The newest chapter for Dead by Daylight has been announced today, and to the surprise of many it's a Silent Hill focused chapter. Like all chapters, you'll be getting your hands on a new killer, a new survivor, and a new map. I got a chance to sit down with Behavior Interactive's game director Mathieu Cote, who was more than happy to walk me through some of the design choices behind these additions.
Let's start with the big one: the killer is Pyramid Head. You knew this the moment you saw "Silent Hill." Pyramid Head, who will also be going under the name The Executioner, will specifically be based on the Silent Hill 2 version of the character. Pyramid Head can use his big knife to swing around, but also can take the time to slam it on the ground as a shockwave attack, something that can actually pass through barriers. His special ability allows him to drag his knife behind him, creating trenches that, should any survivor pass through, will give them the all-new "tormented" status effect. Should Pyramid Head down any survivor that's tormented, he can choose to hook them on the spot rather than have to carry them to a hook. Even better, should a tormented survivor have been hooked twice already, Pyramid Head will just kill them on the spot.
Mathieu noted that Pyramid Head will be a stealth-based killer, and said that his unique perks "mostly have to do with sneaking, becoming undetectable, and surprising people." Specifically, the moments of Silent Hill where you turn a corner and just see Pyramid Head right there, waiting for you at the end of some hallway, served as the inspiration for this perk set. He also said that Konami was willing to let Behavior have fun customizing Pyramid Head and that there will be plenty of customizable options for him.
As for the survivor, that role will go to Silent Hill 3 protagonist Heather Mason. As a character with a link to the dark and occult roots, it made sense to give her the role. While Mathieu didn't want to go too deep into details on her specific unique perks, he did give an idea of what to expect. He said that much of it will involve the otherworldly Entity, saying that Heather would have "perks that allow you to a certain extent to, not control the Entity, but request a favor from the Entity." Mathieu also mentioned perks that activated when hit by a hex totem. He summed it up with how perks "have to do with how she can gain an edge when faced with terrible things." If you were hoping for someone different, a new feature called Legendary Outfits will let you instead play as Lisa Garland, the nurse from the original game.
Finally, there's the map, which will take you to Silent Hill's Midwich Elementary School. Unlike other expansions' maps, there will only be one layout for Midwich Elementary. This layout is made to emulate the original PlayStation school layout as closely as possible. While there's still going to be randomness in the location of gameplay elements like pallets or windows, care and attention were put into making it look and feel just like it came out of Silent Hill. "We wanted to make sure we faithfully recreated the layout of the school" noted Michael. "But there's still going to be a lot of procedurally generated elements to it." Because it's one set layout, this does mean that the school is loaded with fun little secrets. Michael did hope that "in-between getting chased, murdered, and trying to fix generators, you'll have time to look around and really find all the little winks and secrets we've lovingly put in there to really show our love for the license."
Best of all, you don't need to wait long to play any of this. In fact, if you're reading this article, you can get going right now. The Dead by Daylight Silent Hill chapter is available right now in the public beta testing server on PC. The expansion will have its full release on PC and consoles about three weeks later, on June 16th. Michael notes the release for the mobile version will be "slightly delayed", citing the extra work that has to be done to translate for it. Still, it sounds like you won't have to wait too long before diving back into this classic horror world.
