Summary
The long-awaited crossover betweenFive Nights at Freddy’sandDead By Daylightis finally coming, albeit in just under one year’s time. For a game that’s become aHall of Fame for horror charactersof all stripes, it was only a matter of time before the developers at Behaviour Interactive knocked on the pizzeria’s door. In under a decade,FNAFhas become arguably the most ubiquitous horror video game franchise, eclipsing the likes of longtime industry mainstays likeResident EvilorSilent Hillin its sheer mass popularity.
For a lot of fans, this collab is just a logical endpoint of both series’ ongoing runs. Both of them have fundamentally changed the landscape of horror gaming in the last ten years, withDead By Daylightinspiring a run of asymmetric horror games andFNAFushering in an era of what’s been labeled as mascot horror; horror properties focused on colorful characters and subverting them for scares. And with the granddaddy of all mascot horror finally coming toDBD, it’s time to open the floodgates proper.
With theFNAFcollab confirmed,Dead By Daylightis primed to start featuring crossovers with other popular mascot horror series. SinceFNAFcame on the scene ten years ago, the mascot horror genre has been steadily growing in popularity, with dozens of titles with devoted fanbases all over the internet. One YouTube search for almost any mascot horror game will yield theory videos, let’s plays, and fan edits all with tens of millions of views each. More mascot horror games that could feature inDBDin the future include:
Why DBD is Leaving Money on The Table Without More Mascot Horror
Mascot horror is a relatively new phenomenon, but it still has had plenty of time to prove its worth as a viable market. The fanbases for these games are some of the biggest on the entire internet, not just in horror. Gamers the world over have experienced the terror of getting chased byHuggy Wuggy in the first moments ofPoppy Playtime, a feeling that they’d be dying to replicate in a game likeDead By Daylight. Videos theorizing on series likeHello NeighborandBendy and the Ink Machinehave millions of views a piece, which Behaviour can capitalize on with crossovers and collaborations.
Embracing these crossovers can also help with an impending problemDead By Daylightmay soon be encountering with its licensed chapters; lack of name recognition.DBDhas had a string of massively successful horror crossoversincluding Freddy, Michael Myers, Leatherface, and Pinhead, among others. These chapters have brought in a ton of business for the game, due to the characters’ popularity.
But those characters are a finite resource. Not every horror character has a big following, andDBDhas already included most of the big names in film, with a few notable exceptions. By expanding further into the realm of mascot horror games, the devs can keep attracting eyeballs toDBDwith big-name crossover chapters that will continually turn heads.
Does Mascot Horror Fit in DBD?
There’s an argument to be made that colorful bright characters like Bendy or Baldi don’t have a place in a game with an aesthetic likeDBD, but theaddition of killers like the Tricksterand a lot of survivor cosmetics kind of defeats that argument. It’s clear the devs at Behaviour don’t mind having a bit of fun with their characters, so an appearance byPoppy Playtime’s Huggy Wuggy wouldn’t be too far out of left field.
There’s also the larger issue thatmascot horror is horrorfor a lot of younger people. An entire generation of horror fans grew up on Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers the same way the current generation is growing up with Bendy, Freddy Fazbear, and The Neighbor fromHello Neighbor. IfDBDwants to keep the lights on long-term, these types of crossovers might just be a good way to do it.
Dead by Daylight
WHERE TO PLAY
Ever wished to play as one of the characters from your favorite horror movies? Dead by Daylight is a 1v4 multiplayer game that draws from all corners of the horror world from a powerful slasher to a terrifying paranormal entity.Choose between playing an unstoppable Killer and one of 4 Survivors trying to evade a gruesome death. Each character has their own deep progression system and plenty of unlockables that can be customized to fit your personal strategy. Work together to escape, or stalk and sacrifice every Survivor.This Edition of Dead by Daylight gives you access to a roster of 7 Killers (The Trapper, The Hillbilly, The Wraith, The Nurse, The Hag, The Huntress and The Doctor) and 9 Survivors (Meg Thomas, Claudette Morel, Jake Park, Dwight Fairfield, Ace Visconti, Nea Karlsson, Bill Overbeck, Feng Min and David King). It also includes two cosmetic add-ons packed with outfits for various characters.
