Dead by Daylight is a survival horror game and it a beautiful breath of fresh air. Today's game market is over-saturated with rehashed ideas and concepts. There are a million Day Z ripoffs and countless jump scare horror games with no soul circling the Steam marketplace. I don't know about the rest of you guys but I was sick and tired off it. The horror genre was this weird mix of zombie games and mindless scare simulators, but Dead by Daylight came out several months ago and actually made me appreciate the genre again.

Let me start off by saying that I was never a huge fan of the horror genre. Generally, jump scares completely wreck my nerves and force me to stop playing the game. Yes I know i'm a little baby, but they do. However, one day I was watching one of my favorite YouTuber's, BrickyOrchid8, and he was playing this new game called Dead by Daylight and I was captivated from the moment he explained the concept.

The premise of the game is quite simple. There are four survivors that are trapped on the map and their goal is to escape. To escape they need to power up generators, open the exit gates, and then leave. Sounds pretty straightforward right? Well it is, except for one thing. The killer. While you are trying to power up the generators there is a fifth player who takes on the role of one of several supernatural serial killers that doesn't want you to leave.

It's a 4v1 asymmetrical horror game and your adrenaline rushes throughout the entire match on either side. The killer's goal is to find and kill all of these survivors by slashing them twice and then placing them on sacrificial hooks. If players stay on the hooks long enough they are sacrificed to the Entity (the being that brought you all to the same place) and die. Survivors can also die from being left to bleed out as the killer pursues other prey or simply watches and laughs.

The game is extremely balanced however and survivors have many opportunities to outmaneuver and outsmart the singular killer. Survivors can sprint, hurdle obstacles, heal teammates, sabotage these hooks, and even save their teammates from the sacrificial hooks. It's an elaborate game of cat and mouse where your reflexes and wit will be tested as adrenaline pumps through your veins either from the thrill of the hunt or the fear of imminent death.

Survivors can even group up with the friends and play together for a more cohesive and frankly less terrifying experience, but playing solo is the way the game is meant to be played. You are distilled with the feeling of isolation and dread as you skulk around the map hiding from the maniacal serial killer intent on murdering you without malice.

I personally find the killer role to be the most satisfying, but many of my friends love playing as survivors. What I really appreciate about this game is that it is something fresh and new. The atmosphere and anticipation are what scare you, not some jump scare gag and unlike lots of horror games you actually feel like you stand a chance and can rely on your own skill and intelligence to survive. Playing as killer is not a horror game so much as it is just a fun and fresh take on the cat and mouse premise.

I definitely recommend this game to all of you and I hope to see you guys on my hooks someday. If you want to learn more check out their website.