We got the exclusive chance to talk to some of the Dead by Daylight devs over at Behaviour about the upcoming Alien chapter. Stay tuned to see what we found out!
The new Alien Chapter is coming to DbD on August 29, 2023, and we at EarlyGame were lucky enough to get the opportunity to interview some of the developers that worked on this chapter.
Hang tight folks, I think we were able to squeeze out some juicy information. If you love Dead by Daylight just as much as I do, I'm sure you'll be just as excited by what we found out!
Dead By Daylight Interview: Everything About The New Alien Chapter
We had the chance to talk to Mathieu Cote, game director of Dead by Daylight, and Janick Neveu, senior game designer for Dead by Daylight, shortly after the Alien PTB had gone live for players to test out.
The response from the DbD community was insane, with players once again extremely excited to play the new killer, The Xenomorph, check out the new map and play one of the most iconic characters of the Alien franchise, Ellen Ripley.
But of course, as always, this chapter did bring up quite a few interesting questions, and since we were able to ask directly at the source, we dug out some interesting answers for you guys!
If you want to check out the new chapter for yourself, take a look at the official trailer:
What Inspired This Chapter
Of course, we had to begin by find out what inspired the creation of this chapter. I mean, the Alien franchise is huge. With 6 movies (not counting the Alien vs Predator movies), a web series, a new Alien movie coming out next year and a many Alien games already out, what do you focus on?
Well, that's exactly what we asked Mathieu and Janick. Mathieu answered that "[...]as usual when we do a license, we always try to go for the most original version. There is a lot of really cool stuff throughout the franchise, but for us the main things that we tried to recreate [were] the sort of iconic moments, the location. We were mostly inspired by the first [movie]."
Why Ellen Ripley Doesn't Look Like Sigourney Weaver
Obviously, ever since we saw Ellen Ripley's character model as a survivor, and especially since we got that answer from the devs, we were wondering why we will not be seeing Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Dead by Daylight, like we see, for example, Nick Cage in the game (I still can't believe that Nick Cage is in DbD, how wild is that?).
Because Sigourney Weaver is just incredibly iconic in this role, and for most fans of the Alien franchise, their minds will probably immediately go to her when they think of Ellen Ripley.
While we don't know if it was ever up for discussion whether Sigourney Weaver could have been involved in the creation of the character because of NDAs and all that fun stuff, we do know that the devs of DbD tried their best to capture her essence from the movies.
Mathieu added that while he can't go into detail about the process, for confidentiality reasons, he could tell us this much:
We always aim to be as close as possible to the original source material. That's always our goal. But in this case, we are telling a story about Ripley. Not about Sigourney Weaver. And we were able to create a Ripley that felt right in the world of Dead by Daylight. We're very happy with the result that we have.
What Powers The Xenomorph Almost Had
As we all know, the Alien franchise spans across quite a bit a material. So choosing what powers The Xenomorph should have, was definitely not a linear process.
Luckily, Janick gave us a little sneak peek into what abilities The Xenomorph almost had. Honestly, from a survivor perspective, I'm glad they didn't go through with it. But just speaking as a fan... man, what a shame.
Janick told us that at the beginning of the design process, the team obviously wanted to create a killer that feels new and exciting to play. He explained:
"[...] originally, we pitched the idea of crawling on walls. Like it's something we explored, but it was turned off quite quickly. Just because of the sheer amount of work it would have involved because our game is not built that way, right, our killer walks on a plane and it's very solid that way. But as soon as we try to play with that, it becomes very fragile."
Possibly because of Spaghetti Code, but who knows, right?
Honestly, from a survivor perspective, I'm glad they didn't go through with it, because that probably would have been terrifying. Still, what a shame it didn't make it to the game.
Demogorgon Is Alien's Daddy (Sort Of)
Now, before you attack me, because this makes no sense lorewise, trust me... I know that. What I mean is that Demogorgon's portals are basically a precursor to Alien's tunnel system, at least from a technical standpoint.
For me, as soon as I saw The Xenomorph's tunnel system, that he can crawl through and access via Control Stations, it felt very similar to The Demogorgon's portals.
Of course, they look completely different. Whereas Demo sort of swooshes through darkness under the map from one portal to the next, The Xenomorph has this crazy winding tunnel system, which it can actively crawl through to get from one Control Station to the next.
Now, here's where it gets interesting. As Mathieu and Janick told us multiple times throughout the interview, the development team had lacked the necessary technology and expertise earlier on in Dead by Daylight's existence to bring Alien to the game, at least if they wanted to do the character justice.
So, even though Alien has always been one of the licensed killers at the top of the team's list, that they wanted to bring to DbD, they wouldn't have been able to bring Alien to the game without having to cut quite a few corners.
But what does this have to do with the Demogorgon? Well, probably more than you think. You see, when we asked whether it was intentional to have Alien's tunnel system feel similar to the Demogorgon's portals, Janick told us that they had this idea for a tunnel system like we see today, even back when they created the Demogorgon.
And while they wanted to have it also be able to "navigate into this [different] dimension", they lacked the "manpower and the technology to create that instance."
I don't know about you, but I would really like to see how they would create the dimension the Demogorgon travels through today.
Then Janick went on to explain that "each killer brings us something new to our game and on the tech side, it can be reused later and expanded and that's why we now can have the tunnel system [for The Xenomorph], so that the Demogorgon is kind of like the infant baby of this mechanic."
Basically, the Xenomorph's tunnels are the new and improved version of Demogorgon's ability to traverse through the Upside Down.
So guys, whenever you miss Demogorgon, remember that there is a little bit of our Demo in Xenomorph. Isn't that nice?
We Might See More Four-Legged Killers In The Future
Speaking of reusing technology for future killers, what about The Xenomorph's Runner Mode aka. Crawler Mode?
| Nice little fun-fact, The Xenomorph's Runner Mode is going to be changed to Crawler Mode when it officially releases, to avoid confusion. |
Since the Xenomorph is the first killer to not be fully bipedal, what could this mean for future killers? When it enters its Crawler Mode, the killer gets on all fours and scurries around the map in a way we have never seen before in a killer.
There's a pretty simple answer as to why we've never seen a four legged killer before, and that's because of the amount of work that was needed to implement this possibility.
Apparently, there was an entire team dedicated to only working on making The Xenomorph's Crawler mode, and "It was the only thing that they worked on for several months", according to Janick.
Due to this massive amount of work, just for the movement of the killer, this wasn't something that the DbD team could just easily implement, or even afford to do. But, thanks to Alien, we've finally gotten what many had hoped for, it seems, since Mathieu also added:
And the good thing, if you can call it that, is that Alien was so big that it was a good justification for us to put all of that effort into creating that.
So since we already know that elements from other killers are reused for new killers, why wouldn't they reuse The Xenomorph's locomotion for other killers? I mean, this took them months, so why let all this effort go unused again, right?
And to me, it seems as though the DbD devs have already thought about bringing four-legged killers to the game, but hadn't found a project that was big enough to justify the incredible manpower necessary to create that.
If I may take a humble educated guess: I'd say we'll be getting new four legged killers in the future. Maybe not this year, but possibly next year? Why let this ability go to waste, when this opens the door for many new, unique killers?
Reasons Why The Nostromo Isn't An Indoor Map
Most fans of the Alien franchise have probably already asked themselves: Why isn't the Nostromo an indoor map? Since we already know that the team behind DbD likes to mostly take inspiration from the first installations of a franchise, why aren't we playing on board the Nostromo in space?
Well, when we asked Mathieu and Janick, they gave us multiple reasons why we're playing on the Nostromo Wreckage, instead of on the Nostromo.
From a lore perspective, Mathieu told us:
"Whenever the Entity creates things in the lore of Dead by Daylight, it is never the thing, right? It's always plucked from the memories and the thoughts and the dreams and fears of the people that have been brought into the world of the entity, and therefore it's always a representation of the thing rather than the thing itself. It's a dream or a nightmare about the Nostromo."
So, the Nostromo Wreckage is basically Ellen Ripley's nightmare come to life. Pretty cool, right?
And from a game design perspective, we were told that the reason why the map is an outdoor map is not only because outdoor maps are more popular than indoor maps among players, but because the corridors of the original Nostromo are very tight, which could lead to a very unfair und unplayable map. Just like the RPD map was, when it was first released.
So, instead of making a replica of the Nostromo, they decided to make it as playable as possible, while also adding plenty of Easter Eggs to let fans enjoy parts of the original Nostromo.
Why Facehuggers Aren't A Part Of The Xenomorph's Powers
If you've watched the Alien movies, then you're familiar with the Facehuggers, little parasidic aliens that look for hosts to implant them with Alien embryos by attaching themselves to the host's face, hence the name.
While the first Facehugger made its apperance in the first Alien movie, they play a bigger role in later movies. Now, since DbD devs like to focus on the first installation of a franchise, it may seem unlikely that Facehuggers could have played a role in The Xenomorphs powers, but since they are such an iconic part of the franchise, we wanted to know if it was ever possible, that they could have been in the game.
To that Janick answered, "we thought about [it]. But many of us are fans of the franchise, and myself included, and I could not see the life cycle of the creature working in our game [...]. Just a little nod, but: If you look at the singularity cycle power, that was a little nod to the life cycle of the alien."
In the end, the complexity of the creature's life cycle was its own demise and stopped it from becoming an element in Dead by Daylight. But, should you not already know, there is a Facehugger Easter egg hidden aboard the Nostromo, so keep an eye out for that!
Survivors Could Potentially Fight Back More Against Killers In The Future
Another interesting thing that Janick and Mathieu mentioned were the Remote Flame Turrets that the survivors have to use in order to get The Xenomorph out of its Crawler Mode.
Now, if you aren't already familiar with them, the Remote Flame Turrets can be grabbed from the Control Points The Xenomorph uses, and proped down on the ground. Once activated, if The Xenomorph runs within the Turrets range and its vision, it will be blasted with fire to take it out of its Crawler Mode!
This is the first time that we have a tool that survivors can use to fight back against the killer, which is pretty exciting. But will we be seeing something similar in the future?
Well, as Mathieu summed up quite well:"The killers are absolutely powerful.The survivors are hopeless." I mean, that's the whole point of the game, right? So in order to keep this "balance", obviously, not every new killer will be introduced with a counter-weapon like we see with The Xenomorph.
The reason there is this weapon, that can be used against The Xenomorph, is, as Janick added, "because this creature is so strong compared to everything [else] that even exists in our game." I mean, imagine the Trapper versus Alien... it's pretty easy to guess who would win in that fight.
So the only way you can survive it realistically is with the help of a weapon, which is also seen in the licensed franchise.
Does this mean we will see more weapons in the future for survivors to use? Well, I think that's a hard maybe.
We definitely won't be seeing weapons often, but I think if we will be seeing weapons against killers, it will be against licensed killers, since these weapons are merely used to balance the powers of the killer out.
If it's accurate according to the lore, and helps to make the killer more balanced, I don't see why we wouldn't get another killer that can be fought with a weapon.
But, it didn't seem like this will be something that will be used often, and I definitely don't think we will be seeing weapons against original killers from Dead by Daylight, as their powers are easier to balance out even without weapons, as there is no definitiv source material they have to work with.
I'm really glad that we got this opportunity to talk to the devs about the upcoming Alien chapter! I hope you learned something new about Dead by Daylight and hopefully you'll enjoy the new chapter. I definitely can't wait to play it!