or speak poorly of a game. The whole idea of “Why would you spend hundreds or even thousands of hours to unironically not like a game?” Well, I’ve come to realize that it is genuinely okay for someone to play a game for a long time, especially a live service game, and not quite understand why we don’t like something initially, and take a long time to form an idea, as the sands are always shifting. I feel as though there does need to be some major points brought up because I have spent more time playing this game than any other game I’ve played. And I know I'll go against the absolute swarm of active Dead by Daylight players by giving this a negative review, but I will also do my best to make sense of why, after all this time, I don’t like it here. [h2][b]The Good[/b][/h2] ✅ [b] Multiplayer with your friends, forming good memories [/b] – The main reason why I’ve even stayed with Dead by Daylight for as long as I have is the fact that I have had other people that I have made friends with over this game. My friends that I’ve made have been around for a while and even though some friendship has been almost entirely contingent on playing Dead by Daylight, it’s been a great time. It’s so excellent thinking about the artificial goals we set for ourselves and the ideas we come up with: The new builds ideas that are funny, the combination of our collective focus and skill with regards to wanting to win matches, and just overall the casual enjoyment playing together. It’s been the glue that’s kept me here. ✅[b] Plentiful cosmetics for your favorite survivor characters [/b] – Once you end up playing the survivor side of this asymmetrical horror game long enough, you come to realize that the survivors are all essentially cosmetic. (Meaning that, if you get all the teachable perks, you don’t have to use any other survivor other than the one you want.) There are plentiful cosmetics for all your favorite characters. (This, of course, depends on how new they are to the game, if they are a licensed character, etc.) [h2][b] The Neutral [/b][/h2] ➖ [b] One Singular Gamemode with a Straightforward Objective [/b] The game of dead by daylight, the center of everything, is that the survivor team must repair generators to power the exit gates to escape the match, and the killer must stop them from doing so. That is it. [h2][b] The Bad [/b][/h2] ❌ [b] Hours Spent Playing and Over-Competitiveness as Disruption [/b] – I once thought that hours played in a game correlate directly with how much we enjoy a game. I’ve realized that this isn’t really the case with Dead by Daylight for me. I’ve spent most of my time playing this game semi casually while being social and only sometimes other than the social aspect by being bound by obligation to complete “the rift.” (For those of you who are just reading this, “The rift” is this game’s version of a battlepass. Something to get money from the players and keep their money in the game.) I realize that in the case of people who have a few hundred hours of this game, it becomes a much more competitive landscape. The idea of being scared by the killer is shed after the first few matches played as a survivor, and the idea of “trading hooks,” “slugging,” “tunneling,” etc. (all of which are terms specific to only DBD) comes into view as a survivor and the frustration of being outmaneuvered by skilled players is felt almost as soon as you begin playing killer. Survivor teammates almost have a responsibility to play well, with little encouragement at their small victories, and have the same complaints broadcasted repeatedly ad nauseum. It becomes disruptive to enjoyment of the game if we’re done with a stressful day of whatever we do in the daytime only to then arrive at a game where people don’t unwind. People continue to be wound up, it seems, on purpose. A rule 0 almost seems wise to be implemented where we discuss the level of competitiveness, and the “dos” and “donts” of playing the game. Which leads into the next idea. ❌ [b] Highly Individualized Ideas of How We Must Play the Game & A Necessity of Compassion [/b] – I have found myself here occasionally, but once I realized that there is no particular way to play this game, then I have escaped this cycle. But when we take on the Sisyphean task of taking it upon ourselves to explain to others what they should and should not do in Dead by Daylight, we will forever end up in a struggle of frustration and stress when we’re playing with others. It is possible for us all to have a rule 0 (Rule 0 being defined as a discussion that is had before any games are played about what we think about what it’s like to play Dead by Daylight) of discussing amongst each other that we will have some amount of compassion for our fellow teammates who we are likely discussing some modicum of strategy with on discord. Why, in secret, do people despise others that aren’t directly aligned with their idea of how the game is played? 1,000, 4,000, 50,000 hours. It makes no difference if there is a compassionless intolerance for skill difference if it isn’t stated in a rule 0 discussion. [h2][b] Conclusion [/b][/h2] It’s difficult to have spent so much time doing something only to arrive at the conclusion that maybe quality of game time was almost assuredly far lower than quantity of game time. That I would like to become skilled at playing certain games and playing them well rather than playing every game there is in existence. Because it’s difficult. I would say that it had its time. I prefer to rate scores out of 10 and if I could avoid giving this a score and continue to meander on endlessly through conjecture, I would. In the labyrinth of considerations for Dead by Daylight on whether or not it is a good game, I thought a long time about “do I really like this game?” The last thought that I arrive to is that I can’t recommend it unfortunately. Strong 4 to a light 5 out of 10. ❌❌❌➖➖