Well, the two icons are coming together to celebrate a decade of being solid entertainers in their own right with a crossover event that sees some of your favorites from The Division 2 stepping into the Dead by Daylight universe, bringing cosmetics, trophies, and more to the table. The event is going to span a couple of weeks, ending on July 14th.

The free content includes The Deathslinger and The Huntress skins, alongside a couple of backpack trophies for you to pick up, while the premium content includes The Oni, The Trapper, backpack trophies, and exotic caches for you to collect. It’s been a rather busy time for Dead by Daylight, what with the recent addition of Jason Voorhees and a feature film in the works. Meanwhile, The Division 2 confirmed Year 8 earlier this year, much to the delight of its fans.

You can see the new characters in action in the trailer below. It’s rather short, but it’s still worth a watch for the new additions, nonetheless.

The film already has a director attached to it, and its script is locked in. What’s more, Behaviour’s own Mathieu Cote, the game’s director, has told Crecente that it’s planned for a late 2027 release.

That’s a bit of a wait, we know, but we think it’s hardly a surprise that a game that has been rooted in popular culture is making the switch to the silver screen. The recent addition of Jason Voorhees to its roster is a great example, and we were quite impressed with how his unique set of skills was integrated into the gameplay loop. There have been several other crossovers in the past, and this is probably a sweetener to the news of layoffs at Behaviour, which left a sour taste in our mouths when we told you about them.

Details on the cast and plot are scarce at the moment, but you can be sure we’re going to be shouting about it all from the rooftops when they surface. Unless there’s a stalker waiting for us to do just that, of course. A trailer would have been nice but we expect that’s coming a lot later down the line for now.

Dead by Daylight Studio Announces Layoffs in Mobile and External Development Teams

Keeping in line with Jason’s frightening capabilities from the Friday the 13th movies, Dead by Daylight’s The Slasher is equipped with the Omnipresent Evil power. This allows him to become invisible and get the Undetectable trait, which makes it impossible for survivor players to find your scratch marks. However, despite the enhanced stealth offered by Omnipresent Evil, The Slasher still has to be careful about the routes he travels, since survivors will still be able to spot footprints.

Along with this, The Slasher has two special abilities: Impaling Throw and Jump Scare. The former allows the killer to grab a projectile from nearby Scrap Piles or Hooks to throw at survivors, injuring them and knocking them back in the process. The Slasher can also impale or pin down a survivor by knocking them into an object or surface. If a survivor is healthy, they can only be impaled this way when a Hook projectile is used.

The Jump Scare ability kicks in when The Slasher is in Omnipresent Evil mode. When used, players can instantly teleport to Pallets, Breakable Walls, or Vault Locations and perform a Break or Vault action. When this is used, the killer also gets to see the location of nearby Survivors.

The Slasher also comes with 3 new perks – Hex: Scared to Death, Silent Shadow, and Rampage. When equipped with Hex: Scared to Death, hooking victims can awaken a Dull Totem, which allows the killer to cause nearby Survivors to scream and temporarily slow down whenever a Pallet is broken during a chase. Silent Shadow gives the killer Undetectable for a short duration after hooking a survivor. If all Generators have been repaired, the killer gets Undetectable permanently.

Rampage allows the killer to amass tokens by breaking pallets and breakable walls, up to a total of 13. A token is used up whenever the killer is blinded or stunned, giving them a small Haste boost.

Now that Jason is out, Behaviour Interactive will follow it up with the release of The Life Road DLC, which will introduce the game’s first indigenous survivor – Shane Wiigwaas. The DLC is slated for release on June 25th. August will see the release of the first Dead by Daylight chapter that was developed by the studio in collaboration with its community, Chorus of Sin.

Later in the year, the asymmetrical horror PvP game will get even more content, like Art the Clown from the Terrifier movies in November. 2027 will kick things up a notch by bringing in a new chapter based on the narrative-driven collaboration Behaviour Interactive did with Supermassive Games – The Casting of Frank Stone.

Dead by Daylight is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch.

It really sets the scene, with a gloomy hut lit up only by the thunder from a raging storm before Jason walks in to grab his machete and mask, a reflection of which you see while a very familiar score rounds it all off. We really liked it, and that was only part of why we’re so excited to try him out for ourselves.

What really delighted us was information about Jason’s skills, which involve stalking unsuspecting survivors via their footprints while remaining entirely unseen with his Omnipresent Evil ability. Meanwhile, Improvised Carnage gives him the ability to throw things he finds at retreating Survivors, with the ability to even pin them to a wall.

Expect more than a few jump scares and some horrifying kills when he drops into the public beta test build starting May 26th, before making his official debut on June 16, the game’s 10th anniversary.

It sees Naoe investigating the disappearance and attacks on villagers in Harima. She must eventually deal with an “otherworldly” threat and master “unique mechanics” to survive. The quest is available from the Hideout and awards a free Trinket and Banner upon completion.

Of course, the store is where the remaining content resides. It offers a special pack with outfits, Trinkets, weapons and Maurice, the Clown’s undead horse, as a mount.

Interestingly, another collaboration was stealthily added – Balatro. Players can obtain a new Trinket/Amulet with a unique Legendary perk, causing a random affliction upon ending a combo. How you get it is unknown, but it’s definitely fitting for the deck-builder.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out our review and the post-launch roadmap here.

How this will work is completely unknown, but a teaser clip on Twitter showcases Naoe and Yasuke near a bonfire. Meanwhile, a figure in full armor with a flaming aura observes them from a distance. Both protagonists are in plain clothes, and the hashtag “#TheFogIsCalling” may tease some unique stealth mechanics. Time will tell, but as with any collaboration, expect limited-time rewards and paid cosmetics in the store.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Crossing three million players in roughly a week, its player count and spending “clearly” surpassed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, per Ubisoft’s latest financials. Check out our review, where we awarded it a nine out of ten.

Even more content is on the way, including the second story quest in June, new difficulty settings, an alarm system for the open world, and much more. Check out the current post-launch roadmap here.

Alien Isolation

Developer Creative Assembly knocked it out of the park with Alien: Isolation, which is undoubtedly one of the best games to have come out of the Alien label in quite some time. It puts you in the shoes of Amanda Ripley who must do everything and anything in her might to outsmart the Xenomorph, and because of the fact that you can’t really kill him – the best bet is to hide under tables and behind closets and hope that the alien doesn’t notice that. Of course, that’s easier said than done because the Xenomorph AI learns from your past runs and adapts itself based on those inputs which ensures that players are always on their toes.

Still Wakes the Deep

A shoo-in for scariest game of 2024 so far, Still Wakes the Deep duties you as electrician Caz aboard a bleak, ocean-rusting North Sea oil rig before an accident occurs and situations go awry. It’s best not to know too much before stepping aboard, but safe to say The Chinese Room have delivered an atmospheric horror for the ages, replete in equal measure dread and mystery.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/dead-by-daylight-developer-acquired-red-hook-studios-of-darkest-dungeon-fame Tue, 24 Sep 2024 13:43:26 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=599632 After recently cancelling the Dead by Daylight spin-off Project T, Behaviour Interactive has announced the acquisition of Red Hook Studios. The latter is famous for the Darkest Dungeon series, with both titles selling over seven million copies.

Remi Racine, Behaviour Interactive CEO and co-founder, said in a press release, “It’s a privilege to welcome a developer of Red Hook’s caliber. Earlier this year, we established an ambitious goal for our future as a publisher – to make Behaviour synonymous with horror and surround Dead by Daylight with a library of similarly exceptional horror games.

“Our acquisition of Red Hook is another emphatic step towards this objective, with more to come.” This seems to imply that other studios specializing in horror titles could be up for acquisition.

Red Hook Studios co-founder Chris Bourassa said, “We’ve found kindred spirits in the Behaviour team. Both studios are Canadian, independent, and devoted to fantastic horror games. Where we differ is scale, which opens the door to new possibilities. Behaviour’s support will help us pursue our vision for Red Hook’s future and focus fully on transforming Darkest Dungeon into an absolute juggernaut of the dark fantasy genre.”

Studio co-founder Tyler Sigman added, “Joining forces with Behaviour is exciting on multiple levels. They have demonstrated a commitment to allowing our team to continue developing Darkest Dungeon in the manner we know best but with the benefit of their considerable knowledge and resources. We are stronger together than apart. Critically, there is a shared love of Darkest Dungeon, and with Behaviour’s help, we can delve even deeper into the franchise.”

How this will affect the direction of the Darkest Dungeon franchise remains to be seen. However, Red Hook Studios will remain independent while operating under Behaviour Interactive’s purview.

In the meantime, the developer is working on Kingdoms, a free new standalone campaign for Darkest Dungeon 2. It releases in three modules, with the first, Hunger of the Beast Clan, out in Q4 2024. There will also be a new paid DLC, Inhuman Bondage, which adds a new region, enemies, and hero with unique Trinkets, palettes, and much more. Head here for more details.

In May last year, developer Behaviour Interactive announced that it Midwinter Entertainment – a studio that it had previously acquired – was working on a new PvE co-op shooter spinoff set in the Dead by Daylight universe, before announcing the game as Project T earlier this year and kicking off an insiders playtest program. 

Mere months later, however, the developer has announced that based on the feedback it received from said playtests and “a thorough internal risk assessment from a commercial and product perspective”, it has decided to cancel the project.

“When we conceptualized Project T, we wanted to have players involved in it as early as possible, which led to the creation of the Insiders Program,” the developer wrote in an announcement published on Twitter. “This approach has allowed us to get very early validation on the project’s core design and gameplay, which is something that often comes much further into the production of a game. Following the playtest in July, we ran a thorough internal risk assessment from a product and commercial perspective. While a number of players expressed appreciation for what they played, unfortuantely, the outcome of this deep analysis yielded unsatisfactory overall results.

“It’s with a heavy heart that we announce that Project T has been cancelled. We want to thank you for your support throughout this journey.”