A Detailed Proposal: Licensing Killers Must Respect Original Lore and Logic Over Lazy Balancing*

MO_xn

Dear Behaviour Interactive Team,

As a passionate fan of Dead by Daylight and the iconic horror licenses integrated into the Fog, I would like to share a constructive and detailed critique regarding licensed Killers. Lately, the unique mechanics and "universe logic" of iconic characters—specifically Albert Wesker, Henry Creel (Vecna), and Michael Myers—are being heavily watered down into generic anti-loop power sets or standard dashing mechanics.

When players purchase licensed chapters, they do so out of love for the character's established lore. Sacrificing this identity for simplified development or dry game balancing hurts the game's core immersion. Implementing their true cinematic powers is entirely possible without breaking game balance. Here is a detailed mechanical blueprint for how these characters should function logically:

1. **Albert Wesker (The Mastermind) - The "Blink of an Eye" Mechanic:**

* **The Flaw:** His current design relies too heavily on Uroboros tentacles, which feels secondary to his true combat style in Resident Evil 4 (Mercenaries) and RE5.

* **The Detailed Solution:** Replace the tentacle-based grab with a ground-level, lightning-fast dash named **"Blink of an Eye"**. Wesker gains 2 tokens of ultra-speed movement. Unlike The Nurse, this dash is strictly grounded—he cannot phase through solid walls, dropped pallets, or windows. If Wesker dashes directly into a Survivor's hit-box, it inflicts immediate collision/injury damage. If he hits a window or a pallet during the dash, he can instantly vault it at the cost of a slightly extended cooldown. This perfectly captures his terrifying superhuman speed while providing Survivors with fair, skill-based counter-play around solid structures.

2. **Henry Creel / Vecna (The Lich) - The Grandfather Clock Curse:**

* **The Flaw:** In Stranger Things, Vecna is a psychological entity who psychically mutilates victims from afar. Making him physically sprint across loops and swing weapons completely shatters his imposing, god-like demeanor.

* **The Detailed Solution:** Vecna should walk at a menacing, steady pace and rely on telekinetic telepresence. His primary passive mechanic should be **"The Curse of Vecna"**. Every Survivor has a dynamic timer gauge that fills automatically over time. Once a Survivor’s gauge fills completely, they are dragged into a localized "Upside Down" state. In this state, a Grandfather Clock spawns somewhere on the map. The affected Survivor is afflicted with the Incapacitated and Blindness status effects and must interact with the clock to solve a challenging, multi-stage Skill Check puzzle to escape. Alternatively, a teammate in the real world can perform a "Wake Up" action (similar to Freddy’s mechanic) by snapping them out of it. For direct attacks, Vecna should use telekinesis to levitate environmental debris or channel psychic shockwaves to injure Survivors from a distance, eliminating the need for generic M1 physical weapon lunges.

3. **Michael Myers (The Shape) - Restoring the Cinematic Pure Evil:**

* **The Flaw:** The recent rework that forced Michael into a high-mobility, aggressive dashing playstyle fundamentally misunderstood his cinematic character. Michael Myers is not a high-speed rusher; he is the embodiment of patient, silent, and inevitable dread.

* **The Detailed Solution:** Revert the dashing mechanics entirely and restore his classic Stalking core, but modernise it. Keep the original Tier 1 to Tier 3 progression system. To balance his weak early-game, give him a passive movement speed buff specifically when he is completely out of a Survivor's line of sight, or allow him to vault windows silently in Tier 1. Instead of removing his iconic "Tombstone" capability (killing Survivors directly), keep it as a built-in high-risk, high-reward reward for successfully stalking all four Survivors to their absolute maximum limit. This ensures Michael remains a terrifying psychological threat that forces Survivors to constantly look over their shoulders, rather than just another anti-loop Killer.

Developers do not need to overthink or reinvent the wheel. The mechanical blueprints for these Killers are already perfectly illustrated in their source material. Please stop choosing the easiest development path and start giving these legendary licenses the mechanical respect and logic they deserve.

Thank you.

Arcturus

ngl the Wesker one kinda just sounds like what we already have

Bloodraven

@Arcturus said:

ngl the Wesker one kinda just sounds like what we already have

I just wanna be able to throw my sunglasses at survivors forcing them to catch them with confusion only to get punched in the gut a split second later 😂

zonkednb

Something about this post reads off, like it wasn't written by a person.

1. Your Wesker proposal is exactly has he is now, just with the aesthetic of Uroboros removed. I suppose you buffed him by removing the need to hit a wall.
2. Henry doesn't "need" M1 physical lunges. He only has it as it's a baseline all killers have to stop them being exploited up close. Most Henry's rarely go for M1s unless they are bad or the survivor forces it. Your power suggestion is just a buff, giving Henry significant passive slowdown by cloning Freddy's power but better. His primary means of dealing damage is already ranged, so like Wesker you want to change the animation and overall buff the killer?
3. I mean this is just reverting to old Myers with buffs. I can agree with this at least. Tombstone can go away though. I don't care how he earns it, it was always lame.

Arcturus

@zonkednb said:

Something about this post reads off, like it wasn't written by a person.

1. Your Wesker proposal is exactly has he is now, just with the aesthetic of Uroboros removed. I suppose you buffed him by removing the need to hit a wall.
2. Henry doesn't "need" M1 physical lunges. He only has it as it's a baseline all killers have to stop them being exploited up close. Most Henry's rarely go for M1s unless they are bad or the survivor forces it. Your power suggestion is just a buff, giving Henry significant passive slowdown by cloning Freddy's power but better. His primary means of dealing damage is already ranged, so like Wesker you want to change the animation and overall buff the killer?
3. I mean this is just reverting to old Myers with buffs. I can agree with this at least. Tombstone can go away though. I don't care how he earns it, it was always lame.

Yeah it definitely could have been written by AI, it does give that vibe and formatting off

kit_mason

Honestly it's impressive that the AI posts just keep getting worse and worse. Wesker's post describes the power he already has, Henry's implies he's an M1 killer and Myers' creates a really boring uninteractive "hold right click for 5 gens and pray you can catch them out in endgame" that put Myers in his extremely weak state before.