Alan Wake is coming to Dead by Daylight at the end of this month, the tortured writer set to be the latest survivor in the long-running multiplayer horror game, but how did this come to be and what will Alan play like?
We got to join a virtual round table with Dave Richard – Senior Creative Director for Dead by Daylight, Michelle Reade – Associate Brand Manager for Dead by Daylight and Kyle Rowley – Game Director for Alan Wake 2, during which the folks from both studios got wax lyrical about both their respective games and the upcoming release of the Alan Wake chapter for Dead by Daylight which comes out on the 30th January,
The curious thing about Alan Wake and Dead by Daylight is how well matched their respective lore and mythos really is. Dead by Daylight’s realm of The Fog which is ruled by the mysterious entity, and Alan Wake’s Dark Place are eerily similar. Dead by Daylight is essentially a multiverse with the entity travelling to different points in time, and even to different realities to collect its victims to take part in its sick game. The Dark Place in Alan Wake is host to a multitude of unknowns and entities, and Dave even said during the session that it’s down to the fans to decide whether Alan wrote Dead by Daylight’s Entity into existence or the Entity just poked its way into Alan’s universe.
“The thing that’s super important for us when we created this universe was making sure that we were as ambiguous as impossible,” Dave said. “There’s no hidden truth and we wanted to leave a lot of the theory building to the fans.”
He continued, “There’s a concept in DBD where, because it’s a multiverse and the Entity can break holes into different realities, timelines and universes, that there’s certain people and especially artists who can be conduits and have images of other realms and universes. So, seeing that Alan has this kind of conjuration power out of his writing made it a kind of chicken and egg problem.
“It was very handy for us for the integration, because what’s happening here? Is it Alan Wake writing the reality of the Entity? Is it the Entity’s reality that poking a hole into the Dark Place and getting Alan Wake?”
Even that point is a good match for the ethos behind Alan Wake’s story. Mystery is at the centre of both games and it’s one of the main reasons that make them both so exciting. Kyle said, “All of our games revolve around mystery, and that’s something as studios, we like that idea that players can create their own theories around things and leave thing unexplained. That kind of synergy there between these two games is great.”
With all that in mind, this collaboration was a no brainer and later this month we will be getting Alan Wake as a new survivor in the game.
But why only have Alan as a survivor and not introduce a new killer alongside him? I did ask during the session if Scratch was considered as a killer, and David revealed that development for this chapter started before Alan Wake 2 was released so the team was building the chapter based of their experience with the first Alan Wake.
Just basing this crossover on the first Alan Wake, David said that “Scratch or the Dark Place were potentially killers that we could have, but they were too close to the Entity, too almighty and impossible to conceptualise as a playable killer, so we said it’s not a great fit [at that time]. But now that we’ve played Alan Wake 2, there’s also a great monster in there that could have been a great fit.”
There’s always the possibility of future collaborations and both Kyle and David said that their teams enjoyed working together. So… “never say never”!
As you’d expect, Alan comes with his own set of perks:
Champion of Light
Whenever you are holding Flashlights, Champion of Light activates the following effects:
- Grants a +50 % Haste
- Successfully blinding the Killer with your Flashlight causes them to suffer from a -20% Hindered Status Effect for 6 seconds. (This effect cannot stack)
- Champion of Light has a cool-down of 80/70/60 seconds after blinding the Killer.
Not only does this perk have an amazing name, but it fits the theme of both games perfectly, with the flashlight being an important tool.
Boon: Illumination
Press and hold the Active Ability button on a Dull or Hex Totem to bless it and create a Boon Totem
- Soft chimes ring out in a radius of 24 metres.
- All Survivors benefit from the following effects when inside the Boon Totem’s radius:
- The Auras of all Chests and Generators are revealed to you in blue.
- Increases your Action speeds for Blessing and Cleansing by 6/8/10% while you have a lit Boon Totem.
- Survivors can only be affected by one instance of Boon: Illumination at a time.
- Only one Totem can be blessed by your Boon Perks at a time and all of their effects are active on the same Boon Totem.
Deadline
Whenever you are in the Injured State, Deadline activates:
- Increases the Odds of triggering Skill Checks by 6/8/10% while repairing or healing.
- Causes Skill Checks to appear in random places.
- Reduces the penalty for missed Skill Checks by -50%.
I for one, can’t wait to get my hands on Alan, one way or another, on 30th January.
