Of all the characters I’ve made concepts for, I was most excited to tackle Eleven. I thought translating her badass superpowers into Dead by Daylight would make for some really interesting perks.

Extrasensory Perception, or ESP, is based on Eleven's ability to sense and locate someone. I think hiding in a Locker emulates a sensory deprivation tank pretty well-- it’s dark and secluded. Normally Survivors who hide in Lockers are afflicted with Blindness, but given the point of the perk is to locate the Killer, Eleven does not suffer from Blindness while inside a Locker. Additionally, the Locker’s Aura is revealed to other Survivors while Eleven is hiding inside. This is mostly a bonus effect for teamwork, particularly if paired with a perk like Head On. I’m super happy with how this perk came out-- it does a lot of interesting things that fit the concept perfectly.

Superhero was actually the last perk I came up with for Eleven. I wanted to give her an aggressive perk fitting her character, but found it difficult given the limited selection of actions and effects in the game. So, I made a new Status Effect, one that a super-powered teenager could justifiably dish out. At first glance, this perk sounds really strong, but its duration isn’t atrocious, particularly after stun interactions. For example, stunning the Killer with a Pallet triggers Superhero, after which the Killer can simply break the Pallet. By the time the stun is over and the Killer has broken the Pallet, Superhero’s duration is already half over. With this in mind, the perk seems fairly safe, but still strong.

I initially gave Superhero slightly weaker numbers, careful not to make the perk too oppressive. Originally, the perk only gave 7% Hindered and Impaired effects for 7 seconds. However, after the release of Alan Wake’s perk Champion of Light, I felt comfortable giving the perk a slight buff in exchange for a standard cooldown.

Introducing a new Status Effect in a fan-made concept is tricky, particularly one as potentially oppressive as Impaired. It sounds incredibly powerful on paper, but I think if done correctly it can remain strong without being overtly unbalanced. Regardless, Impaired only appears in a small handful of perks within the concept, and in controlled amounts. Additionally, Impaired theoretically affects Killers differently, offering a bit of extra counterplay against stronger Killers like The Nurse or The Blight, but not affecting weaker Killers quite as much.

Eleven’s final perk, Telekinesis, seems like an obvious one to include. It allows Eleven to drop a Pallet from a short distance. In theory, one could use this to Pallet save a Survivor, or greed Pallets while looping. I was kind of picky about which Survivors would justifiably have Exhaustion perks, since they’re usually very strong, but I feel like giving one to Eleven makes a lot of sense, especially one that so perfectly fits with her character.

Hypothetically, there could be more than one Pallet in range of Telekinesis at a time. In cases like these, the Pallet closest to Eleven would be dropped when Telekinesis is used.

Eleven is one of two characters I felt deserved a Boon perk. I found it strange that characters like Haddie and Vittorio didn't come with Boon perks, since they have connections to the Entity and magical vibes. If not them, what better character to receive a Boon perk than someone with literal superpowers? Obviously, she didn’t receive one in the end, but I’m very happy with her current set of perks-- they’re all unique and fitting to her character.

I picture the perk icon for Extrasensory Perception as a blindfolded Eleven, Superhero as Entity claws crushed underneath a Pallet, and Telekinesis as a silhouette of Eleven with her hand out.

Like most characters in Stranger Things, Eleven has a lot of great options for cosmetics. Choosing a default cosmetic is really difficult given that Eleven has so many iconic looks, but the best choice is probably the pink dress + blue coat she wears in the second half of the first season.

Eleven has so many cosmetic options, but a few others from Season 1 might include her lab gown and an alternate version of the pink dress with the blonde wig, and from Season 2, her runaway look and punk makeover. Season 3 has a lot of great outfits for Eleven, including her colorful romper, red raincoat, splattered purple shirt + scrunchie, and yellow shirt + suspenders. Season 4 doesn't have as many choices, but her roller rink dress, would be another great option.

Developing Mike’s perks was honestly a bit of a struggle. I thought of several basic ideas, but had trouble developing them into something interesting that fit his character. His resulting perks ended up being mostly team-based, fitting of a leader-type like Mike. I’m really happy with the perks I developed, but I am disappointed I didn’t get to use some of my initial ideas.

Initiative works sort of like an inverse Empathic Connection, revealing Mike’s Aura to other Survivors while he’s injured. I decided against giving it a map-wide range, but it still activates from decently far away, making it easy for his team to find and heal him. This perk was mainly created as an anti-sneak attack perk, giving Mike a heads up if the Killer comes his direction while being healed. In its first iteration, Initiative revealed the Killer’s Aura any time Mike was involved in a healing action, regardless of whether he was healing or being healed. I decided this was too much free information for an action that happens so frequently during a game. Given that Mike’s Aura is revealed while injured, it incentivizes his team to heal him, potentially providing many chances to utilize this perk.

Given its importance as a theme in Stranger Things, many characters in this concept have perks named after various Dungeons and Dragons mechanics. Initiative is the first of these, referring to the roll that determines the turn order at the start of an encounter.

Heart of Courage is one of the last perks I developed for the concept overall, and wasn’t one of my initial ideas for Mike’s perks, but I think it’s a very intriguing one. It serves as an anti-slugging perk, allowing dying Survivors around Mike to recover faster while also pausing their bleed out timers, an effect thus far missing from the game’s current perk selection. Obviously, the effect doesn’t apply if Mike himself is in the dying state, but if used correctly it can prevent a Survivor from dying on the ground. I think this perk would make a great addition to altruistic builds, particularly if paired with perks like We’re Gonna Live Forever or Unbreakable.

Mike’s last perk, High Five, was actually the first perk I thought of for him, and went through a couple different iterations. These versions mostly differed in how Tokens were earned-- each time a Survivor lost a health state during a Chase, for example. It almost functions like a Survivor version of Save The Best For Last, since its use can be minimized by winning Chases against Mike. At first, I was really worried about giving this perk such a strong effect for what is essentially failure on the side of the Survivors, but there are plenty of perks that give strong effects for free. Overall, I think this perk has the potential to be strong, but is tricky to get full use of: it only affects healing other Survivors, heals less than We’ll Make It even at max Tokens, and requires a minimum of 5 downs on Survivors to reach maximum utility, which in an average game results in 5 hooks. And that’s assuming Mike doesn’t go down any time before then to lose Tokens!

I really wanted to give Mike a perk associated with his iconic quote: “If anyone asks where I am, I’ve left the country!” To me, this sounds like a quote for a post-unhook or Chase perk, something akin to Off The Record or Dance With Me-- any effect in which Mike “disappears”. After forever, I finally came up with something I liked, but decided the perk itself fit better with Jonathan than it did with Mike. I unfortunately couldn’t think of another interesting escape-type perk, so I opted for Heart of Courage instead. As much as I love Mike’s perks, I’m really disappointed I couldn’t find a use for that quote.

I haven’t thought much about what Mike’s perks would look like. Initiative might have an icon resembling a D&D figure in the palm of Mike’s hand, Heart of Courage would look like the coat of arms on Mike’s shield from Will’s painting, and High Five would be… well, probably an image of a high five.

I definitely haven’t considered cosmetics for Mike, since his outfits in the show have been very similar and casual. Honestly, any of his outfits could work as a default, but for the purposes of this concept, I’d assign his striped polo from Season 1 as his default cosmetic. If not for the backpack as an accessory, his tan jacket look would make a great default, but could probably be offered as an alternative cosmetic instead.

Other cosmetics for Mike could include his knit sweater, Ghostbusters costume, summer outfit, Hellfire Club shirt, and green jacket.

Will Byers is a really important character in Stranger Things who has been somewhat shoved to the side in the more recent Seasons, so I really wanted to do him justice in his perk concepts. For the most part, I think I accomplished this, giving him a mix of perks that both fit his character and offer various unique effects.

I was dead set on giving Will a perk called True Sight, a D&D term used in the show to describe Will’s ability to see into The Upside Down. The perk is very similar to old Spine Chill, activating when the Killer is looking at and approaching Will, giving him the time and a few extra effects to help him avoid being detected. Each time True Sight activates, its range shrinks, meaning Will won’t receive a warning until the Killer is even closer than before. This isn’t the most interesting concept for a perk, and honestly promotes a pretty boring playstyle, but it does what I wanted and fits Will’s character, so I’m satisfied with it.

Abstraction is one of the two perks in the concept afflicting Killers with Impaired. It was designed to make hook camping much less appealing for Killers by disabling their Power when nearby the hook. Some Killers, such as The Twins or The Artist, already can’t use their Power near hooked Survivors, but others don’t have this same penalty. It seems like a really strange choice for this not to be standardized across all Killers, instead only affecting some of them. Additionally, the perk becomes more effective the longer Will remains hooked, preventing Killers from confirming kills simply by waiting outside the range of the Anti-Camping system. Instead, Abstraction incentivizes the Killer to leave the hook and allow Will’s team to perform a rescue.

Like with the Anti-Camping system, I imagine Abstraction works differently between floors, so Killers can continue to use their Power when they’re definitely not camping, and continues to work when a Survivor is definitely not close to the hook. Additionally, the perk deactivates completely during Endgame, like the Anti-Camping system and other perks of this nature.

The original concept for Abstraction simply affected Killers with Impaired whenever they were within 16 meters of the hook. While this wouldn’t eliminate camping altogether, it would prevent some impossible situations, such as with The Cannibal’s Power. After the implementation of the Anti-Camping system, this perk seemed far less useful, so I decided to give it a few changes to compliment the Anti-Camping system.

Disabling Killer Powers within a certain range is tricky, as this can easily be abused by Survivors to run a Impaired Killer for a long time. To combat this, I added a few stipulations, both to Abstraction and to the Impaired effect. For instance, whenever a Survivor is near the hook, Abstraction deactivates until the Survivor is out of range. Additionally, Killers benefiting from Bloodlust are unaffected by Impaired, allowing them an opportunity to briefly use their Power against Survivors who may choose to run near the hook. While some situations may be annoying for the Killer, running around a hooked Survivor is rarely a good thing for Survivors to do.

Will’s last perk is Critical Hit, another name referencing D&D. This perk has an effect unique to other perks in the game, impairing the Killer’s ability to break Pallets and Generators for a short time after being stunned. I like the concept for this perk, as it becomes stronger the less frequently Will uses it. Theoretically, it’s not very difficult to gain max Tokens with this perk, but given that all Tokens are consumed on use, it can be tricky to get worthwhile value from the perk otherwise: Critical Hit does very little at low Tokens, and it’s not exactly viable to complete Skill Checks during a Chase. I really love this concept-- it gives Will an interesting way to fight back against the Killer.

Like Eleven, Will is another character I thought might deserve a Boon perk, thanks to his link to The Upside Down. He’s not exactly magic and doesn’t have superpowers, but he does have a prominent psychic link. I think his current perks fit him a lot more than a Boon perk would, however, so I decided not to give him one.

The icons for Will’s perks are pretty clear in my mind. True Sight would reference Will’s neck sense, and Critical Hit could simply be a D-20, displaying the number 20. I’m less sure on Abstraction, but I imagine it would either be an image of Will with energy coming off him, or Will’s wizard drawing, matching the perk’s associated quote. I slightly prefer the latter, but both would work!

Given that Will only really wears one outfit throughout the entirety of Season 1, his plaid + red vest makes the most sense for his default cosmetic.

Will’s other outfits in the show are fairly basic, but some options for cosmetics might include his Ghostbusters costume, Hawkins Lab hospital gown, summer outfit, Will the Wise costume, and one of his Season 4 looks-- probably this one.

Technically, Jonathan is already playable in Dead by Daylight as a Legendary cosmetic for Steve, but I thought it would be fun to conceptualize perks and cosmetics for him as if he were his own character! I’m really happy I did, because Jonathan’s perks are some of my favorites conceptually, and some of them seem decently strong in some scenarios.

Chromatic Aberration temporarily blinds the Killer when Jonathan stuns them with a Pallet, as if blinded by a Flashlight or Flashbang. This gives Jonathan a great opportunity to lose the Killer after a Pallet stun. As a secondary effect, the duration of Killer blinds inflicted via Chromatic Aberration or otherwise is slightly increased. To keep this perk from being too obnoxious, the blind effect has a moderate cooldown, so not every Pallet stun will result in a free Killer blind. I imagine this perk being more annoying than oppressive, but I think it has an interesting effect that could work well in some builds.

Some perks in the project activate for any Killer stun, including Flashlight saves or Head On stuns, but I decided Chromatic Aberration didn’t need this broad of an effect, and thus only activates on Pallet stuns. This realistically only removes synergy with Head On, as Flashlight saves and perks like Blast Mine already blind the Killer, so Chromatic Aberration wouldn’t affect these situations, save for a slightly increased blind duration.

Afterimage allows Jonathan to create and reveal a decoy Aura to the Killer. The semantics of the perk are kind of confusing, but it essentially works as an alternative to Distortion. Instead of just hiding Jonathan’s Aura, it creates a false Aura to throw off the Killer. This is probably one of my favorite perks in the project-- it’s such a unique and interesting idea, and while I don’t see it being a meta perk, I certainly think it would be fun.

Afterimage’s false Aura is only revealed to the Killer when the conditions for its reveal are met. For example, if the Aura is placed at least 40 meters away from the Killer when Barbeque and Chili is activated, the false Aura will be revealed.

Originally, the false Aura was more fluid, and would instead replace Jonathan’s Aura if his Aura would be revealed. For instance, if Jonathan was healing within range of A Nurse’s Calling, his true location would be hidden, and would instead show his Aura at the false Aura’s location. This didn’t make a lot of sense, however-- what if the revealed Aura was across the map, clearly outside of A Nurse’s Calling’s range? To simplify the perk and prevent weird situations like this, it was changed so that the false Aura itself needs to meet requirements to be revealed. Additionally, Jonathan must be standing or crouching motionless to create a false Aura, meaning that it can’t trigger some perks such as A Nurse’s Calling. This does make the perk somewhat less useful, but it’s much simpler and easier to understand with these changes.

The false Aura is revealed for a maximum duration of 6 seconds, but is revealed for less depending on which perk triggers its reveal. For example, Barbeque and Chili normally reveals Survivors’ Auras for 5 seconds. To better disguise the false Aura as a true Aura, it too would be revealed for 5 seconds. Hex: Retribution, however, reveals Survivors’ Auras for a whopping 15 seconds. Watching a Survivor’s Aura stand still or crouch for 15 seconds would clearly denote a false Aura, so in this case, the false Aura would only persist for 6 seconds, after which it would expire. This is enough time to potentially derail the Killer, particularly if they were heading towards the false Aura, and still activates the perk’s secondary ability, hiding Jonathan’s Aura and giving him a speed boost.

As mentioned in Mike’s design notes section, Afterimage was previously a perk developed for Mike, based on his quote “If anyone asks where I am, I’ve left the country!” I thought the design of the perk matched Jonathan better than it did Mike, particularly after having developed Chromatic Aberration, so it was given to him instead.

Jonathan’s last perk, Bound in Blood, is easily one of the stronger perks in the concept, potentially bordering on oppressive. In a nutshell, the perk allows Jonathan to take a hit for an injured Survivor without being near them. Jonathan can choose to activate the perk on a lone Survivor while he is being healed. For a time after this, Jonathan and the Survivor are linked, with Jonathan being able to see their Aura. If the Survivor would go from the injured to the dying state during this time, Jonathan takes the hit instead. The Survivor goes into Deep Wound, Jonathan becomes injured and Broken, and he additionally becomes the Obsession if not already. It’s a really good perk that allows Jonathan to protect other Survivors at the cost of his own health.

As strong as Bound in Blood looks on the surface, there’s a lot of small mechanics keeping it in check. Firstly, the perk deactivates any time Jonathan changes health states from healthy, and is completely ignored if the associated Survivor goes directly to the dying state from the healthy state, or if the Survivor is in Deep Wound. Additionally, while the perk functions similarly to Dead Hard, instead of denying a hit, it’s transferred to another Survivor. While this is still very powerful, it’s less oppressive than outright ignoring a hit altogether. The perk also has a long cooldown, as successful usage of the perk afflicts Jonathan with Broken, meaning he cannot be healed by another Survivor to activate Bound in Blood for at least 60 seconds. I think with these details in mind, the perk becomes less oppressive, but still remains a strong perk choice.

Bound in Blood was one of the first perks created for the project, based on Murray Bauman’s iconic quote spoken to Nancy and Jonathan: “You’ve got chemistry, history, plus the real shit: shared trauma.” I knew one of Jonathan’s perks was 100% going to reference this quote, and I have to say I’m pretty satisfied with the result!

I found Jonathan’s perk icons pretty simple to conceptualize. Chromatic Aberration would reference Jonathan with his camera, and Afterimage would probably resemble a polaroid, maybe detailed with a faded silhouette of Jonathan on it. Lastly, Bound in Blood would reference the matching cuts on Nancy and Jonathan’s hands.

Because Jonathan is already present in Dead by Daylight, I don’t think I need to conceptualize a new default cosmetic for him. His current in-game outfit works perfectly as a default.

A lot of Jonathan’s outfits are very samey, but some cosmetic options for him could include his blue jacket, Hawkins Post photographer outfit, blue t-shirt (preferably the bloodied version) and flannel shirt.

Dustin was the first character whose perks I figured out for this project. They’re not particularly strong, but I have a soft spot for them since they’re more or less the first part of the project I completed. Despite being on the weaker side, I think they’re unique and have their uses, and they fit Dustin’s brand of genius really well!

Breakthrough is a really simple perk. It has an effect identical to Resurgence, instantly healing Dustin for a large percentage of a full heal upon completing a Generator. It’s unlikely to get more than a few uses of this perk per game (if that), but I think it’s a cute concept nonetheless. It could be combined with perks like Resurgence or Solidarity to save time healing after prioritizing a Generator.

Saving Throw is another perk named after a D&D mechanic. When the Exit Gates are powered, Dustin can obtain a Toolbox if he didn’t have one already, and Sabotage hooks twice as fast. This perk is obviously intended for clutch saves at the end of a game, and could be fun if combined with Breakout or Mettle of Man. Endgame perks are kind of hit-or-miss since they’re only useful for a small part of the game, but I think this perk does its job well. Like Breakthrough, it’s not an amazing perk, but I think it serves a niche and I'm really happy with it conceptually.

Dustin’s last perk is Walkie Talkie, allowing him to craft an item in the same vein as Flashbang. The Walkie Talkie is a purely informational item that reveals the Auras of Survivors to every Survivor. This can be used by Dustin and his team to regroup and heal, work together or split up on Generators, help a Survivor in Chase, or avoid a Chase altogether. The overall usefulness of this perk can vary from game to game, but I think in the right hands it can help turn the tides of a game by providing specific info on every Survivor’s location.

Walkie Talkie is a perk that could’ve gone to any of the main boys since they frequently use walkie talkies to communicate, but I gave it to Dustin because he uses them the most. Mike is arguably more associated with walkie talkies in Season 1, but Seasons 2, 3, and 4 have Dustin using his walkie talkie to communicate with his friends far more often than any other character.

I have a good idea for each of Dustin’s perk icons. Breakthrough would be a lightbulb over Dustin’s head, Saving Throw would resemble a die being rolled underneath/next to a hook, and Walkie Talkie would obviously be a walkie talkie like shown in the show.

Like the other kids, Dustin’s outfits are pretty basic, but his default outfit would certainly be his main outfit from Season 1, though likely without the backpack accessory.

Some other potential cosmetics for Dustin might include his Ghostbusters costume, Dart-hunting outfit, Snowball attire, Camp Know Where outfit, summer vest, Hellfire Club outfit, and his Upside Down gear.

Like with Dustin, I had pretty solid concepts for most of Lucas’ perks from the start, making him one of the more enjoyable characters for this project. All his perks are solid and fit his character incredibly well, so I’m very satisfied with his concept.

Reconnaissance is a somewhat niche info perk that rewards Lucas for completing specific Generators. It’s not incredibly strong, nor does it have the most interesting effect, but I like the utility of showing the Killer’s Aura to every Survivor for a decent length of time. This information can help a Survivor last longer in Chase, and help other Survivors decide what they should do next.

Wrist-Rocket allows Lucas to craft a single-use slingshot after cleansing a Totem, which can be fired at the Killer to briefly stun them. I really love the concept for this perk-- I imagine it as the type of perk Dead by Daylight content creators would have fun making videos with, trying to get slingshot saves. To keep it from being too strong, the slingshot has a short aiming time before it can be used, stuns for a shorter period of time than most Killer stuns in the game, and must be aimed at the Killer’s face, similar to a Flashlight. Saving a Survivor with the slingshot stuns the Killer for the same period of time as any other stun, so it’s not immediately outclassed by Pallet or Flashlight saves. Additionally, it can only be used a maximum of five times per game, assuming every Totem is cleansed and the Killer isn’t running Hex: Pentimento. I think it sounds more fun than strong, but what’s wrong with that?

Initially, Wrist-Rocket’s slingshot was acquired through Generator repairs, like with Flashbang or Dustin’s Walkie Talkie perk, but I thought it would be more interesting to give this perk a different crafting method. Cleansing a Totem felt like a fitting requirement, both incentivizing a secondary objective and putting a hard limit on the amount of times a potentially strong perk could be used in one game.

Lucas’ final perk, Shutout, can be thought of as the Survivor version of Bamboozle, allowing Lucas to block a Window for a short time after vaulting it. I imagine this perk only being handy in certain locations, since Killers tend to avoid vaulting whenever possible. For example, if Killer Shack is oriented in a certain way, I could see Shutout being useful in making distance from Shack Window to another tile. The Window is only blocked for a few seconds, but it’s an interesting idea that fits nicely into the game.

Like Eleven, Lucas is another character whom I felt deserved an Exhaustion perk. He’s one of the more athletic characters in the series, so it felt obvious to me. Before Shutout, I had a concept for an Exhaustion perk that allowed Lucas to powerslide underneath a dropped Pallet. It essentially functioned like an old Dead Hard that could only be used near a dropped Pallet, removing Lucas’ ability to take damage while putting distance between himself and the Killer. Obviously, despite being an interesting idea, this wasn’t a very healthy concept for a perk, and I’m much happier with Shutout.

Shutout was originally a perk developed for Murray Bauman, based on his quote “And if you need to reach me again… don’t.” At some point, the perk was instead given to Lucas. While either character could justifiably have a perk of this nature, I feel it fits better with Lucas.

Lucas is the only member of the Party without a perk referencing D&D. This is mostly because the other D&D names came naturally, and I didn’t want to force one onto Lucas. It also plays into Lucas’ struggles in Season 4, wherein he focuses more on basketball than he does on “nerdy” things like D&D in hopes of becoming popular. An unintended bonus, Shutout’s name has a double meaning, as a shutout in sports refers to a game in which the losing side scores no points. A fitting name for a perk with this effect, right?

Lucas’ perk icons are pretty obvious in my head. The icon for Reconnaissance would resemble a pair of binoculars, like Lucas has been shown to have, and Wrist-Rocket would be an icon of Lucas’ slingshot, which the perk is named after. Pretty straightforward. Shutout is more up in the air, but I can envision an image of a basketball hoop setup over a Window vault-- similar to Bamboozle’s icon, but if it was made for a highschooler.

Lucas’ default cosmetic would probably be his orange jacket outfit from Season 1, but without the accessories like his backpack. That said, I could see an alternate version of this outfit as another cosmetic, complete with his camo bandana and other gear.

Lucas has some fairly simple looks, but other potential cosmetics might include his Ghostbusters costume, summer outfit, karate kid tee, basketball jersey, and red jacket.

Max becomes an increasingly important character throughout the show, particularly in Season 4, so I really wanted to give her a set of awesome perks. I initially struggled to come up with mechanically interesting perks that matched her character, so naturally she was one of the last characters I finished for the project. After forever, I finally landed on a handful of concepts I’m satisfied with, though I feel they could still be improved to be a little more interesting.

Despite struggling with Max, I knew for a fact that she was going to have a perk named Zoomer, referencing the fake D&D class she makes up when Mike says there’s no room for her in the Party. The perk takes inspiration from Max’s skateboarding and functions like a mini-Sprint Burst, giving her a small speed boost whenever she enters Chase with a Killer. Movement speed is tricky to balance, so the perk has deceptively safe numbers. The 40 seconds required to regain Tokens seems like a long time to occupy a Killer, but given that Max receives an advantage for a fourth of that time, it’s hypothetically 30 seconds of normal Chase time. Overall, it’s not the greatest perk, but can potentially give Max the slight boost of speed she needs to make it to a Pallet or Window.

No Looking Back was actually the last perk developed for Max. The main appeal of this perk is the slightly increased base vault speed, essentially filling the void left by Spine Chill’s rework. Its secondary effect was mostly an afterthought, but helps Max escape the Killer after being unhooked. It’s not quite an anti-tunnel perk, but something similar. There’s not much else to say about it-- it’s a simple perk with a few different effects.

Before settling on No Looking Back, I was exploring giving Max a perk referencing Vecna’s Curse somehow. I wanted to give the perk an alternate effect when Cursed, similar to how Soul Guard works. I attempted to incorporate this mechanic when developing No Looking Back, but I couldn’t think of an interesting and balanced way to affect vaults while Cursed, so I scrapped the idea completely and opted for something different.

Max’s last perk, Scars to Show, is one of the more mechanically unique perks in the concept. Scars to Show is a Token-based Endgame perk, gaining Tokens whenever Max is afflicted with a unique negative Status Effect. For instance, Sloppy Butcher would give Max 2 Tokens, as it inflicts both Mangled and Hemorrhage. When Endgame is triggered, Max performs nearly all actions faster based on the amount of Tokens she’d earned during the Trial. It’s theoretically pretty strong, but given that it’s only usable during the last portion of a game, I definitely don’t see it as being unbalanced. Additionally, it’s only as strong as the Killer/perks/add-ons a Survivor goes against, and will do literally nothing against some builds.

Scars to Show can receive Tokens for repeat Status Effects, but only after they’ve been removed. For instance, if Max gains a Token from being afflicted with the Broken Status Effect, she cannot be afflicted with Broken again, and thus cannot gain another Token. However, when Max is no longer suffering from Broken, she will gain another Token the next time she’s afflicted with Broken.

Given how prominent Status Effects are in Dead by Daylight, I added a few addendums to how Scars to Show works to prevent Tokens from being too easily earned. Firstly, when Scars to Show gains Tokens, no further Tokens can be earned for a short period of time, regardless of if Survivors are afflicted with new Status Effects. For example, in the case of a perk like Mindbreaker, Survivors would gain 2 Tokens upon suffering from the Blindness and Exhausted Status Effects. With this cooldown addendum, Survivors cannot simply wait the 5 seconds for Mindbreaker’s effects to run out before tapping a Generator again and receiving 2 more Tokens. Of course, Survivors can still wait until the cooldown is over, but it is more time-consuming and less efficient than without this cooldown.

Another addendum added to Scars to Show is that Tokens are not earned for self-inflicted negative Status Effects. For example, this prevents Exhaustion perks from giving Max Tokens each time they activate. Other perks like Deliverance or For the People similarly do not give Scars to Show Tokens. Only negative Status Effects inflicted by the Killer, their perks, or their add-ons count towards Scars to Show’s Token count.

I haven’t given a ton of thought to the appearances of Max’s perks. Zoomer would definitely include Max’s skateboard-- perhaps a silhouette of her riding it, or a close-up image of her shoes on the skateboard/pushing off the ground. No Looking Back might resemble a silhouette of Max sneaking out a Window, and Scars to Show would probably just be a bruised knee or something similar.

Max’s cosmetics are somewhat difficult, as she joined the cast in Season 2. I’m tempted to assign her default cosmetic as her blue jacket outfit from Season 4, as it’s definitely her most iconic look. If not this, her red jacket from her debut season would also be a sensible choice.

Other cosmetic options for Max could include her yellow long-sleeved shirt, green jacket, summer stripes outfit, yellow raincoat, rainbow stripe tee, battle outfit, and brown jacket + walkman. It would also be really funny to include her Michael Myers Halloween costume from Season 2.

Robin is a very popular character despite being a newer addition to the cast. At first, I had a really difficult time creating perks fitting Robin's character and personality, so she ended up being one of the last characters finished for this project. Regardless, once I got some good ideas, I was able to develop her perks in rapid succession, and while they aren’t the most unique, I’m satisfied with them overall.

Robin’s first perk is Clumsy Getaway, which makes tracking her a bit harder at the start of a Chase. Her footsteps become silent, and her Scratch Marks and Pools of Blood spawn further apart for a short time. Theoretically, this gives Robin a slight edge in evading the Killer, particularly on certain maps or while running through specific tiles. Combining this with perks such as Iron Will or Lightweight could give Robin an even bigger advantage!

Clumsy Getaway has gone through several changes. Originally, the perk only activated while injured, but did not affect Pools of Blood, essentially nullifying its intended effects of making Robin harder to track. It was altered to be more passive and worked regardless of Robin’s health state, but its effects were more toned down and worked similarly to Lightweight. I decided to revisit this perk once again after the Alien Chapter introduced Light Footed, a perk with similar effects.

Decryption is a Generator perk specifically affecting Skill Checks. While Decryption is active, Robin is more likely to receive Skill Checks, and the size of Great Skill Check success zones is larger, giving Robin the opportunity to complete Generators more effectively. On its own, the perk doesn’t do a lot-- Great Skill Checks only give a bonus 1% repair progression, after all. That said, it doesn’t take long to activate, and can potentially be threatening if combined with certain perks like Hyperfocus or Deadline.

Robin’s last perk, Tactical Error, gives her team an opportunity to complete Generators more effectively while she is in the Killer’s grasp. While Robin is being carried, the Generator with the most progress is revealed to all other Survivors, and working on the Generator essentially gives Survivors a stronger Prove Thyself effect until Robin is hooked or escapes the Killer’s grasp. In certain scenarios, this perk could be very strong, allowing Survivors to break 3-Gens or commit to finishing unsafe Generators. That said, in an average game, the perk will only work a handful of times and only for a brief duration, so I’m okay with its effect being on the stronger end.

I really love Tactical Error as a name for this perk. It both refers to the fact that Robin messed up by getting caught, but also that her “error” was calculated, since it gives an advantage to her team. Additionally, Robin refers to her life in the show as “one big error”. There’s so many layers to this name and I’m really happy with it!

I have virtually no idea what Robin’s perks would look like. Clumsy Getaway could reference the scene in Season 4 where Robin kicks off her heels so she can run better. Decryption could resemble Robin cupping her ear to listen to a radio or Generator, referencing her role in Season 3 in deciphering the Russian transmission. Lastly, Tactical Error could reference the scene in which Robin and Steve are captured, with the icon being the pair tied up or something, but I’m least sure about this one.

Despite joining the show in Season 3, Robin actually has a decent amount of cosmetic choices. Her Scoops Ahoy uniform seems like an obvious choice for her default, given it’s the only thing she wears throughout Season 3, but it doesn’t really seem like an outfit that should be default. Realistically, her default would be one of her outfits from Season 4, like her beige jacket look.

Robin’s other cosmetic choices could include her job-seeker look, marching band uniform, Family Video uniform, bomber jacket, makeover + dress disguise, and combat outfit.

Despite only appearing in Season 4, Eddie is an incredibly popular and well-written character. I had so many cool ideas for Eddie’s perks, and while they aren’t particularly meta-defining, I think they have their own niches and fit flawlessly into the concept.

Pedal to the Metal gives Eddie the Haste Status Effect when a nearby Survivor enters the dying state, and suppresses notifications associate with fast-vaulting for a short duration. The perk references Eddie’s tendency to run from danger, which translates wonderfully into Dead by Daylight. The usage of this perk is widely up to the Survivor, as they can use it to position themselves for a save, or get out of the area altogether.

Initially, Pedal to the Metal hid Eddie's Scratch Marks instead of its current effect, which was erroneously similar to Yun-Jin's perk Self-Preservation. It's still fairly similar in terms of activation and effects, but it's at least a different flavor now!

Invocation: Proficiency Bonus allows Survivors to get more out of their tools, working similarly to Streetwise. As an Invocation perk, it applies a map-wide effect to all Survivors and their Items, but for a price. This perk aims to give Survivors more use out of their Items, and could be combined with various other perks to further capitalize on efficiency.

Previously, Invocation: Proficiency Bonus was a Boon perk, and went through several changes. Originally, the perk was called Boon: Advantage and had completely different effects themed around tilting the odds slightly in the Survivor’s favor. Boon: Advantage dealt mostly with Skill Checks, giving bonus Skill Check progression and increasing the frequency of Skill Checks within the Boon’s radius. The perk had a third effect, increasing the Luck of Survivors within the Boon’s radius by 25%. This was mostly an afterthought, but I figured it could be fun to add an effect for a widely unused mechanic. Theoretically, if a Survivor was hooked in the Boon’s radius, they had a good chance of unhooking themselves. I decided these effects weren’t all that interesting on their own, so I took another look at the perk and gave it a more useful effect.

Before becoming an Invocation perk, it was known as Boon: Proficiency Bonus, and had mostly similar effects, granting Survivors better Item efficiency while in the Boon’s radius. Additionally, like its previous iteration Boon: Advantage, the perk offered bonus progression for completing Great Skill Checks. For instance, a Great Skill Check while repairing a Generator in the radius would give 1.5% bonus progression as opposed to the normal 1%.

Strangely enough, Eddie is one of the only characters in the project to receive a “magical” perk, such as a Boon/Invocation perk. As mentioned in the design notes for other concepts, I wanted to give Boon perks to Eleven based on her superpowers, and/or to Will based on his connection to The Upside Down. Despite not having any special abilities, an Invocation seems to fit Eddie nicely, connecting to his experience with the fantastical world of D&D.

Dungeon Master is Eddie’s final perk, and is essentially the Survivor version of Lethal Pursuer, showing Eddie various Auras at the start of the Trial. The point of this perk is to give Eddie a lay of the land, showing him the Killer he’ll be facing and the location of other Survivors and Generators in the Trial. Unlike Lethal Pursuer, Dungeon Master does not increase the time that Auras are revealed for Eddie, but the initial information it provides is enough to make the perk useful without it being too strong.

Previously, Dungeon Master also revealed the Auras of Totems to Eddie at the start of the Trial, but this felt more problematic than the other Auras. It would suck to load into a game and immediately lose your Hex Totems because a Survivor was shown their Auras. I briefly considered having it only reveal Dull Totems instead, but this was arguably worse. If the perk only showed the Auras of three Totems, for example, a Survivor would instantly know the Killer has two Hex Totems. Additionally, based on the locations of these Auras, experienced Survivors could easily sniff out positions of the Hex Totems, despite their Auras not being revealed. In the end, there wasn’t a satisfying way to balance the revealing of Totems, so I removed the effect altogether. The perk still gives enough information for it to remain useful, so this wasn’t a huge nerf.

Proficiency Bonus, Advantage, and Dungeon Master are all D&D terms. As leader of the Hellfire Club, it makes the most sense for Eddie’s perks to reference D&D, so I gave him multiple! If I didn’t love the name Pedal to the Metal so much, I could have potentially given all three of his perks D&D-associated names!

I have a decent idea for Eddie’s perk icons. Pedal to the Metal would be an image of a foot stomping on a gas pedal-- simple enough! Invocation: Proficiency Bonus could be an image of the Hellfire Club symbol above the Invocation circle, like other Invocation perk icons. Lastly, Dungeon Master could resemble Eddie’s eyes above the Trial Grounds, or more specifically, above a Killer or Generator, similar to an icon like Rookie Spirit.

Unfortunately, Eddie doesn’t have many cosmetic options as a new character, but his default cosmetic would obviously be his Hellfire Club shirt + denim jacket.

Eddie’s only other realistic cosmetic option would be his battle outfit, but it would be pretty sick to have his guitar hanging off his back as an accessory!

Given the events of Season 4, the only season in which Eddie appears, he would honestly fit better as a Legendary cosmetic for another character. I wanted to give him perks and cosmetics like everyone else in the project, even though he’s realistically more of a side character.

Given her role in Stranger Things, I really wanted Joyce’s perks to focus on supporting and protecting others, as well as embracing the weirdness of otherworldly forces.

Boon: Holly Jolly is named after the most iconic episode of Season 1, where Joyce puts up Christmas lights to communicate with Will. The perk mirrors this, giving Joyce the ability to communicate with her teammates from far away. It also plays with lights in a literal sense, giving her the ability to see numerous Auras.

Prior to the release of Alan Wake’s perk Boon: Illumination, Boon: Holly Jolly had a nearly identical effect, revealing the Auras of Generators to Survivors within the Boon’s radius. There were some notable differences, however. Boon: Holly Jolly revealed the repair progress of Generators by the strength of their Auras, and additionally revealed the Auras of Exit Gates. Boon: Illumination, however, reveals the Auras of Generators and Chests. Obviously the concept for Boon: Holly Jolly has since been changed to differentiate it from Alan Wake’s perk, instead revealing Auras not covered by Boon: Illumination.

Maternal Instinct is meant to encourage Joyce to go for rescues, and doubles as an anti-tunnel perk. It essentially gives the Sprint Burst effect to an unhooked Survivor, allowing them to make more distance than other anti-tunnel perks. Additionally, it gives Joyce a sort of adrenaline boost, letting her run a little faster when near the hook. I think thematically it’s very fitting for Joyce and could see some use in unhooking/protection builds.

Originally, Maternal Instinct had an effect very similar to how Babysitter works now, so I gave it another pass. I honestly liked the first iteration more, but I think it makes a better anti-tunnel perk now.

Joyce’s final perk, Overprotective, emphasizes her strength, putting herself in danger to protect those close to her. I imagine this perk coming in handy for assisting Survivors who are being tunneled, as it virtually makes them invisible to the Killer in exchange for Joyce taking the heat. Additionally, it affects all Survivors around her, not just the Survivor whom she protected, which I think opens up opportunities for other interesting plays.

Overprotective took forever to come up with. I kept wanting to give her something that exemplified her ferocious brand of protection. I was trying to find some iteration of this in a Chase perk, something unexpected or weird. I wanted her to have moments of brilliance when facing the Killer. To quote Joyce, “Just because it wasn’t your plan doesn’t mean it was a bad plan.” The final version of Overprotective isn’t exactly what I planned for it to be, but I do think it’s another perk fitting Joyce Byers.

A scrapped idea for one of Joyce’s perks was called Crazy Escape. It gave her the ability to see the Auras of Exit Gates, and for her opening progress to be shared between both gates. Basically, if she opened one Exit Gate from start to finish, the other would be opened as well. I decided this perk wasn’t interesting enough on its own, but kept the ability to see Exit Gate Auras as part of Boon: Holly Jolly’s original effect.

I have a pretty good idea what each perk icon looks like, referencing scenes from Stranger Things. Boon: Holly Jolly would resemble Joyce holding a ball of lights, Maternal Instinct would reference any expression like this, and Overprotective would resemble Joyce holding an axe.

The show has a lot of options in terms of cosmetics. Clearly, her default cosmetic would be her green jacket + stripes look from Season 1.

Some other cosmetics might include her work uniform, corduroy coat, shirt tied around her waist, and puffer jacket, amongst other outfits.

I wanted Hopper’s perks to be a mix of aggressive and defensive perks, something similar to how David King’s perks work. He’s not afraid to interact with the Killer, and I think these perks do a good job getting that idea across.

The Best Offense is a very simple aggressive perk. Its first iteration stunned Killers for longer, but that could potentially make some maps very annoying. Additionally, it originally only disabled the ability to read Hopper’s Aura, but with the addition of Haddie Kaur’s perk Residual Manifest, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to have it inflict a flat Blindness Status Effect on the stunned Killer.

Push Through It is a perk created with the idea of making it harder for the Killer to down you consecutively. Each time you’re unhooked, you get a little bit faster, weighing Chases slightly more in your favor toward the end of the game. Obviously movement speed is something very tricky to balance, particularly if stacked with other perks, and while I think this perk sounds really strong on paper, it’s not quite as oppressive in practice.

Originally, Push Through It only activated while injured, but this was changed after the release of Gabriel Soma’s perk Made For This, which had a nearly identical effect. While I believe my concept for Push Through It was healthier than release Made For This, I inevitably revisited the perk, making it only activate while healthy instead, preventing these perks from hypothetically stacking. After Made For This was changed to only work while in Deep Wound, I felt comfortable taking another pass at Push Through It. The perks can still hypothetically stack, but given the circumstances in which each perk activates, I’m less worried about it!

Before Second Wind was renamed to Renewal following the removal of the Stranger Things Chapter, it was briefly called Push Through It. When I came up with this perk, I was really set on giving it this name, but I was so certain there was already a perk called Push Through It. Thankfully, it had already been changed, so the name was available! Hooray!

Hopper’s last perk, Rule Breaker, is another that I was worried about balancing correctly. The perk essentially allows Hopper to "ignore" Entity blockers, so long as he has Tokens to spare. This allows him to use resources that would otherwise be unavailable to him, whether through normal Entity blocking or through perks like Hex: Blood Favor. I think this perk is rather strong, but I don't see it being oppressive, as it's only useful in very specific scenarios and versus very specific perks. Moreover, because it's Token-based there's a hard limit on the amount of times one could reasonably get value from the perk.

Previously, Rule Breaker worked somewhat differently. Basically, the perk would allow Hopper to use a vault for longer before becoming blocked by the Entity. If a vault would become blocked, say via after vaulting three times, or through a perk like Hex: Crowd Control, a Token would be consumed and the Window would remain open for an additional vault. I wasn't fully happy with this implementation of the idea-- it didn't feel as impactful as a perk of this nature should be, so I decided to revisit it and eventually landed on its current version.

I’m not quite certain what Hopper’s perks would look like. The Best Offense might be something like Hopper looking over a dropped pallet. Push Through It might resemble a bloody Hopper raising his fists, and Rule Breaker might be an image of Hopper and Eleven’s tripwire, maybe with a foot stepping over it.

In terms of Cosmetics, his default would likely be his standard police chief outfit.

Other cosmetics for Hopper might include his corduroy + flannel combo, blue jacket, hawaiian shirt, and shaved head + wool jacket. Oh, and a barechested Hopper skin, obviously.

The last Survivor concept for the project is Murray Bauman, the eccentric investigative journalist introduced in Season 2. I wanted Murray’s perks to primarily focus on his paranoid view of the world, as if he’s always being watched or that someone is out to get him. Overall, I’m very happy with the perks I developed for him, and could see some of them being used regularly in-game.

Murray’s first perk, Covert Investigation, is a simple stealth perk, reducing the volume of Generators Murray is working on. This includes the Generator itself, as well as the sounds Survivors make while repairing. This effect also applies to any Survivor working on the same Generator as Murray, but doesn’t stack if multiple Survivors are running the perk. In some scenarios, I can see this perk helping Survivors complete Generators by tricking the Killer into thinking Generators have less progress than they do, or that they’re not actively being worked on. I don’t see this being a popular choice, but it’s a concept I like that fits Murray’s character.

Red Alert allows Murray to set up a tripwire alarm system on a Window that reveals the Killer’s Aura to nearby Survivors if they vault the Window. As a bit of counterplay, a perceptive Killer can notice the tripwire on a Window and destroy it with a basic attack. This takes a few seconds, but prevents Murray from getting usage from the perk. I really love the design of this perk-- it can prove very useful in Chase, but it’s not always guaranteed and only helps Survivors near the trapped Window.

Murray’s last perk, Counterattack, references Murray’s mastery of karate as seen in Season 4. The perk restores some of Murray’s stamina after stunning the Killer with a Pallet. This effect is identical to Ada Wong’s Reactive Healing perk, restoring a percentage of missing healing progress (as opposed to a flat amount of healing progress). Perfect usage of the perk could give Murray the opportunity to heal himself during a Chase, keeping the Killer occupied for longer as a result. This perk is certainly powerful in theory, but isn’t without its counters-- the Hemorrhage Status Effect, for instance.

Originally, Counterattack’s effect applied to any Killer stun, including Flashlight saves or Head On stuns. I decided to limit this effect to Pallets only, as it's a strong enough effect without multiple methods of activation. Additionally, chaining a Head On stun into a Pallet stun (or vice versa) isn’t terribly difficult and could easily restore up to 75% of a full heal. Of course, getting two Pallet stuns to heal 75% isn’t necessarily hard either, but every Killer plays Pallets differently, so you’re not guaranteed to get value from Counterattack every game. Moreover, Pallets are a nonrenewable resource, so it’s a little more costly attempting to use the perk than if its effect was tied to any Killer stun.

As previously mentioned in Lucas’ design notes, Lucas’ perk Shutout was initially developed as a perk for Murray, inspired by his quote: “And if you need to reach me again… don’t.” I originally thought this quote would be tied to some kind of anti-tunnel perk, but found it worked just as well for a mid-Chase perk. In the end, the idea of the perk could work for either character, but I decided to give it to Lucas and developed Counterattack for Murray instead. I am sad I didn’t find another perk to attach this quote to, though.

I have some basic ideas for Murray’s perk icons, but I’m not married to any of them. I’m least certain about Covert Investigation, but it could resemble a silhouetted Murray in a trench coat disguise, or the computer Murray uses to spoof his and Joyce’s location in Season 4. I imagine Red Alert would resemble Murray’s face with an alarm going off behind him. Counterattack would either reference Murray holding a shotgun, or Murray in a karate pose, preferably doing a kick.

Despite joining the show in Season 2 and only becoming a regular in Season 4, Murray has a decent amount of cosmetic options. In terms of his default cosmetic, his casual robe from Season 2 is a good contender, since it’s from his debut season. That said, I think his summer wear from Season 3 works slightly better as a default, but either one would work!

In terms of other cosmetics, additional outfits for Murray might include his formal wear, Russian disguise, California outfit (or with the apron), winter attire, and his Yuri Ismaylov disguise.

Originally, I pitched the idea of Murray as a Legendary cosmetic for Jim Hopper. I’d still be happy with this, but it would undeniably be more exciting to have Murray as his own character with his own perks instead.

As part of my Expansion Pack concept, The Mind Flayer was a bit of an afterthought, as I only intended to create Survivor concepts for the remaining major characters in the show. I spent way less time developing the Killer overall. That said, I had been considering adding a Killer before thinking of the Expansion Pack as complete, so I had some ideas that were easily fleshed out… pun intended.

The Mind Flayer can be thought of as very similar to The Twins, but if Charlotte had control of multiple Victors. However, it is much closer to the Dream Witch from Identity V, whose gameplay I drew direct inspiration from. I always compared her playstyle to playing a game of chess, which I tried to emulate in The Mind Flayer’s power.

After the Demogorgon and Vecna, the only remaining monster in Stranger Things is the Mind Flayer (unless you count Dr. Brenner). Given that the Mind Flayer is both inhuman and rather large, it couldn’t work as a Dead by Daylight Killer on its own, so it works in tandem with Billy Hargrove, who serves as a sort of “main body” in which The Mind Flayer can operate. I think this works perfectly, and offers a way to include cosmetics for a Killer that would otherwise have no cosmetics inspired by the show.

Billy only appears in Seasons 2 and 3, so there aren’t too many outfits to choose from. His default would likely be his white tank top. Other potential cosmetics could include his jean jacket, date night outfit, shirtless lifeguard, and overdressed lifeguard outfits. Regardless of the outfit, I think Billy would always have his shadowy veins to give him a more menacing, slightly less human appearance.

I haven’t thought about the Terror Radius, Lullaby, or Chase themes, but it would be cool if they included elements of metal music (similar to The Legion), or sampled the Upside Down theme from the show.

In terms of post-Hit cooldown animations, I imagine that Billy would chuckle and crack his knuckles, and Flesh Thralls would roar shrilly.

The Mind Flayer's Mori must be performed by Billy, which I imagine plays out as follows: Billy kneels down beside the downed Survivor, and a fleshy tentacle launches itself from something unseen behind Billy, then latches itself around the Survivor's mouth. They struggle to remove it briefly before quickly succumbing to The Mind Flayer's influence. Their skin begins to bubble and melt, and within seconds, the Survivor sinks into a biomass puddle.

The Mind Flayer begins the Trial in its Particle Form, which allows it to patrol the map much faster and even pass through solid objects. While in Particle Form, however, The Mind Flayer cannot interface with the environment, and is unable to interact with Generators, Pallets, Windows, Lockers, Boon Totems, Exit Gates, or the Hatch. Moreover, The Mind Flayer cannot attack or carry Survivors in Particle Form. (While The Mind Flayer is unable to search Lockers as normal, it can phase through them in Particle Form, revealing any Survivors hiding inside. Lockers count as a solid object!)

In Particle Form, The Mind Flayer is completely invisible to Survivors, but emits a standard 40 meter Lullaby. The Mind Flayer isn’t exactly threatening while in Particle Form, so I don’t anticipate Survivors hiding when they hear the Lullaby, but it does give them the information that The Mind Flayer is around them somewhere.

The Mind Flayer and Billy spawn together, so players can decide whether they want to Possess and control Billy immediately when the game starts, or if they would prefer to fly around in Particle Form.

E Pluribus Unum has 3 Tokens. While in Particle Form, The Mind Flayer can perform the Entrench Self action on Survivors. This action consumes 1 Token. By definition, this means that not every Survivor can be Entrenched, and this is by design. Billy is a permanent Host for the Mind Flayer, and up to three Flesh Thralls can be created, totaling a max amount of Hosts equal to Survivors allowed in a game. The Entrench Self action cannot be performed on Survivors who are already Flayed.

Technically, if there are 3 or fewer Survivors remaining in the Trial, The Mind Flayer can have more Hosts than there are Survivors, but only by 1. While E Pluribus Unum does not lose Tokens when Survivors are killed or sacrificed, each Survivor can only have one Flesh Thrall linked to them at any one time. So, if there is one Survivor left in the Trial, The Mind Flayer can have access to a maximum of two Hosts: Billy, and the last Survivor’s linked Flesh Thrall. This means it’s very easy to outnumber Survivors, so it’s up to Survivors to manage their Flayed status and play around the number of Hosts available to the Killer.

E Pluribus Unum is Latin for “out of many, one” and is the title of an episode in Season 3.

Survivors who have the Entrench Self action performed on them become Flayed, and after a short duration (I envisioned somewhere between 5-8 seconds), a dormant Flesh Thrall spawns at a random location 12 meters away from them. This Flesh Thrall is linked to its associated Survivor regardless of its classification as dormant, conscious, or idle.

Dormant Flesh Thralls automatically follow the Survivor they’re linked to, maintaining its distance of 12 meters. Survivors can get closer without it moving away, but the Flesh Thrall itself will not get closer than 12 meters.

The crux of The Mind Flayer’s power is its ability to create and Possess multiple Hosts to interface with the environment. When a Flesh Thrall is Possessed for the first time, it loses its classification as dormant and becomes conscious. Conscious Flesh Thralls can be controlled and do anything a regular Killer can do, including Chasing, carrying, and hooking Survivors, breaking Generators and Pallets, vaulting Windows, searching Lockers, snuffing Boons, opening Exit Gates, and closing Hatch. Additionally, unlike The Twins’ Victor, Flesh Thralls benefit from Killer perks. Flesh Thralls cannot Mori Survivors.

When a conscious Flesh Thrall is released from Possession, it becomes idle. Idle Flesh Thralls do not automatically follow the Survivor they’re linked to, and instead remain stationary. An idle Flesh Thrall will become conscious again when Possessed.

Any time a Host is Possessed, there is a short wake time before they’re able to move, similar to The Twins when swapping to Charlotte. Dormant Flesh Thralls have a slightly extended wake time when Possessed, giving Survivors a wider window to react. Billy has a slightly shorter wake time by default.

Like with The Twins, any time a Host is Possessed, a map-wide sound plays. This gives Survivors some information, but not enough to know which Host is Possessed or where. That said, I imagine Flesh Thralls make some noise when they become conscious, audible within a certain range.

The Auras of Billy and any active Flesh Thralls are revealed to The Mind Flayer at all times, whether in Particle Form or while Possessing a Host. This information allows The Mind Flayer to plan out which Host it should Possess, and can be used to Chase Survivors into areas occupied by another Host.

E Pluribus Unum incurs a small cooldown when Possessing a Host, preventing The Mind Flayer from rapidly switching between different Hosts. These numbers aren't set in stone, but I'm thinking around 8 seconds when Possessing a Flesh Thrall, and 4 seconds when Possessing Billy. This cooldown also prevents The Mind Flayer from releasing a Host from Possession and entering Particle Form. This encourages The Mind Flayer to plan out and commit to its Possessions, rather than randomly switching between them.

Flesh Thralls are destroyed after hooking a Survivor or when stunned by a Survivor, putting The Mind Flayer back into Particle Form. When The Mind Flayer enters Particle Form in this way, E Pluribus Unum’s cooldown is reset, giving it the ability to instantly Possess another Host.

When a Flesh Thrall is destroyed by any means, a new dormant Flesh Thrall will automatically replace it after 30 seconds, spawning around its linked Survivor if they remain Flayed.

If a hooked Survivor’s Flesh Thrall is destroyed, its respawn timer is paused until the Survivor is unhooked. This prevents a dormant Flesh Thrall from spawning around a hooked Survivor, and will give a Survivor 30 seconds to either get to a better area, or remove their Flayed status after being unhooked.

I imagine that similar to The Twins, The Mind Flayer’s power can’t be used too close to hooked Survivors. A lot of this is avoided by destroying a Flesh Thrall after it hooks a Survivor, but there are special cases, such as if Billy hooks a Survivor. I think in this scenario, Billy would need to be far enough away from the hook before he can be released from Possession.

Three Heaters spawn around the map. Similar to The Nightmare’s Clocks, when a Survivor becomes Flayed, the Heater furthest from the Survivor becomes active and has its Aura revealed to the Survivor. Survivors can interact with their Heater and perform the Sweat it Out action to remove their Flayed status. A Survivor who completes the Sweat it Out action is Hindered for a short duration, and has their location revealed to The Mind Flayer via Killer Instinct. Like with The Nightmare’s Clocks, Heaters are tied to a Survivor’s status and have no cooldown. It’s up to Survivors to decide when/if to traverse the map to reach their Heater and cleanse their Flayed status.

When a Survivor removes their Flayed status, their linked Flesh Thrall is destroyed and E Pluribus Unum regains its spent Token.

Visually, dormant Flesh Thralls are small, amorphous piles of fleshy biomass and crawl similarly to slugs when following Survivors. When a dormant Flesh Thrall is Possessed and becomes conscious, it bubbles up and rises, resembling a fleshy monster (the best in-game comparison would be something like The Dredge) roughly the size and shape of a Survivor. When a conscious Flesh Thrall is released from Possession and becomes idle, it sinks back down to a pile of flesh, but is somewhat larger than before, and rises and falls as if breathing, signaling that it’s no longer dormant.

Originally, I thought it would be awesome if conscious Flesh Thralls resembled gross, melty versions of the Survivors they’re linked to. For example, a Flesh Thrall linked to Meg would look like a fleshy, monstrous Meg. Not only would this be cool, it would also serve as a bit of information for both sides, as it would be more obvious which Flesh Thralls are linked to which Survivors. I decided that while this could be feasible, it would be too much effort for a purely visual effect. I figured having Flesh Thralls vaguely resemble a Survivor in general was interesting enough, and makes Flesh Thrall behavior more consistent.

Ideally, I thought it would be cool if The Mind Flayer had a secondary ability allowing it to recycle Flesh Thralls destroyed by Survivors into a larger monster with its own Chase power, like the Hospital Monster from Season 3. This would make destroying Flesh Thralls both a positive and a negative for Survivors, as it meant that eventually, The Mind Flayer could create a stronger, more threatening monster. Unfortunately, with the exception of The Dredge, all of Dead by Daylight’s Killers are humanoid, so this realistically wouldn’t be possible within the game’s current framework.

Billy is a special Host, serving as The Mind Flayer’s “main body” of the Killer. Unlike Flesh Thralls, Billy is not destroyed or released from Possession after hooking or being stunned by a Survivor, and instead functions like any other Killer.

Billy doesn’t have a unique power, as his main appeal is his permanence as a Host. That said, he does have several slight advantages that set him apart from Flesh Thralls and encourage The Mind Flayer to use him frequently. Billy wakes up from idling faster than Flesh Thralls, incurs a shorter Power cooldown after being Possessed, and has a slightly longer lunge attack by default-- not quite as long as The Shape’s Tier III lunge, but longer than average.

I kept going back and forth on whether or not to give Billy a small Chase power of his own, but given his abilities and the events of the show, I had a hard time coming up with anything interesting. The power would likely have been some kind of short dash, similar to The Demogorgon’s or The Mastermind’s powers, but I failed to think of a way to make a unique dash power that also interacted with The Mind Flayer’s main power somehow. The Mind Flayer’s main appeal is having control over multiple Killers, so I’m not too bummed about not giving Billy a Chase power.

In order to make him more appealing with no unique ability, I gave Billy several bonuses to help him work better as a "regular" Killer. One scrapped bonus I considered was giving Billy more persistent Bloodlust, allowing him to break Pallets without losing his speed boost. I wanted to lean into Billy’s rage with this (which I instead did with a perk), but I figured at some point this bonus just guarantees free hits or downs on Survivors, unless they manage to break line of sight for an extended period of time. Is it the most oppressive passive? Probably not! But it doesn’t sound very interactive either.

The “meme” add-on, Bag of Ice, removes the ability for dormant Flesh Thralls to automatically follow their linked Survivor. This still allows Flesh Thralls to be used as chess pieces to control areas, but doesn’t offer the tracking or guaranteed proximity to Survivors when first Possessing a dormant Flesh Thrall.

Driscoll’s Glasses inflicts Survivors who destroy Flesh Thralls with Blindness for 30 seconds. This isn’t a very strong effect, but given that stuns-- such as with a Pallet-- are the most reliable way of ending a Chase against a Flesh Thrall, I can see it being used a decent amount.

Fertilizer decreases the time it takes for the initial dormant Flesh Thrall to spawn near a Flayed Survivor by 2 seconds. This only affects the first dormant Flesh Thrall that spawns after a Survivor is Entrenched, and not any dormant Flesh Thralls that respawn around a Survivor. These few seconds may not seem very impactful, but it gives The Mind Flayer the opportunity to start monitoring or Chasing a Survivor even sooner.

Portable Radio increases the duration of Killer Instinct when Survivors complete the Sweat it Out action by 3 seconds. This isn’t a game-changing effect or anything, but does give The Mind Flayer a few extra seconds to see where a Survivor is going after they use a Heater.

Bloody Newspaper reduces the wake time when Possessing a Flesh Thrall by 0.5 seconds. This applies to both dormant and idle Flesh Thralls, allowing them to be controlled faster, but doesn’t apply to Billy, since he already has a faster default wake time.

CPR Dummy grants Undetectable for 6 seconds when Possessing a Flesh Thrall. I can see this add-on getting a lot of use, adding an element of surprise any time a Flesh Thrall is Possessed. Billy does not benefit from this add-on.

Ignition Cable grants The Mind Flayer’s Particle Form with Haste for 10 seconds when a Host is released from Possession. Particle Form is already quick, but I imagine this add-on could make it more useful, potentially making it easier to scout out Survivors and create further Flesh Thralls if necessary.

Rat Poison decreases the time it takes for a dormant Flesh Thrall to respawn by 5 seconds. I imagine this to be one of The Mind Flayer’s most used add-ons, as it both increases the rate at which Flesh Thralls respawn and decreases the time Survivors have to act without having a Flesh Thrall attached to them. This can make it harder for Survivors to complete objectives or remove their Flayed status.

Surgical Gown inflicts Survivors within 12 meters of an idle Flesh Thrall with Hemorrhage for 30 seconds. The duration of this effect only decreases when the Survivor is out of range, and will reapply if they come back into range. This mostly affects how Survivors will heal around Flesh Thralls, as they may choose to move somewhere else to heal.

Billy’s Sunglasses reveals the Auras of Survivors within 8 meters of an idle Flesh Thrall. I imagine this to be a very strong add-on, as The Mind Flayer can strategically place Flesh Thralls in high traffic areas to reveal Survivors, using them as alarms which it can then Possess and control. This add-on originally revealed Survivors within 12 meters, but I felt comfortable decreasing its range because the effect is so strong.

Broken Femur inflicts Survivors with Exhausted for 12 seconds when a dormant Flesh Thrall spawns within 12 meters of them. This add-on always affects the Survivor linked to the created dormant Flesh Thrall, but can also affect other Survivors if they’re close enough. This gives The Mind Flayer a slight advantage if it chooses to Possess a newly created Flesh Thrall, preventing a Survivor from holding Sprint Burst, for example.

Champagne Bottle inflicts Survivors with Mangled if they’re hit 10 seconds after a Host has been Possessed. This rewards The Mind Flayer for getting quick hits on unsuspecting Survivors. Pretty standard Mangled add-on.

When Possessing a Flesh Thrall, Heart Rate Monitor reveals the Aura of its linked Survivor for 8 seconds. This can be used to start a strong Chase with a nearby Survivor, or reveal a Survivor who is no longer near their linked Flesh Thrall.

Space Heater makes Heaters more punishing for Survivors, increasing the time it takes for Survivors to complete the Sweat it Out action by 4 seconds, which feels substantial. Additionally, it increases the time Survivors suffer from Hindered after using a Heater by 6 seconds. These effects make Survivors more wary about using Heaters, as it’s easier for them to be caught during or shortly after using them.

Ruined Firecracker gives Survivors a difficult Skill Check if they’re working on a Generator within 16 meters of a dormant Flesh Thrall when it becomes conscious. This add-on makes it harder for Survivors to complete Generators before their linked Flesh Thrall is Possessed for the first time. Previously, this add-on worked with any Host regardless of their status (dormant or idle), but that would be much stronger and far more annoying for Survivors to deal with. This version still offers value, but less frequently.

Sauna Key inflicts injured Survivors who complete the Sweat it Out action with Broken for 60 seconds. This encourages Survivors to heal before removing their Flayed status, as they may incur a heavy penalty if they don’t!

Steelworks Placard allows The Mind Flayer to passively Flay Survivors if E Pluribus Unum has Tokens by inflicting Survivors with Flayed when they unhook a Flayed Survivor. Additionally, the Auras of Survivors within 8 meters of The Mind Flayer are revealed while in Particle Form. This add-on makes it much easier for The Mind Flayer to keep Survivors Flayed, either passively or by revealing their Auras so it can perform the Entrench Self action more easily.

Yellow Sandals inflicts a Survivor with Oblivious while their linked Flesh Thrall is Possessed. This add-on makes Chasing Survivors with their associated Flesh Thralls more effective, but also indirectly tells Survivors when their Flesh Thrall is being controlled, as the Oblivious Status works as a sort of warning.

Fleshy Tentacle is one of E Pluribus Unum’s Visceral add-ons, and gives The Mind Flayer a 4th Power Token, allowing for every Survivor to be Flayed. Additionally, Fleshy Tentacle decreases the time it takes for a dormant Flesh Thrall to respawn by 10 seconds, giving Survivors less time to complete objectives before their linked Flesh Thrall returns. To balance these effects, Flesh Thralls are automatically destroyed if inactive for 40 seconds. These combined effects encourage The Mind Flayer to rapidly switch between Flesh Thralls to keep the pressure up, making them harder to use long-term, but boosting their short-term use by keeping them respawning quickly.

Iridescent Biomass is E Pluribus Unum’s other Visceral add-on, making dormant Flesh Thralls more threatening. This add-on affects Survivors within 16 meters of dormant Flesh Thralls when they're Possessed, Exposing them for 25 seconds. This add-on encourages The Mind Flayer to commit to chases after Possessing a Flesh Thrall for the first time. However, the add-on also increases the cooldown time after Possessing a Flesh Thrall by 4 seconds, meaning The Mind Flayer has to wait slightly longer to change Hosts. Billy is unaffected by this penalty.

The Mind Flayer's perks mostly reference scenes from the show in which The Mind Flayer is in control of Billy Hargrove. While he may not be the crux of the Killer's design or Power, I thought it was important to capture his essence in The Mind Flayer's perks.

Unforgiving Rage has a similar effect to The Dredge’s Dissolution, but gives more control to the Killer. After being stunned by any means, The Mind Flayer’s next break action is much faster. This effect can be used to quickly break a Pallet, Breakable Wall, or Generator. The perk activates a few seconds after being stunned, meaning if a Killer wants to immediately break a Pallet they were stunned with, they’d need to wait a brief period.

Cruel Spectacle afflicts all injured Survivors with the Broken Status Effect when a Survivor is unhooked. I think this perk sounds really powerful on paper, preventing Survivors from resetting and healing after a rescue. The unhooked Survivor is still able to be healed, but the rest of the team might find themselves in a tricky position for a short time.

Previously, Cruel Spectacle applied the Broken Status when a Survivor was hooked instead of when being unhooked. The idea was to make it impossible for Survivors to coordinate a heal and rescue hooked Survivors, but this also makes safe rescues impossible against camping Killers. Against certain killers like The Legion, it would be even more annoying. I think its current iteration is still very strong, but less oppressive.

Hex: Twist Ending is The Mind Flayer’s last perk, and functions as an Endgame perk similar to Hex: No One Escapes Death, but with some different mechanics. When active, Hex: Twist Ending afflicts all Survivors with Hindered until its Hex Totem is cleansed, making Chases against Survivors slightly easier. In addition to being an Endgame perk, Hex: Twist Ending is also an Obsession perk, preventing the Hex Totem from being cleansed by any Survivor other than the Obsession for 60 seconds. This perk would fit flawlessly into Endgame builds, giving the Killer a strong opportunity to make a comeback when the game seems over.

The Obsession effect tied to Hex: Twist Ending was mostly an afterthought inspired by the perk’s quote: “All this time, we’ve been building it… for you.” This is a really awesome quote in the show, so I wanted to give its associated perk a similar vibe, as if it was the plan for the Obsession all along.

I have pretty good concepts for the appearances of each perk icon. Everlasting Rage would resemble Billy screaming, Cruel Spectacle would reference Billy choking Eleven, and Hex: Twist Ending could reference Billy’s expression during his cabin monologue. What a good scene.

Conceptually, The Test Subject is a little disjointed and all-over-the-place. In general, you can imagine him being a combination of The Nightmare, The Deathslinger, The Executioner, and The Cenobite.

For the most part, I focused on making an accurate representation of Vecna first, and tried to apply concepts from his character to Dead by Daylight second. This is partially why his kit may feel disjointed, since I approached it more so from a Stranger Things standpoint than a Dead by Daylight standpoint.

There’s not a lot in the way of cosmetic options for Vecna, though there would almost certainly be cosmetics for his pre-Vecna appearance, as well as his post-banishment appearance.

While I haven’t thought much about his Terror Radius or Chase music, I imagine they would heavily feature clock chimes. I think it would be interesting if Doomed Survivors heard a slightly altered chase theme, featuring a threatening “your time has come” chiming as the main focal point of the track.

For a post-Hit cooldown, I imagine Vecna would simply flick blood off his fingers.

Referencing his brutal method of killing his victims in the show, I imagine his Mori would play out as follows: The Test Subject telepathically lifts the Survivor into the air, and their bones start snapping violently. Their eyes are sucked out through their skull, and their lifeless body is dropped unceremoniously onto the ground. It's unfortunately very similar to The Onryō's Mori, but it's so iconic and works great as a Mori. Moreover, I think there are ways it could be similar but still unique, in terms of animation and things of that nature.

In my mind, Constrict works like a combination of The Deathslinger’s speargun and The Cenobite’s chains. It’s a straight shot that roots Survivors on hit. Theoretically, it only halts Survivor movement until they start the Writhe action, at which point it acts more like Cenobite’s chains, giving Survivors the ability to slowly walk, but not run. As the Survivor continues to Writhe and break out of the vines, they’ll slowly regain their full walking speed until they fully escape. Still annoying, but less annoying than being frozen in place for the whole Constricted duration.

Constrict has a slightly longer cooldown than The Cenobite’s Summons of Pain, but they’re still comparable. However, Constrict generally takes longer to escape from when compared to Cenobite’s chains. The Writhe action takes longer the further a Constrict tendril travels, so a well-aimed shot can make Writhing lengthy. To compensate for Writhing generally taking longer, The Test Subject moves at 4.4m/s by default, and slows down while channeling Constrict, comparable to The Huntress when holding a hatchet.

The Writhe action taking longer to complete for further Constrict hits was a suggestion from a friend to incentivize The Test Subject to use his Power from further away. Using it while very close to a Survivor won’t root them for very long, but using it from far away will give him ample time to close the distance.

Constricted Survivors suffer from the Incapacitated Status Effect to prevent them from making cheeky last second heals and other actions, but Constrict also prevents Survivors from performing actions not disabled by Incapacitated. For example, because they’re rooted to the ground with vines, Survivors aren’t able to vault until they complete the Writhe action. The power is meant to lock you into a small space until you escape it.

Survivors gain a small amount of Curse when hit by Constrict. This change was suggested by a friend to give The Test Subject a small amount of control when choosing targets and managing Curse meters.

Whispering Gates are based around an important plot point from Stranger Things Season 4, and give The Test Subject a form of map mobility, albeit one that he has only some control over.

Whispering Gates are only created when The Test Subject injures or downs a Survivor while they’re Constricted. This not only incentivizes The Test Subject to use his Power, but also to potentially plan where he wants to bind and hit a Survivor.

Hypothetically, there’s no limit to the number of Whispering Gates The Test Subject can have available at any time. I went back and forth on this, but given that Gates are only created in specific instances, and that they’re single use, I don’t think this is a problem in terms of balance.

In my mind, teleporting to Whispering Gates is virtually instant. They can be accessed from anywhere while The Test Subject channels Constrict, a map-wide sound will play, and he will appear at the Gate. I imagine Emerging from a Gate to be quite fast too, though more comparable to The Demogorgon and how he crawls out of portals. There’s an animation and it’s not instant, but it is decently quick.

Also like The Demogorgon, The Test Subject gains the Undetectable Status Effect for a few seconds after Emerging from a Whispering Gate to potentially get the jump on unsuspecting Survivors.

Whispering Gates are invisible to Survivors partially for stealth purposes on behalf of the Killer, but also so that Survivors are unable to close them. Given that each unique Gate can only be teleported to once, giving Survivors the ability to seal them felt unfair.

Since Whispering Gates are invisible to Survivors, it’s up to them to remember where they may have been created and play accordingly. To assist in this, Whispering Gates make omnidirectional sounds when Survivors are nearby, giving them the information that a Gate is close, but not exactly where.

Vecna’s Curse was the crux of this Killer concept, since it’s the most prevalent of Vecna’s abilities in Season 4. In essence, the ability can be thought of as a combination of The Nightmare’s Micro-Sleep and The Executioner’s Torment and Cages of Atonement.

In my mind, the meter representing a Survivor’s Curse progress is similar to most Killer Power’s meters, in that it slowly fills in a circle around a Survivor’s portrait. I imagine it looks like a wriggling tendril wrapping in a circle. Upon reaching max Curse and becoming Doomed, the tendril becomes tinted red and might wriggle more erratically, similarly to The Mastermind's infection.

Survivors gain Curse passively so that The Test Subject always has a small amount of pressure. The penalties for becoming Doomed are strong, but not so oppressive that it’s unable to be managed by Survivors.

Cursed Survivors experiencing hallucinations is primarily a way to tie gameplay closer to the show, but also gives Survivors suffering from Vecna’s Curse some effects to deal with prior to becoming Doomed. Hallucinations function similarly to The Doctor’s hallucinations and are meant to make things just a little less easy for Survivors.

Cursed Survivors may experience hallucinations of grandfather clocks at Pallet spawns, effectively replacing Pallets. This means that a grandfather clock could spawn in place of an upright Pallet, a broken Pallet, or even in a place where there was no Pallet. However, dropped Pallets will always appear as dropped Pallets. Like with The Doctor, these hallucinations fade when a Survivor comes within a certain distance of them.

Cursed Survivors may also hear clock chimes that sound randomly. In addition, Skill Check warning sounds are randomly replaced with clock chimes. The idea behind this is so that Survivors will be caught off guard when a clock chimes. They won’t know if the chime indicates a Skill Check or if it’s just a random chime. Theoretically, this makes doing generators less easy and requires more focus.

As a Survivor's Curse meter increases, so do the hallucinations they experience. More grandfather clocks appear in place of Pallets and more clock chimes sound in place of Skill Checks. I like to think that when a Survivor becomes Doomed, the amount of clock chimes they hear matches up perfectly with The Test Subject’s Terror Radius/Chase music, flowing seamlessly into one another.

A Survivor’s passive Curse gain is decreased while in Chase with The Test Subject. This decrease is exponential-- if a Survivor in Chase has a low level of Curse, the decrease is very miniscule. However, a Survivor with a high level of Curse will gain much less passively while in Chase, eventually stopping completely. In both situations, this mechanic incentivizes The Test Subject to use his Power to increase the Curse of Survivors with low meters, and fully Curse Survivors with high meters.

A Survivor’s Curse meter maxes out after 60 passive, uninterrupted seconds. This is based mostly off of The Nightmare’s Micro-Sleep, since it feels like a good comparison. However, this timer is very fluid and is altered by a number of things, including being in Chase, being hit with Constrict, and other Survivors being Suspended. The exact amount of time it takes to become Doomed can vary greatly.

Curse meters are hidden for Survivors. Since they can’t see the exact amount of Curse they have, they need to use their best judgment and gauge their levels of Curse based on the hallucinations they experience. This makes managing their Curse more tricky-- using a Radio too soon could impact its cooldown time, but waiting too long will result in a Survivor becoming Doomed.

When a Survivor becomes Doomed, their screen becomes tinted red. It’s a more subtle effect than a lot of other Killer abilities that affect Survivors, like Plague’s Vile Purge for example. It’s really only there to signify a change in Curse states, and that their Aura is being shown to The Test Subject.

Doomed Survivors have their Auras permanently revealed to The Test Subject. I went back and forth between this idea and making Doomed Survivors suffer from the Exposed Status Effect. I decided that a semi-permanent Exposed primarily earned passively was a little too strong, so I went with Aura reading instead. Information is still very strong, but it doesn’t guarantee quite as much free pressure or lethality. I revisited this idea in one of Suffering Mind's add-ons, which I think is interesting.

The Suspend mechanic is very similar to The Executioner’s Cages of Atonement: Suspended Survivors lose a hook state, hook-related perks and effects don’t activate, and their Curse meter is reset. However, Survivors are not moved across the map when they’re Suspended, and instead hover at the spot where the action was performed.

When a Survivor is Suspended, the Curse meters of all other Survivors decrease. This is so Survivors get a little breathing room when this action occurs, and so that The Test Subject isn’t running around Suspending every Survivor he encounters.

While a Survivor is Suspended, Survivors do not passively gain Curse. This not only incentivizes The Test Subject to leave the Suspended Survivor, but also gives Survivors a chance to manage their own Curse meters. They might decide to use this opportunity to use a Radio, or occupy the Killer for a long time.

When a Suspended Survivor is rescued, the rescuer’s Curse meter increases. This incentivizes The Test Subject to go after them as opposed to the Survivor who was rescued. Given that Suspending a Survivor first lowers and then pauses all other Survivors’ Curse meters, I imagine this increase is somewhat substantial.

Doomed Survivors are unaffected by the Suspension of other Survivors. Because their meters are maxed out, they do not increase, decrease, or pause when a Survivor is Suspended or rescued from Suspension. Doomed Survivors must rely on Radios to reset their Curse meters, or be Suspended themselves.

The Test Subject can kill Doomed Survivors in the dying state with the End Suffering action if they’re on their final hook. This is similar to The Executioner’s Final Judgment ability, but also functions similarly to The Onryō’s ability to kill Condemned Survivors, in that while the Mori animation plays out on the Survivor’s end, The Test Subject isn’t locked into the animation and can leave.

Four (4) Radios spawn around the map, and their Auras are revealed to Cursed and Doomed Survivors. These function very similarly to clocks that spawn when playing against The Nightmare, as they reset a Survivor’s Curse meter and pause it for 30 seconds. The Auras being shown to Survivors prior to reaching max Curse is meant to give some strategic value to the Radios, particularly since Survivors can’t see exactly how Cursed they are. It allows them to think, there’s a Radio over there, should I use it now or later?

At the start of a Trial, Radios are disabled for 70 seconds after being used. Each consecutive time a Radio is used, it takes an additional 10 seconds to come back online. This makes Radios less reliable as the Trial goes on, and Vecna’s Curse slowly becomes more dangerous. Survivors have to exercise caution when using Radios, since overusing them will make them harder to use later in the Trial.

Most Suffering Mind add-ons focus on Constrict, since that’s the part of The Test Subject’s Power he has the most control over and would be using most often. There are also a decent amount of add-ons that affect how his Whispering Gates work and when they spawn. I didn’t want there to be many add-ons affecting Vecna's Curse, since it’s a mostly passive ability, so those changes are reserved for a few of the stronger add-ons.

The “meme” add-on, D20, weakens Constrict so that Survivors aren’t rooted, but suffer from Hindered for 7 seconds. Given that The Test Subject is slowed while charging Constrict, this basically does nothing, hence being a meme add-on. I originally thought it might be funny to make it Hinder for 1-20 seconds randomly, but being slowed for longer than 10 seconds felt like a bit much. Additionally, despite no longer rooting Survivors, hitting a Survivor affected by Hindered in this way will still create a Whispering Gate so that The Test Subject can still use this part of his power.

Add-ons that increase Constrict’s travel speed, Rainbow Bevel and Twisted Rabbit, make the tendril fly faster by 10% and 20% respectively. I imagine these to be strong once you get used to the timing, but difficult to learn or unlearn, similar to The Huntress’ hatchet speed add-ons.

Add-ons that decrease Constrict’s cooldown, Mother’s Lipstick and Dark Particles, are mostly there because they sound like standard Dead by Daylight add-ons. Everyone has a cooldown add-on. That said, these add-ons bring The Test Subject’s cooldown closer to The Cenobite’s cooldown, so he can use it more actively.

Orderly Garb increases The Test Subject’s move speed by 4% while channeling Constrict. This makes holding Constrict less punishing, and helps to make up for the decrease in speed while channeling his Power.

Clipped Wing gives The Test Subject 5 seconds of Haste after Emerging from a Whispering Gate. This makes his quick teleporting ability even faster, potentially allowing him to catch up to an unsuspecting Survivor close by.

Eddie’s Jacket increases the amount of Curse added to a Survivor’s Curse meter by 2 seconds on top of the base amount added when a Survivor is Constricted. This is the only add-on that affects this part of The Test Subject’s kit, and given it takes 60 seconds passively to reach full Curse, doesn’t sound that strong. However, that little amount can quickly add up if The Test Subject hits multiple consecutive Constricts.

Hellfire Patch forwards the Curse meters of nearby Survivors by 10 seconds when Emerging from a Whispering Gate. It only applies to Survivors within 16 meters, and since Whispering Gates make a sound, albeit an omnidirectional one, it’s really on the Survivors to play around his Gates to avoid obtaining this extra Curse.

Add-Ons like Obedience Collar and Father’s Razor only apply Status Effects when a Survivor is hit while Constricted. These are meant to encourage The Test Subject to use Constrict and follow up on his targets.

Chrissy’s Hair Tie increases the Curse meters of injured Survivors by 15 seconds when they’re healed by a Doomed Survivor. This add-on forces Doomed Survivors into a tough position, where playing altruistically can severely impact the team. It’s one of the handful of add-ons that makes Vecna’s Curse a little more threatening.

Crimson Roller-Skate Exhausts Survivors when Constricted. This differs from Obedience Collar and Father’s Razor because The Test Subject doesn’t need to hit the Survivor while Constricted. The purpose of this add-on is to potentially shut down some cheeky Exhaustion perk plays, like sitting on a Generator with Sprint Burst.

Flashing Light-Board reveals the Auras of Survivors nearby a Constricted Survivor. This is mostly for cheeky “how did he know I was there?!” moments, but can potentially provide some decent information as a reward for hitting a Constrict shot.

Jar of Spiders inflicts Survivors who successfully complete the Writhe action with Hindered for a short period. The purpose of this add-on is to give The Test Subject a little extra time to catch a Survivor if they escape from his grasp. He won’t be able to open up a Whispering Gate, but he can still secure a hit.

Charcoal Drawing creates a Whispering Gate close to the hook when hooking a Survivor, but also increases the time it takes for The Test Subject to Emerge from all Gates. This add-on makes him very efficient at monitoring hooks, but the slower Emerging time should theoretically give Survivors enough time to leave if they don’t wait around after an unhook. It’s a powerful add-on for sure, but effectively nerfs his teleportation for the duration of the Trial.

Damaged Walkman prevents Survivors from seeing the Auras of Radios until they become Doomed, and additionally reveals the Auras of Survivors who use Radios for 8 seconds. This add-on was mainly designed to prevent Survivors from removing their Curse early. Because Doomed Survivors are always revealed to The Test Subject, it theoretically also provides longer Aura reading and additional information on Survivor whereabouts. It's sort of a double-edged sword, since it makes it harder for Survivors to overuse and lock themselves out of Radios.

Stained Glass Rose makes Whispering Gates silent, and grants Killer Instinct on Survivors within 24 meters when Emerging from them. This add-on mostly exists to create synergies with other add-ons, particularly with the silencing of Gates. In theory, both the effects make The Test Subject a stealthier Killer, able to appear anywhere without the Survivors knowing, and giving him a better idea of where to go after Emerging.

As one of Suffering Mind's Visceral add-ons, Iridescent Tattoo changes up how Vecna's Curse affects Survivors. Instead of having their Auras revealed to The Test Subject, Doomed Survivors become Exposed instead. This add-on fundamentally changes how Survivors play against The Test Subject, giving him passive lethality instead of constant information.

Shattered Clock is Suffering Mind's other Visceral add-on, and creates Whispering Gates at a Survivor’s location when they become Doomed. This add-on creates another layer of challenge for Survivors when managing their Curse, since becoming Doomed creates a one-way portal directly to them.

When I initially started this project, I completely forgot to write out a design notes section for The Test Subject's perks, so the following notes aren't as in-depth as I wish they were, but hopefully still offer some insight into my design process.

Hivemind is a fairly straightforward information perk, activating each time a Generator is completed. For 6 seconds, the repair progress of Generators is shown to The Test Subject through the intensity of their Auras. As a bonus, any Survivor working on a Generator during this time becomes Oblivious. These combined effects give The Test Subject an idea of where to go next, and a better shot at catching Survivors off-guard. It's not the most exciting perk, but I like it for what it is.

Echoing Ravage briefly Exposes Survivors in The Test Subject's Terror Radius after breaking a Pallet of Breakable Wall. It's a pretty standard design for a Dead by Daylight perk, and could potentially synergize with perks like Spirit Fury, THWACK!, and lots of others.

Scourge Hook: Converging Panic is both a Scourge Hook perk and an Obsession perk. When a Survivor unhooks another Survivor from a Scourge Hook, they become the Obsession, and suffer from the Oblivious and Blindness Status Effects for 30 seconds. For a short duration afterwards, any Survivor who comes close to the newly-created Obsession also experiences these debuffs, including the unhooked Survivor. This perk turns the Obsession into someone other Survivors want to avoid, lest they become vulnerable to sneak attacks.

The real appeal of Scourge Hook: Converging Panic is that hooking the Obsession always activates Scourge Hook perks, regardless of the hook. The perk incentivizes the Killer to chase the new Obsession rather than go after the unhooked Survivor so they can constantly reactivate any Scourge Hook perks they have equipped.

Initially, Scourge Hook: Converging Panic was called Spreading Influence, and its only effect was that hooking the Obsession always counted as a Scourge Hook, and that unhooking a Survivor would change the Obsession. Because it didn't really DO anything on its own, I redeveloped it with a new effect, and made it a Scourge Hook perk so it could still find value when not hooking the Obsession.

I wanted to create a Scourge Hook perk that allowed normal hooks to be treated as Scourge Hooks somehow, but I wasn't sure how to best DO that. I thought having every hook count as a Scourge Hook would be too strong, as would being able to create new Scourge Hooks, so I went with an Obsession angle instead. The ability to create Scourge Hooks was eventually added with The Houndmaster's Scourge Hook: Jagged Compass, so I guess I was on the right track.

I really haven't put much thought into perk icons. I could see Hivemind's icon being Vecna leering over a Generator. Echoing Ravage may resemble Vecna's hovering, potentially with action lines or tendrils coming off him. Scourge Hook: Converging Panic would have both the Scourge Hook and Obsession icons, with someone screaming in the middle. Maybe Eddie Munson, since the perk quotes him?

Published this site! Hooray! :)

The stealth time required to activate Afterimage is now 30 seconds, down from 40 seconds. Additionally, the created Aura now persists for 120 seconds, or until revealed by the Killer, up from 80 seconds. These changes should make Afterimage easier to use, and give Survivors more time to get value and potentially fool the Killer.

Breakthrough now heals 70% instead of 50% of a full heal. This brings it in line with Resurgence after its buff in 8.1.0.

Saving Throw now functions similarly to Gabriel Soma’s perk Scavenger, allowing the acquisition of a Commodious Toolbox via rummaging. This change enables the perk to be used without Survivors needing to bring a Toolbox into the Trial.

Walkie Talkie’s repair requirement has been decreased from 50% to 40%, making it the same as other perks with this requirement, such as Blast Mine or Flashbang.

Reconnaissance’s numbers have been fine-tuned, its duration going from 15 seconds to 16 seconds. This should make it a slightly more enticing option.

Shutout now causes Exhaustion for 30 seconds, down from 40 seconds. Blocking a window is a strong effect, but I’m unsure whether it should cause Exhaustion for the standard length of 40 seconds. Perks like Smash Hit and Background Player cause Exhaustion for 20 seconds, but that doesn’t feel like long enough for Shutout. 30 seconds seems like a good middle ground.

Tactical Error’s bonus repair speed has been decreased from 20% to 16%. This is still a strong effect, but is slightly less punishing to Killers during the carry phase.

Boon: Proficiency Bonus is now Invocation: Proficiency Bonus. These concepts were created before Invocation perks were a thing, and I now think the effects tied to this perk are more fitting of an Invocation than a Boon.

Invocation: Proficiency Bonus now recharges Items held by Survivors, but no longer grants bonus Skill Check progression.

Rule Breaker now allows Survivors to vault blocked Windows, as opposed to preventing Windows from becoming blocked. Additionally, the perk now applies to blocked Pallets as well as Windows. These changes give the perk more opportunities to shine.

Various Killer add-on number tweaks, syntax fixes, wording changes, and other small edits made across the project.

The Weakened Status Effect has been renamed to Impaired. This is to avoid confusion with The Unknown’s unique affliction of the same name introduced in 7.6.0.

The Lich's title has been changed to The Test Subject, following the addition of The Lich from the Dungeons and Dragons Chapter. I’m really disappointed to have to differentiate it, and I'm not thrilled with the new title, so it may change again in the future.

Superhero now inflicts a -10% Hindered effect, up from -7%, and its effects last for an additional second. These changes bring the perk more in line with Alan Wake’s Champion of Light introduced in 7.5.0. To compensate for these buffs, the perk has been given a standard cooldown.

Initiative now additionally reveals the Killer’s Aura to the Survivor(s) performing the healing action. This gives healing Survivors the same information as the Survivor being healed, so they can react accordingly.

With the addition of the Anti-Camping feature, Abstraction’s effects have been altered to compliment the mechanic and make camping even more difficult. Its range is no longer static, and instead increases slowly while hooked, giving Survivors a better chance of saving against a camping Killer.

Chromatic Aberration now has a cooldown of 40 seconds, up from 30 seconds. Additionally, it now blinds for an additional 0.5 seconds, down from 1 second. I feel that this perk remains strong regardless of these changes, particularly if combined with certain perks or items.

Afterimage now activates after hiding in the Killer’s Terror Radius for 40 seconds, down from 60. The perk’s effect isn’t terribly strong, but this change gives Survivors more opportunities to utilize it.

Walkie Talkie’s repair requirement has been decreased from 75% to 50%, making it the same as other perks with this requirement, such as Blast Mine or Flashbang. Because the perk is easier to earn, it can now be used for a total of 8 seconds, down from 9.

Reconnaissance now reveals the Killer’s Aura for 15 seconds, up from 12. This reward makes the perk slightly more appealing, encouraging Survivors to prioritize highlighted Generators.

Removed the stipulation that Survivors cannot vault Windows affected by Shutout. This same mechanic has been showcased during the Twisted Masquerade event, and prevents the perk from being used to intentionally sandbag other Survivors.

Decryption now increases Skill Check trigger odds by 10%, down from 20%. This puts the perk on the same level as other perks like Alan Wake’s Deadline, offering a similar effect with different requirements and bonuses.

Boon: Holly Jolly has been given new effects to differentiate it from Alan Wake’s perk Boon: Illumination introduced in 7.5.0. Instead of revealing the Auras of Generators and Exit Gates, Boon: Holly Jolly now reveals Survivor Auras and the Killer’s Aura upon first entering the Boon’s radius.

After changes to Made For This, some of the changes to Push Through It made in 1.5 have been partially reverted. Push Through It now retains its 0.5/1/1.5% Haste per Token, but activates regardless of health state. Its altruistic healing bonus has been reverted from 25% to 10%.

The Test Subject’s Iridescent Tattoo add-on now inflicts Doomed Survivors with Exposed instead of Incapacitated. This effect is less unique, but probably healthier than an add-on that completely prevents a Survivor from completing Generators.

Unforgiving Rage now activates 3 seconds after being stunned, down from 4. This puts the perk more in line with Dissolution, offering a similar but more flexible effect, while still giving cognizant Survivors enough time to make distance after a successful stun.

Zoomer no longer loses progress towards the next Token when a health state is lost, but instead only when put into the dying state. This change makes it easier to regain Tokens while fully healed, but still remains something of a challenge while injured.

Clumsy Getaway’s effects have been altered so that it stands out from Ellen Ripley’s perk Light Footed introduced in 7.2.0. Prior to this change, the perk slightly reduced the volume of footsteps and spawned Scratch Marks further apart. The updated version of this perk still does these things, but it feels more impactful and unique.

Overprotective now affects Survivors within 16 meters, down from 24 meters. Potentially an unnecessary change, but it feels more in line with other perks of this type.

Push Through It now grants 0.5/1/1.5% Haste per Token, down from 1/1.5/2%, and is now granted while Healthy as opposed to being Injured. To compensate, the altruistic healing bonus granted to other Survivors has been changed to a flat 25%, instead of 10% per Token.

Removed the stipulation that a Survivor needs to be empty-handed to craft items using the perks Walkie Talkie and Wrist-Rocket. This change is in line with the Limited Items change in Patch 7.0.0.

The Very Rare Sauna Key add-on for E Pluribus Unum now inflicts Broken for 60 seconds. This add-on previously inflicted Exposed for 20 seconds, but Exposed is a status effect so far reserved for Ultra Rare add-ons, so I decided to give it another effect with a longer duration.

Maternal Instinct grants increased movement speed for the rescued Survivor for 5 seconds, up from 3 seconds. This change makes it a better anti-tunneling perk, further encouraging the Killer to ignore the unhooked Survivor.

Following the removal of Killer-specific light interactions in the 6.7.0 patch, Survivors can no longer shine a Flashlight on Survivors to remove their Flayed status.

Cruel Spectacle now applies the Broken Status Effect to injured Survivors when a Survivor is unhooked instead of when being hooked. Prior to this change, this perk could make saving against camping Killers virtually impossible. The perk still retains its pressure against organizing a heal, but is far less oppressive regarding hook saves.

Cruel Spectacle’s effects now last for 20 seconds, down from 30 seconds. This perk has no cooldown, and given how frequently Survivors are hooked and unhooked during a game, I feel comfortable reducing the perk’s effectiveness slightly.

Orderly Garb grants a 4% movement speed bonus while channeling Constrict, down from 5%. This is a negligible change, but with 5%, this add-on is identical to The Huntress' Shiny Pin add-on, which is uncommon. Orderly Garb is common, so it should have a lower value.

Various syntax fixes, wording changes, and other small edits made across the project.

Jar of Spiders inflicts Survivors who complete the Writhe action with Hindered for 4 seconds, down from 7 seconds.

Echoing Ravage now inflicts Exposed for slightly longer, but retains its longer cooldown. This change brings it closer in line with The Knight’s Hubris perk, which is conceptually similar, but lies more in the hands of Survivors than the Killer.

Renamed the scoring event for when Survivors become Doomed from NOWHERE TO HIDE to IT’S TIME… due to the addition of The Knight’s perk of the same name.

While a Survivor is Suspended, passive Curse gain for all other Survivors is paused.

Doomed Survivors can only reset their meters and cannot be decreased, increased, or otherwise altered. They must use Radios or be Suspended to remove and reset their Curse.

Reduced the starting time Radios are disabled from 90 to 70 seconds.

Shattered Clock no longer inflicts Exposed for 16 seconds when a Survivor becomes Doomed. Now creates Whispering Gates at a Survivor’s location when they become Doomed.

Renamed Spreading Influence to Scourge Hook: Converging Panic and gave it a new effect.

The Writhe action now takes longer to complete the further a Constrict tendril travels before hitting a Survivor.

Doomed Survivors are no longer Constricted for longer by default.

Survivors now gain a small amount of Curse when Constricted.

Passive Curse gain while in chase decreases exponentially based on how Cursed a Survivor is, and will completely stop for Survivors very close to max Curse.

Eddie’s Jacket no longer grants Killer Instinct when emerging from Whispering Gates. Now increases the amount of Curse given when Constricting a Survivor.

Charcoal Drawing decreases the speed at which The Test Subject emerges from Whispering Gates by 25%.

Stained Glass Rose no longer decreases the time it takes to emerge from Whispering Gates. Now grants Killer Instinct when emerging.

In general, I approached these concepts more from a Stranger Things standpoint than a Dead by Daylight standpoint-- many of the perk ideas came from iconic quotes spoken by each character, and were given effects that fit their personality, talents, etc. Obviously the idea was to create hypothetical but realistic perks and mechanics for the game, but if something seems a little unbalanced or uncharacteristic for Dead by Daylight, that’s likely the reason.

This project was initially two separate parts-- a Chapter 2 concept, including Joyce, Hopper, and Vecna, later followed by an Expansion Pack concept. The idea behind this additional concept was to create hypothetical Dead by Daylight loadouts for the rest of the Stranger Things cast, including the kids. Realistically, these characters aren’t old enough to become playable in Dead by Daylight, but I feel justified including them regardless. By the events of Season 4, the younger characters are in their teens, and many of the actors who portray these characters are 18 or older. Additionally, given how Stranger Things treats teenagers on the show (see: Chrissy, Fred, Max), I feel okay with theoretically including these characters in Dead by Daylight. There are in-game exceptions-- Laurie, Quentin, as well as Steve and Nancy-- but it's a fine line. My only major concern regarding these characters is their exposure to certain Killer Moris-- I don’t love the idea of The Hag ripping out Dustin’s insides, for example. Moreover, the only "main" character I left out was Erica, as she’s clearly too young to be in a horror game, even hypothetically.

I didn’t include Argyle in this concept, though I probably should have. Similar to Eddie Munson, Argyle only appears in Season 4, and while he’s certainly a major character, he takes a backseat compared to the rest of the main cast. I could have also made concepts for Karen Wheeler, Bob Newby, and maybe some others as well, but I think I got the most important characters. If nothing else, these characters could appear as Legendary cosmetics for another character.

The original links to my CHAPTER 2 and EXPANSION PACK concepts can be found here.

I am obviously not affiliated with Behaviour Interactive, Dead by Daylight, Netflix, or Stranger Things. As such, they retain all rights to their intellectual properties. This is a project I've developed for fun, not for profit.

Icons and backgrounds for portraits, perks, add-ons were sourced from the Ultimate Dead by Daylight Assets Collection. Thanks!