Dead by Daylight: Hour of the Witch Review (DLC, 2021) #IntoTheFog
On 19 October, 2021, Dead by Daylight released an original standalone survivor into the game. Mikaela Reid is the focus of the Hour of the Witch DLC and she changes the game forever with her perks.
Mikaela Reid is a witch and a storyteller. She practices her spellwork all the time, even putting little charms and good wishes into the drinks she prepares at the coffee shop. Her best friend convinces her to enter a storytelling contest on Halloween night that goes horribly wrong. Mikaela starts having nightmares about a thick black fog swallowing everything in its path and struggles to write the new story. Her friend disappears right before the contest and Mikaela knows what she should do. She goes up to the mic and tells the story about the all-consuming fog, before being swallowed into the Entity’s realm herself.
I’ll be honest here. I don’t like the writing on this story. I think it’s not as focused as other longer lore Behaviour has provided in the past. A lot of the plot elements go nowhere and I think there’s too much focus on the best friend to really be Mikaela’s story. They’re trying to justify Mikaela being powerful enough to revolutionize the game, but it gets lost in all the bends in the story that go nowhere.
Good thing her perks are incredible. Having a witch join the survivors does give Behaviour Interactive cover to just add a new game mechanic through her.
Mikaela brings the long-teased boon totems into DBD. These are the survivor equivalent of hex perks. A survivor can bless a dull totem to cast a spell that provides a benefit to survivors within a certain radius of the totem. It’s genuinely game changing.
Boon: Circle of Healing actually broke the game and required a hotfix a week later. This is a healing perk. Survivors within 28 meters of the boon totem heal at 90/95/100% faster speeds. They can also self-care without a medkit or the Self-Care perk at 50% speed. This self-care ability stacks with the bonus healing speed, granting 95/97.5/100% faster healing speed.
Do I really need to break down why this is so good? It’s game changing. The only downside to running to this perk in your build is only being able to bless one totem at a time. You’re creating a get out of a jail free card for any survivor who needs to heal and can’t find another teammate or a medkit. I’m equipping this perk any time I feel like playing altruistically.
Boon: Shadow Step is also quite good. Survivors within 28 meters of the boon totem have their scratch marks suppressed and their auras hidden from The Killer. The effect continues for 2/3/4 seconds after leaving the area.
This perk is great when there’s only one or two generators left. Bless a dull totem close to a generator you have to complete to create cover while the killer chases your teammates. They’ll gain no benefit from Barbecue & Chili or any other aura-reading perks they’re using to track while your grind out the last generators. Boon: Shadow Step is a bit more conditional than Boon: Circle of Healing, but it has some clear benefits.
Mikaela also brings my favorite aura reading perk into the game. Clairvoyance lets you see the auras of the exit gates, generators, hooks, chests, and the hatch within 64 meters for 8/9/10 seconds after cleansing a totem. It doesn’t happen instantly; you actually get to activate the ability.
This is another great one. If you’re on a map where it can be harder to find all the generators (RPD, Midwich, The Game, Haddonfield, etc.), you can activate the ability when you’re stuck on where to go. If you make it to end game or you’re the last survivor standing, you can activate the ability to find the hatch and the gates straight away. The only real downside here is losing one of the five totems you could use for Boon: Circle of Healing. This is the equivalent of having a rainbow map with charges whenever you need them. You get the ability every time you cleanse a totem.
The Hour of the Witch DLC jumps to the top of my list for the best DLC to buy for new survivors. You can learn the game real quick with a mix of Meg, Claudette, and Mikaela perks to keep you safe. I’d recommend new players run Spine Chill, Sprint Burst or Quick & Quiet, Boon: Circle of Healing, and Clairvoyance. You get a notification of when the killer is looking at you with Spine Chill, you have Sprint Burst or Quick & Quiet for an easier escape from a chase, Boon: Circle of Healing to self-care when you need it, and Clairvoyance to show you where almost everything is on the map.
More advanced players can take advantage of the healing bonus from Boon: Circle of Healing to make the most of a good medkit while helping their teammates. I’ve also swapped out my usual Adrenaline for Clairvoyance as I’m much more likely to be the last survivor left standing than to actually be on a team of random players that can finish five gens in a match.
Hour of the Witch is available for PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch.