Jason is the next killer coming to Dead by Daylight, Behaviour has announced ahead of the game’s 10th anniversary celebration, confirming a 16th June launch date for the horror film icon (and available from 26th May in the Steam PTB).
Update 25/05 – We now have the full details of Jason’s Arrival in Dead by Daylight.
That’s right, Jason Voorhees is stepping into The Fog, and joining the coterie of other horror icons as a new killer. This is a killer-only announcement, so there’s no survivors drawn from the Friday the 13th films, and this is specifically described as a Jason Universe collaboration.
“Our fans have wanted Jason to enter The Fog since Dead by Daylight launched,” says Robbie Barsamian, Executive Vice President at Horror, Inc. “We’re thrilled to help make the game’s 10th anniversary celebration even more special for fans, and can’t wait for players to experience the killer new skins and gameplay that only Jason can deliver. Dead by Daylight has always been about nightmare horror stories, and Jason adds a new chapter we hope players will enjoy.”
Jason is suddenly appearing in the window of Dead by Daylight’s suburban house with two specific abilities:
Omnipresent Evil – This active ability allows Jason to completely vanish from the map entirely and move at increase speed with no hints to survivors where he will be. While invisible, however, Jason can only track survivors through faint visual cues. In order to reappear, he must reach environmental points including Pallets, Vault points, and breakable walls, and will burst back into the world. These reappearances can also destroy those breakable obstacles.
Improvised Carnage – Jason can make use of containers from around the map to find makeshift projectivels, which could be fragments of Lockers, Generator parts, broken Pallets and even Hooks. These can be thrown with great force at survivors, potentially even pinning them in place if they’re near a wall. However, Jason can only carry one at a time, and the containers will only present him with a new projectile if Jason enters Omnipresent Evil – this is a distinction from other projectile-based killers.
Behaviour talk about the freedom that they’ve been given to explore this universe. Firstly, this sounds like a long-term partnership without the spectre of rights and IP hanging over their head in the way that affected the Friday the 13th game, They’ve also been able to draw liberal inspiration for Jason’s outfits.
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- Jason suddenly appears
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- Backwoods Terror skin
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- Depths of Despair skin
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- Death Forsaken skin
The classic hockey mask, machete and beaten up clothing is Jason’s standard look, while the following outfits will also be available:
- Backwoods Terror trades Jason’s jacket for flannel and suspenders, and his machete for a heavy axe.
- Death Forsaken offers a grotesque incarnation with decayed features, exposed bone, and a shovel in hand, while Jason’s
- Depths of Despair Outfit sees him emerging from the depths; a vision of terror covered head-to-toe in barnacles, coral, and seaweed.
It’s great to see the Friday the 13th icon appearing in Dead by Daylight, a game which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and this announcement does make us think back to the early days. While it launched back in 2016, it was the 2017 console release that saw it going toe-to-toe with none other than Jason himself, with Friday the 13th: The Game arriving just a month in advance. While that game was bogged down in licensing issues, DBD has carved out a niche for itself in a way that lets them add tons of new characters from all manner of horror and horror-adjacent IPs.
Source: press release, stream
