In Dead by Daylight’s new Roots of Dread chapter, the new Killer is The Dredge. A formless mass of limbs writhing in the dark, The Dredge is the manifestation of darkness itself. A terrifyingly unique character, The Dredge is forced to capture the spirit of a monster lurking beneath your bed. And while Dead by Daylight is certainly a horror game, evoking such a unique flavor of fear posed an interesting challenge for the game design team.
First, its Reign of Darkness Power blankets the map in pitch-black darkness, making simple navigation a matter of life and death. In this supernatural night, vision was severely limited, leaving the Survivors only able to see what was directly in front of them. While this certainly brings an exciting new horror element to Dead by Daylight, such a drastic visual change is not without a few hurdles behind the scenes.
Hello Darkness
Dead by Daylight’s lead game designer Patrick Harris explains: “One of the first things, and this is something that people don’t usually consider, is that we have to think about the technical feasibility of it. of the desired experience. “Illumination and visibility is a very technical challenge, and when conceptualizing a Power like The Dredge’s, we had to consider that.”
“It turned out to be an interesting discussion between the tech side and the design side,” he notes. “Designer said We want an experience like thisand technology speak doing exactly what you just said will have an impact on performance. We work together to find a balance.
“It was difficult for lighting and visibility to change dynamically during the game, maintaining performance and staying true to the original design desires. Above all, you must consider the feedback we receive from our tests, which includes many player skills.
“I am not the greatest Survivor player in the world, by my own admission,” Patrick said with a laugh. “When I faced The Dredge, I found the shadows very difficult – especially during the first iterations. Lots of Inexperienced Survivors feel it. On the other side, many highly skilled players already knew each Map by heart. You can blind them, and they can still find the Generator.
“We had to find a balance where highly skilled players were scared and impacted by Power while newer players weren’t completely overwhelmed. It’s a tough game, and that’s where the idea of being able to see The Dredge’s aura in the dark came from. It helps to strike a balance between the two groups while maintaining the fear factor. It also helps that when you see The Dredge, it’s downright scary. ”
Closet
That was just the beginning. Dredge has the ability to teleport to any lock on the map, giving it an oppressive level of mobility. And should it teleport to a locker when a Survivor is inside? Some things are better left to the imagination.
Patrick explains: “We wanted a Killer to jump out of the locker and scare the Survivors for a while. “Something grabbed a safety post and flipped it over its head. ‘There are three lockers in this room, do I really want to come in here?‘ This is going to be the Killer that makes the closet scary.”
Survivors could take protective measures by locking the safe, but there was a problem. “You can only lock those cabinets once,” says Patrick. “It’s not necessarily a great idea if you’re running around and locking them all up. If you do that early in the game, The Dredge will break each lock and you’ll be in for a bad time. Slow down and pay attention. ”
Finding balance
Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical multiplayer game where the two sides go head-to-head, and striking an effective balance between Killer and Survivor was an integral part of the game design team’s toolkit. play. At the same time, both sides are made up of many player skills, so it is difficult to predict how the community will react to Killer’s competitive potential.
Patrick mused: “You never know what level Killer will be until the community gets to work. “Sometimes it’s because they find a way to do something you never thought of. Sometimes they do something they it is impossible to do. A lot of times, we’re just impressed with the creativity. ”
It’s always useful when Killer Power grants wits, raises the skill ceiling, and invites a classic mind battle. While The Dredge’s Power allows for map-wide darkness and Locker teleport, there’s an additional ability that survivors must fear: The Remnant. When The Dredge charges to Power, a Static Remainder will be generated. From there, the Killer has two options: teleport to a Locker or immediately return to the Remnant.
Consider a situation where a Survivor you are chasing is running towards a locker. You prepare to sever them by teleporting to a locker in front, charging your Source, and creating a Remnant. After a few seconds, they realize what you’re up to and decide to double back by running towards you. Instead of teleporting to the Locker as originally planned, you can return to your Rest and immediately resume the chase.
Patrick recalls: “When we did our first tests with The Dredge, we didn’t have Remnant. “It was one of the last parts of the Power to be added. It added a level of mind gaming to The Dredge that wasn’t present, making for some fun gameplay in the chases. There is an interesting level of decision-making. “
It’s clear that the game design team is excited to get players acquainted with The Dredge, with the immersive gameplay and disturbing visual design bringing a new style of horror to The Entity’s Realm. This harmonious combination of gameplay and character has become one of the beloved mainstays of the game, and Patrick is keen to commend the work of Dead by Daylight’s Killer Designers. “The Killer designer we are working with for The Dredge, Janick Neveu, has been on the team longer than I have,” he notes. “He is an absolute expert in his craft. I won’t credit The Dredge – Janick completely killed it. He constantly impresses everyone on the team with his amazing Killer designs. ”
Embody fear in The Dredge in Dead by Daylight’s new chapter Roots of Dread, out June 7.
