I consider myself to be a fairly typical hardcore fan of Dead by Daylight. That is to say, I absolutely hate this game, and also cannot stop playing it. For every screaming match I have with my laptop, and month I take away to cool off, my 500 hours is still destined to turn into 600 and then 700, and show no sign of stopping. A part of me would like to escape the siren song of this gameplay loop through my very own endgame hatch, but I might as well admit I’m going to be stuck in the Entity’s Realm for the foreseeable future. And that means I care about the direction this game goes in.
I get why they make original killers. I really do. You can’t exactly build a valuable IP solely on producing the Super Smash Bros of the slasher film genre with none of your own creative flavour. But understanding the sound creative and financial strategy of Behaviour Interactive doesn’t make my eyes roll any less hard when they announce a new chapter, and to my great dejection, it’s another original killer. Snore. At least I can unlock it with iridescent shards I suppose?
Don’t get me wrong, some of the original killers are kinda cool… I guess? But they just don’t have the same zip, the same zing, the same tang of blood as say, kicking down a door as Michael Myers, or making a survivor kebab on a Xenomorph’s tail.
Something about getting to play a game through the eyes of my favourite horror characters, rather than an off-brand approximation of them (looking at you, Hillbilly!) just hits different. Much like any DbD fan, I have a wishlist of crossovers longer than a receipt after a particularly spirited shopping spree in CeX. So today, I thought I’d go into detail about a Dream Dead By Daylight crossover, that being Death Note.
And as one final order of business, Behaviour, DBD team; all the gameplay mechanics and crossover ideas I came up with here? Please put them in your game. In the million-to-one chance that you read and like my suggestions, you have my consent and permission to implement these in your game. I’ll be pumped if they show up, and take this as my promise to not complain about not being credited and not to demand payment. Simply seeing these DLCs actually happen would be more than ample compensation for me.
All About Death Note
Death Note is a franchise that sits in a strange place for Dead by Daylight. It’s undeniably horror, even if the genres of “thriller” or “crime” would also suffice. But, it doesn’t necessarily feature a Killer who likes to get their hands dirty, except perhaps, with a bit of smudged ink. However, I think the choice of who should star as this franchise’s tall, creepy, hulking killer is fairly obvious.
Killer – Ryuk “The Shinigami”
The apple-chomping death god and original gifter of the Death Note – whose idle boredom kicks off the entire story – is the fairly obvious first choice for this franchise. While his MO doesn’t usually involve chasing after humans with a cricket bat or anything like that, the entity is clearly able to bend all kinds of creatures to its will. And, considering the insane lethality of Ryuk, it’s hard to deny that he would be a perfect candidate for the DbD lineup.
While it would certainly not call for an entirely separate killer, I would also recommend adding Rem, the female Shinigami who takes on a guardian devil role over Misa-Misa, as a purchasable skin. This would be implemented in much the same way as the Pinhead skins which completely re-theme him as some of the other Cenobites from the movie, such as Chatterer.
Ryuk’s Weapon
I would suggest his main weapon be a particularly vicious bladed fountain pen, which he strikes across the back of the survivor much as one might strike a name from a list. This is not a specific item that he uses in the original anime, but it is thematically consistent, and would strike a cool visual.
Ryuk’s Killer Power
For his killer power, that should be nothing less than the Death Note itself. We all know that once someone’s name is written in the Death Note, they are destined to die of a heart attack after a period of 40 seconds. Well, The Pig has already shown us the potency of a killer that can curse you to die after a specified time-out unless you do something to save yourself, so I imagine the Death Note functioning something like that.
Perhaps there could be a limited number of pages, with Ryuk able to write down the name of a survivor once they’ve been hooked once, or after being stalked for a satisfying amount of time. The page can then be torn from the book and left loose in the map, with the affected survivor being killed via heart attack after a certain period of time (although 40 seconds is probably a little short!). The survivors would then need to retrieve the page of the Death Note and burn it in a fire to escape their fate. I feel somewhat dirty lifting that last scrap of lore straight from the terrible Netflix movie adaption, but hey, gotta give the survivors some kinda chance, right?
This puts pressure on the survivors to abandon gens and instead hunt down and destroy the page. Saving these for the last gen could even help break up the hide-and-heal circles that canny survivors like to sneak away to form before tackling a well patrolled area. In practice, this power would be somewhere between The Pig’s traps, and Sadako’s video tape, but I’m sure the professional game designers at Behaviour can come up with a twist on this concept to make it feel like a truly unique killer.
Ryuk’s Killer Perks
A brutal killer power and cool design is always important to a good DBD character, but the right perks can often be a decision maker. If a killer is bringing three absolute bangers to the table, someone not willing to wait for them to rotate into the shrine may just part with some auric cells they’d otherwise keep to themself. Ryuk’s perks fit the character and story well, while also being abilities that many other killers could stand to benefit from.
Shinigami Eyes
For Ryuk’s loadout, I would open with what might potentially be an extremely toxic meta perk if it were not offset with some kind of cool-down or drawback, perhaps being a Hex totem, or only usable after very specific conditions are met. A perk named Shinigami Eyes.
In the world of Death Note, the eyes of a Shinigami can see how long any human has to live, and therefore, how much life they stand to gain by writing that human’s name in the Death Note. This aura reading ability could allow the amount of hooks required to sacrifice a survivor to be displayed above their heads, perhaps after a generator is finished, or after some other satisfying trigger is met.
On one hand, this could be very helpful tactically for the killer in knowing which injured survivor it might be best to pursue, but leaves the door wide open for rampant tunnelling. As such, this would have to be implemented very carefully.
Half-Eaten Apple
Named after the common series visual of an apple consuming itself in mid air, this perk reflects the unseen nature of the Shinigami world. These gods of death are generally portrayed as invisible, at least to humans who have not come into physical contact with a Death Note.
Despite the fact that Ryuk is a dead ringer (both visually and ability-wise) for a Wraith skin in a less involved DLC, I don’t think implementing an OP invisibility power into his main ability would end well. If his invisibility was only cured by survivors touching a discarded Death Note page, then there would be essentially no way you could possibly stop him before you were too many hits deep.
So, let’s put manga accuracy aside for a moment, and consider some kind of undetectable perk. It’s not quite the invisibility you’d expect from a shinigami, but a perk where you gain undetectable if you go 50/40/30 seconds without using your killer power could be fun.
This represents how keeping the Death Note out of human hands plays a direct role in him remaining unseen. In theory, this perk would not be too overpowered, as avoiding your killer power for an extended period would be a significant disadvantage in a highly competitive match.
Requiem
In the world of Death Note, the Shinigami enjoy next-to immortality by writing the names of humans in their Death Notes, killing the person, and stealing the life force for themselves. While the killer doesn’t really have a health or life, per se, as this isn’t a game which puts you in the position to kill them, they could still steal vitality from the survivors.
This is a mori-based perk, which gives the player a haste boost for every survivor they kill (not sacrifice, kill). This would work hand in hand with the main killer power, which allows for survivors to be killed by means other than a mori offering, meaning that the more survivors are killed by Death Note pages, the quicker Ryuk can come for you.
This could be a stacking speed boost that, at the common level, is 1/2/3/4% per survivor killed, 2/4/6/8% at uncommon, and 3/6/9/12% at rare. This perk can help Steam Trophy hunters and people grinding Tomes to get mori kills in, and mitigate the risk of a frustrating match where you waste a super rare and fun add-on against a sweaty team of prestige 100 Feng Mins.
This perk would also be a good combo for The Executioner, The Pig, and any other killers who have kill powers included in their main ability. But, the perk is held back from being too OP by the intrinsically rare nature of outright kills in the game. Even killers whose main powers allow for non-mori kills usually make you work for it, and give survivors every opportunity to counter their fate before being ripped in half or strangled.
Ryuk’s Mori
Nothing quite beats a good mori, and when one of these fun little cutscenes feels underwhelming, it can really detract from the impact a new killer makes. As Ryuk’s core method of killing is of course, the Death Note, it makes the most sense that his final attack would feature it centrally. Picture him pinning a survivor to the ground, dramatically writing their name across the page with his giant, flourishy pen-blade, and watching with glee as their heart explodes.
Hell, he could even stuff an apple into their mouth and write their name as they choke to death on it. With a book that can cause death by pretty much any means, the possibilities here are endless for a repertoire of cool and interesting animations.
Ryuk At a Glance
With his main power being punishing, but best used sparingly, Ryuk is a killer built to side-track the survivors from their main goal, wasting time running back and forth between bonfires with pieces of paper, rather than focusing on their escape.
His perk deck allows him to creep up on survivors between uses of his power, which allows the cooldown period between names written to work to his advantage. They also allow him to chase the survivors at top speed once he’s succeeded in getting those Deathnote kills in, and can even know which survivors are the best to target next with his baleful gaze.
While I don’t have any gameplay ideas to hand for his pre-match offerings or add-ons, I think that at least the inclusion of an apple, a fountain pen, and perhaps a Death Note or DN page could serve as good suggestions.
Survivors – Light Yagami and L
Twin survivors is a trick that’s been pulled by DLC packs in the past; most notably, the conspicuously aged up ‘Stranger Things’ kids in the previously removed, now returned Demogorgon chapter. Light and L are the yin and yang of the Death Note franchise; polar opposites, and yet, both of them possess their own unique will to survive.
Light Yagami goes to great lengths to preserve his own life. He’s primarily focused on continuing to tend to his new world for as long as possible, but putting off the punishment he knows he’ll suffer in the afterlife is also a factor. Throughout the series, he manipulates Misa Misa into taking the Shinigami eyes in his place, outright refusing any life-shortening bargains as much out of pride as of a genuine desire to live.
Light has tons of experience surviving in a high pressure environment. He’s spent years facing off against probably the best strategist on the face of the planet, knowing that if he makes even one mistake, it’s all over. That mentality can apply just as much to a DbD match as to trying to mystically murder your best frenemy.
While Light is busy facing off against the world’s greatest tactical mind, L is that tactical mind, giving him a distinct advantage as a DbD survivor. His skills at pattern recognition and understanding the behaviour of murderers and psychos put him in good standing to fend off the worst that the entity has to offer. And as the Entity’s realm is one which keeps you alive long after your first death, I have no doubt that L would continuously improve his approach to the situation with frightening speed and resourcefulness.
Survivors from this franchise would fit the DbD world like a glove, as both of them are visually recognisible and iconic, while having their own distinct skills and personality. It would also be a ton of fun for the lore to include the idea that at least one aspect of The Entity is a Shinigami, and when the anime character’s names were written in the Death Note, they ended up right at home in his realm.
Character Skins
While she isn’t exactly the brilliant mind that would call for a survivor of her own, I would still suggest adding Misa Misa to the game as a Feng Min costume.
I would also love to see both Near and Mello included as alternative costumes for L, bringing all ten fans of late season Death Note the successor character goodness they’ve been clamouring for.
Death Note Survivor Perks
The unique perks for these two survivors should reflect Light’s devious cunning, and L’s razor sharp detective abilities. A set of skills that shows how these two are complete opposites, even when they’re two sides of the same coin, would work both thematically, and as a gameplay mechanic. While coming up with six entirely new perks may be a bit much, I will provide one suggestion for each survivor, to give you a taste of what they’d bring to the table.
Rotten Apple (Light)
Light is a master at killing those who stand in the way of his victory. If you consider ‘perverting the course of justice’ a crime, then even the nicest people he kills aren’t entirely innocent, but you get my point. Once his mind is set on a goal, no feeble detectives, FBI agents, or say, Dead by Daylight survivors can stand in his way.
With this perk, prepare for the weak to be sacrificed on the altar of Light’s success, as this would allow you to suck one hook state out of a willing survivor once per match, and add it to your own total. Why ‘willing’ you ask? Because my god would this become a hellscape of targeted griefing if it wasn’t. Imagine loading into a four lobby of randos after a long day at work, and being met by three t-bagging Nick Cages, all racing to team-mori you immediately, just for the heck of it. No thanks.
This ability would be disabled from use before first hook, to prevent someone accumulating a ridiculous amount of lives right off the bat. But, once you’ve been hooked at least once, the ability would become active. A player with 3 hooks left in them could be instantly reduced to 2, giving the perk user a chance to evade the killer that little bit longer. You get to absorb one life state per match, so use it wisely. While this could become an extremely powerful tool of teamwork for a highly coordinated (and probably hanging out in a voice call together) survivor team, it is also a fantastic counter to the game’s relatively new bot players.
We’ve all been there – you’ve made the bafflnig decision to spend the evening solo queueing with randos, suddenly, when someone named PoopypantsidiotTTV rage quits 2 gens in. Once upon a time, that would have left the survivors a person down, and mean almost certain defeat from the outset. But then, the devs added a fantastic quality of life feature in AI bot players, that… well let’s be honest, do their bare minimum to fill in for the missing survivor. Maybe they’ll sit on a gen while the only other human player struggles helplessly on a hook, or make a halfhearted attempt to loop the killer and get downed right away. As much as they are an improvement, don’t you wish there was something a little more useful you could do with them?
Well now, prepare for that AI Dwight that just loaded in to get cracked open like a Capri Sun, as all three Lights on his squad begin syphoning hooks out of him. An AI character would always consent to the life transfer, and a full squad with this perk could outright kill them without the killer doing a thing. If those human players decide that, on the whole, the three of them with three extra hook states would fare better than a team that is wounded, and with an uncooperative computer player on the side, then let them take that gambit. This allows the perk to shine both when you have a tightly coordinated group of survivors willing to work together, and when solo queueing with people who don’t think twice about disconnecting on you to go and grab popcorn mid-game.
Narratively, this perk captures how the actual purpose of the Death Note is for the Shinigami using it to extend his own life by killing humans and adding their remaining years to their own. It also highlights Light’s absolute disregard for anyone who stands in his way, and willingness to take the lives of those who might prevent him from coming out on top.
Super Sleuth (L)
L is a detective with no equal, the prize pupil of Wammy’s House. Always unafraid to get stuck in and crawl around for clues, L rarely misses a thing. His perk could allow him, as a survivor, to also see scratch marks left by others. This is noticeably distinct from the perk Fixated, as that one allows you to see only your own scratch marks.
As a master detective, L would know all about his own scratch marks without needing to seek them out, but would notice the telltale hints of the other survivors immediately. Running these perks together could give a survivor the full scratch mark picture, in theory, but would use up quite a lot of perk slots, a big drawback unless that is somehow your entire strategy.
Light And L at a Glance
While they may be mortal foes professionally, Light and L are weirdly almost friends when it comes down to it, and their dynamic as survivors should reflect that. Their ability to perform world class teamwork, while silently scheming to screw the other over even parallels some of the more toxic survivor mains in the community. On a meta level, I think that alone makes them ideal to enter the fog, hand in hand.
For potential offerings to the Entity, I would imagine them bringing some of their iconic food items from the show; a bag of ‘potato chips’ (crisps) for Light, and a slice of cheesecake for L.
Conclusion
As a combined DLC pack, this set of characters are a strong and natural addition to the Dead By Daylight lineup. As previous anime tie-ins have been limited only to purchasable skins for existing killers and survivors, it would be exciting to finally see the genre represented in mainline playable characters. With quick-witted survivors, and a fantastic killer design, Death Note is just the right story to nuzzle into DbD lore. Imagine the look on L’s face when he loads into his ten thousandth time loop, only to see Light standing next to him, and bitter-sweetly mutter “so they got you too, huh Kira?”
