5 Ways Dead By Daylight is Faithfully Adapting Alien

Introduction: Iconic Characters, Iconic Gameplay 

One of the best aspects of Behaviour Interactive’s isometric horror game, Dead By Daylight, is its ability to include licensed content in the game. Of course, they have already pulled off some iconic horror integrations. For instance, Dead By Daylight already has, killers like Halloween’s Michael Myers, Stranger Things’ Demogorgan, and even Hellraiser’s Pinhead. Importantly, the game rarely compromises the feeling and aesthetic of the character they adopt into the game. Now, with the recently finished player test build for the Alien chapter, it’s safe to say they are faithfully adapting the iconic Xenomorph into the realms of Dead By Daylight. 

Of course, the game has lore and touches upon how each character ends up in the game. However, the most faithful way that Dead By Daylight adapts its characters is through design and gameplay. When it comes to the Xenomorph, they pulled no punches in creating an authentic feeling alien to stalk survivors through the fog. From the Xenomorph’s character design to its unique gameplay, and more. Remember, in the fog, no one can hear you scream. So without further ado here are five ways Dead By Daylight has faithfully adapted the iconic Alien.

1. An Accurate Design 

Of course, the Xenomorph is a horror icon. With its distinct features, it is able to embody horror in a truly visceral way. Importantly, Dead By Daylight manages to integrate the Xenomorph’s likeness into the game in a terrifyingly accurate way. Its coloring, its movements, and more. 

For instance, players can watch the creature at its full height, dragging their friend by the neck to a hook in one hand. Of course, this is before it drops to all fours, threatening to eviscerate the player with its iconic blade tail before finishing the job with its inner mouth. Including all of these aspects of the alien’s design is essential to a faithful adaptation of the monster. 

Just like with any other licensed killer, players want to be able to recognize the most iconic features of the character. Ensuring the alien has all of its most expected features is the minimum requirement for ensuring a well-received killer. However, it is within its design that Behaviour built the character from the ground up. Creating an accurate design allows the next aspects of the killer to evolve faithfully to its IP. 

Luckily Dead By Daylight authentically and accurately implements the Xenomorph into the game with every physical aspect fans could want. The Xenomorph is almost an exact implementation of the original. Its design carries with it the fear, excitement, and strangeness that fans of the Alien franchise would expect. Importantly, having the proper character design is only one way the game faithfully adapted the Xenomorph. However, it allows the developers to apply the rest of the features to the character which makes it a faithful adaptation.

2. A Predatory Power 

Of course, a killer’s power is supposed to be a reflection of the character. Dead By Daylight’s Xenomorph embodies the character with its unique power that not only makes it a powerful foe in the fog but also a faithful adaptation of the monster itself. The Xenomorph’s power, Hidden Pursuit, alongside its special power, Runner Mode, allows for an authentic Alien experience. 

The Xenomorph is capable of crawling through tunnels that appear on the map. This is vitally important for a faithful representation because of how the tunnels work alongside the Xenomorph’s terror radius. Not only does it mimic the capability of the Alien in the 1979 film, but it allows survivors to lose track of it. This allows the genuine fear of the alien to be brought with its inception into Dead By Daylight. 

Importantly, the Xenomorph is a predatory hunter. When it deploys its Runner Mode, it gains the ability to better hunt its prey. By including the tail attack, survivors can feel like they are genuinely being hunted by an alien creature, not of this world. A blade that can reach them even on supposedly safe loops. Pair this with the idea that it can erupt from tunnels nearby, and you have an authentic representation of the Alien’s terror aspect. 

3. Kill it With Fire 

In an awesome display, Dead By Daylight also introduces a way for characters to attempt to hold off the Xeonomorph for just a bit longer. Obviously, they implemented the iconic flamethrower as an homage to the original film’s flamethrower. Obviously, in-game, this flamethrower turret was included as a means of slowing the Xenomorph and taking it out of its Runner Mode. However, the turrets do more than just serve as a counter to the Alien’s power.   

Importantly, the turrets allow players to fend off the fear of the Alien for a short time. Placing them by entrances to tunnels, clinging to the safety of the flames. It adds a small bit of relief to the fear of the Xenomorph’s power. At the same time, the flame turrets are obviously an allusion to an iconic scene from the original movie. 

4. Ripley and the Nostromo 

Obviously, the Xenomorph isn’t coming alone. The iconic Alien arrives in Dead By Daylight alongside a map, the Wreckage of the Nostromo, and a survivor, Ellen Ripley. Importantly, the Map and Ripley both reflect a faithful adaptation of the Alien franchise. Players are able to explore a wreck of the iconic ship from the first movie, which includes props and additions that fans can recognize, including Jonesy the Cat hopping out of lockers. 

Additionally, the character of Ellen Ripley, despite not bearing Sigourney Weaver’s likeness, is an accurate replication of the character. She arrives alongside the Xenomorph with perks that reflect who she is as a character. Of course, the inclusion of both Ripley and the Nostromo work to make the chapter feel more authentic. Not only can players run for their lives from the Xenomorph, but they can authentically escape the Alien as the protagonist of the franchise. 

5. The Mori 

One of the most exciting things about any new Dead By Daylight killer is getting to see their mori, the execution that can be used to sometimes finish off a match. When it comes to the Xenomorph, players couldn’t have hoped for a more faithful adaptation of how the Xenomorph would kill a survivor. Not only does the Xenomorph’s mori reflect the faithful design of the creature by using both the Alien’s blade tail and its inner mouth. It is also an homage to, perhaps, the most iconic scene from the original film, albeit a bit more violent. 

Of course, this means players will get to see the Alien’s horrific inner mouth in action. In a bloody, faithful, and terrifying display of the Xenomorph’s predatory prowess.