Dead by Daylight Chapter XX: Resident Evil Review (DLC, 2021)

The new Dead by Daylight chapter introduces Resident Evil into the world of the game. Like the Stranger Things chapter, Chapter XX brings us two survivors and one killer in Jill Valentine, Leon Scott Kennedy, and The Nemesis.

The good news with the Resident Evil chapter is the new killer and perks are a lot of fun.

The bad news is the game is in a pretty broken state. The DC penalty is disabled because something in the programming has severely impacted stability of the game on console. The new map is also disabled for the same reason: it really doesn’t work on console. There are some optimization issues that are causing lag and stutter in the game. I’m finding it playable enough on PC, but the Nintendo Switch and PS4 experience is poor right now.

Yes, I play on three platforms. No, I will not discuss this further.

The biggest disappointment with the new characters is the lore. Capcom can be very protective of their characters and branding. The result is two to three sentences for each new character in the game. This is less lore than the original survivors received, making Leon, Jill, and Nemesis feel like they don’t really belong in Dead by Daylight.

It’s a shame. I love the lore in the game and all three characters’ lore comes down to “they were doing something in their original game and then the fog showed up so now they’re here.” No justification. No bridging the gap between Resident Evil and the Entity’s realm. Just “Claudette got on the wrong bus” levels of backstory.

The gameplay and perks are another story. This is the most balanced chapter in a long time, providing excellent perks for survivors and killer.

Nemesis is the new killer and he’s already joined my rotation of characters I like playing. Imagine a cross between The Executioner (aka Pyramidhead) and The Plague. Nemesis uses the T-Virus to produce a tentacle from his fist. If he hits survivors, they become infected. Hit them two more times with the tentacle and they go into the dying state. Each time you use the T-Virus, you power up your special ability. At level two, the tentacle can destroy pallets and breakable walls. At level three, the tentacle range increases.

Nemesis also has two NPC zombies to help him. These zombies are always visible to you on the map. They will wander around until they find a survivor. Then they chase after the survivor. They can also infect, injure, and down survivors thanks to the T-Virus. The 1v4 killer mode is now 3v4. Survivors can destroy the zombies by dropping a pallet on them or freeze them using a flashlight, but they will always respawn eventually. You can also power up your ability by striking them, as well.

The tentacles have the same initial range as Pyramidhead’s sword, meaning you can use them in any of the loops Huntress’s hatchets can go over to strike survivor. The infection works faster than The Plague’s but requires more precision to get. Survivors also show up with Killer Instinct (that Legion-based tracking notification) when they use a vaccine to cure the T-Virus.

Nemesis’ best new perk changes the game forever. Lethal Pursuer shows you the auras of all four survivors (unless they’re running Jeff’s Distortion perk) at the start of the match for seven/eight/nine seconds. You instantly know where everyone is and can choose where to go. I have consistently pipped up while playing Nemesis without using any slow down perks because I can find survivors right at the start of the match.

Hysteria has a lot of potential in the right build. When you injure a survivor, everyone on the team becomes oblivious (unable to hear the heartbeat or use killer tracking perks) for 20/25/30 seconds. There is a 30 second cooldown between uses. Dead by Daylight is very dependent on sound to provide information and it’s easy to get a sneaky hit in on survivors when they don’t know where to look for you.

Eruption is a generator regression perk. Every generator you kick has a yellow aura. After putting a survivor into the dying state, all yellow aura generators explode and begin regressing. Any survivor working on an effected generator will scream and be incapacitated (Twins/Victor effect—you can’t do gens, sabo hooks, use items, interact with other survivors, or cleanse totems) for 12/14/16 seconds. There is a 30 second cooldown. I haven’t had much luck with Eruption myself, but I imagine killers who do well with perks like Pop Goes the Weasel will find success with it.

My own Nemesis build uses Lethal Pursuer. It’s game-changing for this kind of aggressive killer with a ranged attack. I use Starstruck (Trickster perk) for some easy one shot downs and to discourage survivors from hiding by the hook/interfering when I hook someone. I pair that with Mad Grit (Legion perk) because survivors need to learn that lesson twice sometimes and it lets me gets some extra hits in without losing the survivor I’m carrying. I round it out with Barbecue and Chili (Cannibal/Leatherface perk) for additional tracking after the start of the match.

For add-ons, I like a combination of something that increases the ability meter for each time I use the tentacle (either survivor or zombies, I’m not picky) and something to increase zombie mobility. I like Marvin’s Blood (increase mutation rate when striking survivors), Mikhail’s Eye (increase zombie speed), Zombie Heart (increase mutation rate when striking zombies), Admin Wristband (expand and widen zombie detection range), Tyrant Gore (considerably increase mutation rate when striking zombies and reduce respawn time), and T-Virus Sample (considerably increase mutation rate when striking zombies). This way, I get to level three quicker, the zombies are more reactive to use them for tracking, and the zombies are more likely to actually hit survivors.

The survivors in the Resident Evil chapter add crafting to the game and it’s so much fun.

Jill Valentine gives us Blast Mine. After repairing a total of 66% of a generator (can be combined from multiple gens), you can use the ability button to install a trap on the generator. If the killer kicks the gen within 35/40/45 seconds, they are blinded and the generator does not start regressing. You can keep reusing this perk as long as you can meet the 66% completion total. There’s a new fun meta in the game where players are trying to make different combos of stunning and further punishing the killer with Blast Mine. It’s like a minigame and it’s just hilarious as killer and survivor. No, I don’t love being Blast Mine’d, Head On’d, flashlight stunned, and Repressed Alliance’d back to back, but it is funny that it can stack like that.

Resurgence is a healing perk. After getting unhooked, you are instantly at 40/45/50% healing progress. Hop into a match with the right medkit combo and you can be unhooked and fully healed before the killer even registers what happened.

Counterforce is going to be a very helpful perk when the upcoming Boon Totems (totems survivors activate to gain effects) are added to the game. You cleanse totems 20% faster. You gain tokens that let you cleanse 20% faster per totem. Finally, after cleansing a totem, you are shown the aura of the furthest totem for 2/3/4 seconds. This isn’t the most useful perk yet, but it’s quite telling that Behaviour teased the Boon Totems right before this chapter was released. Counterforce will be important when that mechanic is added to the game.

For Jill, I’ve been running Blast Mine, Calm Spirit, Iron Will, and Repressed Alliance. It’s me, I’m survivor chaining Blast Mine with other punishments for the killer.

Leon Scott Kennedy’s crafting perk is Flashbang. This essentially lets you build a firecracker in the trial. After repairing generators for 70/60/50%, you can enter a locker and press the ability button to make a flashbang. You can drop the flashbang to grab later and craft more as long as you have enough generators left to meet the repair requirement. The flashbangs cannot actually leave the trial, so it’s a use it or lose it item. As you can imagine, Flashbang is also creating the chain punish the killer meta, with people dropping a flashbang near a good loop, building another, intentionally getting chased, using a flashbang, hopping in a locker, using Head On, grabbing the other flashbang, using the flashbang, and getting away. It’s impressive and hilarious. It does stack with Blast Mine, too.

Bite the Bullet is a stealth perk. While healing, failed skill checks do not cause you to scream. You also only receive three/two/one percent regression from a failed skill check. This would be a good perk for newer players still getting used to skill checks. Otherwise, there isn’t much use for it in the current game.

Rookie Spirit is an aura perk. After hitting five/four/three successful skill checks on a generator, Rookie Spirit activates. For the rest of the trial, you see the aura of every regressing generator. This can be a useful perk when you know Hex: Ruin and other generator regression perks are being used by killers. It’s not a hard condition to meet and there is a certain killer playstyle that will let you know exactly where the killer is by what generators pop up on the map. I want to toy around more with this to create a survivor build based around Rookie Spirit. There’s potential here.

For Leon, I’m currently running Flashbang, Diversion, Breakout, and Dance With Me. If my teammates never get downed or hooked, I don’t need to worry about killers going back to the hook, as is tradition.

If the Nemesis and the new perks seem interesting and you play on PC, I recommend getting the new Resident Evil chapter. If you play on console, wait. If you’re not sold on the perks, wait. The game needs a lot of TLC right now to play like it should so you need to decide if zombies and building explosives are enough to justify the cost of the new chapter for you.

Dead by Daylight Chapter XX: Resident Evil is available on PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.