E3 2019: ‘Dead by Daylight’ Haunts The Switch

Recently, the horror game genre has seen a creative resurgence. One of the games that has led that charge is Death By Daylight, a multiplayer slasher simulator where a team of victims must find a way to escape before a single killer takes them all out. Multiplayer gaming is where a platform like the Nintendo Switch excels, so seeing the demo at E3 made sense.

With the ability to play both locally and online, Dead By Daylight allows players to choose between original characters and high profile guests, (including Evil Dead’s Ash as a potential victim and Michael Myers as a killer). From there, the five players are dropped into a camp where the mostly defenseless campers must work together to activate a series of electric generators, creating a path to escape. This is all while the killer searches the grounds in an attempt to incapacitate the other players and hang their bodies on hooks. Whichever side achieves their goal first ends the bloody night victorious.

These goals aren’t as easy to accomplish as they seem, especially for the campers. Activating generators takes a long time alone, meaning it’s more efficient to tackle them alongside a partner. The thing is that these generators make noise, alerting the killer of their location. On the flip side, when encountering the killer or mortally wounded, teammates can call for help. This may allow the team to overwhelm the killer and revive their fallen partner, but with the imminent danger of losing more teammates in the process. The campers can also set traps and obstacles designed to slow the killer down, but these are all just temporary. It’s all like a gory version of PAC-Man.

Dead By Daylight on the Switch is shaping up well. Maintaining its visual and technical performance while playing locally among five consoles is no easy feat, so I left the demo impressed. Oh, and it manages to stay pretty creepy to boot. Be ready to grab some friends and slash them up when the game releases for Switch in September.