"It's really interesting to tell a story so convoluted": how Dead by Daylight is still "expanding the definition of horror" 9 years later

Dead by Daylight is an intertextual breeding ground for horror nerds. The asymmetrical horror game began life in 2016 as a love letter to classic slasher icons, where Michael Myers, Ghostface, and Pinhead can be found chasing down helpless Survivors in a bloody game of cat and mouse. But if 2023's meme-worthy Nicholas Cage chapter indicates anything, it's that it's evolved into a massive, multifaceted beast.

"It's kind of a weird thing that we could not have predicted, where by expanding it and making it somehow less focused, we allow people to feel even more invested in it," says Behaviour Interactive's Mathieu Cote, game director for Dead by Daylight. Recent announcements put that wider aperture into perspective.

This time it's personalized

The teased Five Nights at Freddy's collaboration is coming to Dead by Daylight soon – featuring Springtrap as the Killer and voice lines from Scream star Matthew Lilliard – as well as collections for The Witcher 3 and competition show Dragula on the cards, with the latter landing July 8.

This speaks to a key way Dead by Daylight hopes to achieve that heightened sense of relatability: cosmetic collections, one of the "most exciting" being that Witcher 3 crossover.

Likening in-game cosplays to how players might wear a Witcher shirt or cosplay as Geralt themselves in real life, Cote says the game's mission is as much about celebrating fan culture as it is about horror. "The more you can relate to the character, the Survivor that you portray, the more you can feel empathy for that character – because they look like you, because they sound like you, because they could be you."

Likely set to come after the Dragula collection – featuring a cosmetic for The Huntress mirroring Asia Consent's winning outfit from the Dead by Daylight-themed episode (where Cote appeared as a guest judge) and a Boulet Brothers skin for The Artist – Behaviour has big plans for its Witcher 3 content.

"The Artist is going to get a legendary [skin] to be the Leshen, that terrible creature. It's going to be fun," Cote says gleefully. "And of course, my favorite, Geralt, is coming, and that's going to be a legendary [cosmetic] for Vittorio, so we'll have two silver foxes." Complete with voice lines recorded by Doug Cockle himself, the original Geralt from the CD Projekt Red games, this collaboration is tantamount to one of Behaviour's biggest intertextual moments ever.

Player banners, icons, and charms are also in the mix – including the iconic "wolf medallion with, of course glowy eyes". Hilariously, there's also be a playercard icon depicting Geralt in the tub (which I'm told is a particular team favorite) and very rare-tier outfits evoking Yennefer, Ciri, Triss, and Eredin. Which Survivors will be receiving those last four cosmetics, however, has yet to be stipulated.

But perhaps the most important thing coming to Dead by Daylight this year is what Cote describes as its most-requested collaboration. "Five Nights at Freddy's is one of the biggest indie horror games, and it sort of launched the idea that you can make very small, little horror games and really connect to people," he says of the game's lasting significance. "There's quite a big overlap in our fans. And so it took us a long while to get to it, because we wanted to do it right."

Dead by Daylight's Five Nights at Freddy's collaboration might lack a Survivor, but with Springtap reigning as a Killer called The Animatronic, the chapter marks the first time also that players will be able to play as Springtrap – "something not possible in any of the other games," remarks Cote.

There will also be cosmetics for Springtrap, including the iconic Yellow Rabbit from the Five Nights movies, as well as yet another famous voice to listen out for. "We are very happy to have had the collaboration with Matthew Lillard, so you're gonna have his pretty face, and he recorded the voice lines also for the characters, so you're gonna be able to hear him in the game."

It's taken years for Behaviour to land its most-wanted license, but at long last, it seems to be "the right time" for Freddy's to enter The Fog. Which then begs the question: where do we go from here?

A many-tendrilled thing

Everywhere, it seems. Dead by Daylight has become something of an untethered entity all in itself, with a firm foothold in both gaming and broader pop cultural scenes that lends it a unique chance to seek self-referentialism in more spaces than one.

"With time, we realized that it was okay to integrate other things and to sort of expand the definition of horror and the definition of what the world of Dead by Daylight could be." Cote refers in part to Behaviour's partnership with Until Dawn studio Supermassive Games, which last year brought the Dead by Daylight universe to a branching narrative horror adventure in The Casting of Frank Stone. "And I think we've built a strong enough world now that we're able to do that without breaking anything.

"Part of the culture now [is] that you can reference video games in video games in the way that they are part of everything, the same way that movies about movies make sense in a way they couldn't before, right? Cabin in the Woods is a great example of that," he offers. "It couldn't exist if movies and horror movies were not an intrinsic part of culture. And in the same way that Dead by Daylight can be sort of meta about it because of that."

This leads to one of Dead by Daylight's most charming lore hooks. Anything mentioned in the game, be it a Witcher or Iron Maiden shirt or a Frank Stone skin – "which will have a legendary outfit for The Trapper" – infers that those things actually exist in Dead by Daylight's universe as well. "It's really interesting to be able to tell a story so convoluted, right?"

But that convolution, he says, is part of what makes horror such fertile ground to cultivate. "Horror is the biggest niche. Everyone's like 'oh, the cult of horror' but it's so prevalent. Like, everybody's a fan of horror. Everyone's happy that it's such a small group – like, it's just us, but there's a lot of 'us'. It's always been the biggest, completely well known secret, " Cote says.

It makes perfect sense, put like that, how Dead by Daylight can appeal to more than your average horror fan – it's a place for communities to carve out their identities, expressing themselves in the process.

A new nightmare begins

The Dead by Daylight community has a close relationship with its creators, and that is being elevated in a unique upcoming "design-by-committee" initiative: Choose Your Own Chapter.

Dead by Daylight's Choose Your Own Chapter stunt will give fans the opportunity to vote on design concepts, visuals, and perhaps Perk-related mechanics over the course of an entire development cycle, the hive mind effectively shaping an original Killer and Survivor for a bespoke new chapter. Every stage will involve branching options to choose from, each coming at various stages in production.

"I believe there's also going to be a system whereby after each decision, or after each major decision, we tell people what the options would have been if they'd pick the other side and allow them to vote again if they want to switch back," Cote says. "Essentially, we're giving them choices between branches that we believe are both good, so it should end up being something really interesting."

If that isn't the biggest display of trust, I don't know what is. "Maybe we'll realize that this is absolutely awesome, and we'll do that every year. Or maybe we'll say never again and wake up in the middle of the night screaming," Cote shrugs with a smile.

Nine years, 35 chapters, and 39 maps later, Dead by Daylight's journey so far is nothing short of impressive. But with such humble beginnings as a streamer sensation, Cote still doesn't take any of it for granted – and he owes it all to the luck of virality.

"It's fascinating because the viral thing is almost impossible to purposely create. And I believe, because I'm a big D&D nerd, that you create a game and it gives you a bonus, and then you roll the dice and you add your bonus, and who knows what's going to happen?" He draws finger quotes. "Bad is an extremely loaded word, but let's just say, 'bad' games can make the news and be everywhere for a week. A really good game, it's easier, but it's certainly no guarantee.

"You just don't know, and that's part of the magic," Cote adds. "But also, that's part of luck. And Dead by Daylight, we were very lucky – we still are."

Check out some of the other best horror games to play while you wait for Five Nights to enter The Fog