Darkness Among Us: Designed for Money Or Enjoyment?
Fair warning: this is several paragraphs.
To explain the meaning of the title, context is first needed. First of all, this DLC came with the most customizable killer at launch and had much more design focus on looks rather than balance according to the community. Another part that is notable is the Game Awards, which might have had some affect on advertising. And lastly, the game's added content from the DLC in terms of perks and map. So, let's discuss it: is this DLC meant for enjoyment or money?
To explain the money aspect of this argument, let it be stated that Legion has the exact same amount of cosmetics as Spirit, which is 27 including all of the weapon, body, and head aspects. So why is this important? Well, that is because of a single reason. That reason being the killer was advertised with all of these cosmetics. Just look at the mirror image for reference. That image clearly shows cosmetics in the shop and was announced as a teaser to the new killer which provided false information. Clown and Spirit were advertised in ways meant to hint at the lore, whereas Legion implied multiple people had something to do with the power and left the community fairly dissapointed when it was found to be a hint at cosmetics. This implied money would be something required to get what was advertised.
As for the enjoyment side, many people can take comfort in a killer that is relatable, at least in terms of being an average human, and would pay good money for a highly customizable character. By far Legion is the most cosmetic based killer and some people do take enjoyment out of using skins they buy and want t use them. And there is no shame in that, because if they buy it, they thought highly of the cosmetic and are entitled to spend money however they want in which the game allows. Much like fun, enjoyment is subjective and is the reason why people play games.
Now back to the money side, featuring the Game Awards. The Game Awards was no coincidence as everyone got a free cosmetic from just having bought the game. To elaborate on why the Game Awards affected advertising though, examination needs to be taken on the actual game itself. Besides DLC being added, there was a huge advancement in the Unreal engine. This change is welcome to all players, although it can be argued that it was meant to cater to newer players as they would make the population of the community grow and provide more money through cosmetics. Wanting to prolong your games lifecycle isn't an unjust reason, however, not being transparent to the community isn't helping if that is the reason.
Back to enjoyment. The Unreal engine was long in the making. It required months of effort and was shown in sneak peaks by the Hallowed Blight cosmetics. Upon examining them, it would be clear that the skins were, particularly Trapper, different in terms of texture and lighting and that was because they were on the new engine. The free cosmetic from the Game Awards is a nice touch as well, as it rewards players for sticking around in the game until the new killer came out.
And on to the final point for the money argument: affecting core gameplay. If it wasn't already apparent, some changes to lockers in terms of perks and base changes have occurred. The perks that caused this change was Distortion and Iron Maiden. Despite the large number of counters that BBQ and Chilli has, a perk was invented to counter it, that being Distortion. Although it can be argued that it was also meant for Nurse's Calling as well, keep in mind the locker change. Iron Maiden would have genuinely no purpose on the core gamelplay because of the existence of Urban Evasion. Iron Maiden was so let made to combat people saving Distortion tokens.
As for the final point for enjoyment, we have the perks. The meta game is stale and has been for months now. BBQ and Chilli has always been on top and no matter how many other useful perks were added, like Bamboozle and Spirit's Fury, they happened to stay on top. This update gave different playstyles to Survivors and Killers and generally improved the game in perks. For example, Discordance just by existing slows the game down in fear of giving away information. Jeff's perks aren't bad either. Breakdown is fun, Distortion is for stealthy players, and Aftercare is a extremely useful tool for solo survivors. Overall, the changes that resulted from perks being added affected the game in a goof way.
So what do you think? Well worth your money? Or perhaps not what you expected?
Comments
It depends on how people see things. I only bought DLC killers but did I buy any cosmetics with real money? Nope. Had to use in-game shards for that.
I feel like this killer was over hyped and really mediocre. They're fairly weak, but even with a good Legion they can manage to get at least 2 kills, maybe 4 if the survivors made too many mistakes or just bad.
Cosmetics are completely optional though. I find it kinda silly that you need real money for one of the killer's characters. Either way, they all still play the same so there's not much of a difference.
Is it designed for enjoyment?
That depends on the community's opinion. At the moment the majority (not all but a lot of people) find Legion unfun to play as, and some against. I personally sorta have fun playing against him but thinking of playing as him? Nah.
Is it designed for money?
Licensed DLC only characters both survivors and killers are money only. I feel like they're a lot more designed for money-only since they're licensed. However, with their own killers (The spirit, The Clown, Legion) you can also buy them with in-game shards.
Honestly. To answer your question overall; I feel like it's a bit of both tbh.
model and cosmetics are completely optional to the consumer; it is purely your decision to spend money on it- nothing more, nothing less. You might want to stop posting this thread; you’ll get marked for spam.
EDIT: In actuality, this chapter feels like a fan service chapter due to the fact that Jeff’s perks have been requested for quite awhile (if I recall correctly), and someone with the ability to inflict bleed out timers has been requested as well. I can’t be certain, however.