Dead by Daylight: Eternal Blight Event Review (Game, 2020) #31DaysofHorror
Every time I think Behaviour Interactive is actually working to improve Dead by Daylight and move it in a positive direction, I get disappointed. This is especially true for events, which are getting worse as time goes on.
Usually, the main issue with DBD events is the player base. There’s a base level of toxicity you have to adjust to in this game. People are just cruel in end game chat and any limited resource event—grab an item, interact with an object, complete specific generators or use specific hooks—will bring out the worst in people. It’s like the fandom as a whole would rather make everyone miserable than allow anyone to earn the rewards.
The new Eternal Blight event is possibly the worst event they’ve done for a very different reason: it’s a cash grab.
Usually on the Halloween/Blight event, when the pustula petals grow and characters begin to glow, you earn new cosmetics by completing bonus objectives. Not this time. If you want the cosmetics you’ve always been able to earn by participating in the event, you have to buy them with in-game currency. There is not enough time in two weeks of an event to earn enough iridescent shards to unlock all of the cosmetics. If you want them all, you have to spend actual money to buy auric cells.
I can do you one worse. One of the Eternal Blight event cosmetics is linked in the premium Rift Pass. This is DBD’s battle pass. You can earn some items without spending money, but if you want to unlock all the extra cosmetics and charms, you have to purchase the Rift Pass. Buying the Rift Pass doesn’t even guarantee you the cosmetic, as you have to play enough to unlock it or buy it outright with more auric cells.
The word to describe this is greedy. I’ve not been this disappointed by Behavior Interactive since they released Legion. When they released Legion, they released a broken and easily exploited killer that made the game horrible to play as survivor. They refused to acknowledge that people were literally using their poor design oversight to make the game miserable for everyone else. When they finally had to take action (a pair of add-ons literally broke the game), they lost a lot of fans and nerfed Legion into the ground. The killer would’ve been viable with minor tweaks and instead they tore apart their own character design to solve the issue and spite the community.
I have no motivation to play the game further right now. The community has already reached the toxic “stop you from doing anything” point of the event. The rewards you can earn are charms, which are cute, and even those are artificially limited. One of them is only available as giveaways in select Twitch streams. You can’t even earn all the free event items by playing the game.
There’s a lot more going on. The poor winners of the cosmetics contest from over the summer had their designs unveiled and they look nothing like their designs. The survivor design is so poorly programmed into the game that Behaviour actually issued an apology on Twitter.
Note:
— Dead by Daylight (@DeadByBHVR) October 21, 2020
After receiving some feedback, we'll be revisiting the Freestyle Claudette outfit to bring it closer to the creator's original design and tone, releasing it in a Rift at a later date. Thank you for your input.
All I can say at this point is do better. This is how they’re going to kill the game.
Dead by Daylight is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
