Behaviour Interactive's Dead by Daylight has sustained its longevity through plenty of original characters and franchise crossovers. Because of its thematic emphasis on horror for all of its subsequent downloadable-content, Dead by Daylight's multi-generational legs as an asymmetrical multiplayer game have endured through nostalgia and franchise relevancy.
Watershed horror IPs such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street have been fantastic additions to the game's roster of survivor and killer characters. Each character has contributed to Dead by Daylight with their own unique mechanics that further diversify gameplay. However, there is one franchise yet to be included that would be a logical choice: Alan Wake.
Why Alan Wake Fits in Perfectly with Dead by Daylight
While there are no announced plans for such a franchise crossover to occur, the eponymous writer from Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake would make for a perfect survivor character in Dead by Daylight. Dead by Daylight typically ascribes itself horror crossovers from popular movies and television series', but it has also previously adapted characters and content from games as well.
Dead by Daylight's Silent Hill and Resident Evil content were massively popular, and Alan Wake could make way for its next popular franchise crossover. Alan Wake's original installment first released back in 2010, and Remedy's Control would later feature DLC that intertwined their universes. Recently, the original 2010 title was given new life with Alan Wake Remastered, which essentially confirmed that Remedy was prepared to offer more of Alan's story with a renewed coat of paint for players who had not previously played Alan Wake.
Now, Alan Wake 2's recent announcement as a survival-horror game has confirmed this presumption. With a new genre angle and the promise of a continued franchise with sequels, Alan Wake's continuation would align well with a future DLC chapter in Dead by Daylight. As for lore that connects to Dead by Daylight's enigmatic Entity, the troubled writer could be explained as having entered Dead by Daylight by unknowingly writing himself into it through manuscript pages whose words come to life, as is the premise of Alan Wake.
But beyond logical lore explanations, Alan Wake would be even more conceptually adaptable to Dead by Daylight’s mechanics and features while staying faithful to its own gameplay. So many of the same aesthetics and items already appear in Alan Wake, such as generators that players activate and flashlights that players wield, and each game's environments have a lot to do with how tense and atmospheric they are. Further, Alan Wake's own gameplay mechanics could contribute improvements upon a couple of Dead by Daylight's more backburned features.
What Alan Wake Could Bring to Dead by Daylight's Survivors
Dead by Daylight could employ multiple different permutations of defensive and offensive light-based mechanics from Alan Wake with perk abilities. Light is an incredibly important resource in Alan Wake as players can use it to seek refuge and stave off the Taken. Therefore, Alan could arrive with associated perks that revolve around Dead by Daylight’s otherwise commonly impractical flashlight item, which lacks much of a purpose in its current form.
Dead by Daylight’s flashlights are not used to illuminate dark areas; instead, flashlights are used to temporarily blind or “lightburn” killers with a brief stun effect that, if well timed and aimed, may cause them to drop a survivor while en route. Similarly, Alan Wake's flashlights are not necessarily intended for illuminated guidance so much as they are intended to combat enemies and render them vulnerable to gunfire.
Alan Wake features firearms that would not make reasonable item additions in Dead by Daylight, but it also features defensive items that are already integrated into Dead by Daylight from its previous franchise crossover with Resident Evil. Alan Wake's flash bangs are similar to Leon S. Kennedy’s, but Alan Wake also features flare gun rounds that emit red light in an area over a period of time that could potentially stun the killer if they were to walk through it.
Alan Wake could also provide single-use flares found in remote chests that the player can walk with while ignited or plant on the ground to keep the killer blinded as they try to approach. Another perk of Alan's could perhaps have something to do with Dead by Daylight's mist, which has little-to-no effect on visibility in a map but is still a feature nonetheless. Offerings exist that lessen or thicken a map's Dark Mist, but a new perk could completely shroud the map in blackness similar to how players traverse impenetrably dark fogs while navigating the woods in Alan Wake.
Other Content Dead by Daylight Could Pull from Alan Wake
Alan could fulfill a Dead by Daylight DLC chapter by his lonesome, but there is also potential for an accompanying killer antagonist and associable realm map. Carl Stucky could be a reasonable killer entry, though there is already an axe-wielding, hatchet-throwing killer in Dead by Daylight. Because Alan Wake 2 is Remedy’s first attempt at a full-blown survival-horror game, however, there may be future antagonists and enemies that are more appropriate for Dead by Daylight’s eclectic killer catalog.
An Alan Wake DLC in Dead by Daylight could feature a realm map that portrays the open, rainy streets of Bright Falls’ Deerfest celebrations. The Bright Falls map could encompass a couple street intersections with back alleys, for example, and The Triple D's Oh Deer Diner could provide an interior location with its central bar behaving as an effective loop. Bright Falls is easily Alan Wake's most iconic location, but there is of course the potential for Alan Wake 2 to debut unique environments that would be even more suitable to Dead by Daylight.
But even without a killer or map included, an Alan Wake DLC with Alan as a survivor character could not only add a fun franchise crossover with skin cosmetics, but also potentially improve upon features, items, and offerings that are already embedded in Dead by Daylight's core gameplay. For now, though, fans can only hope for and continue to request Alan Wake as future DLC.
Alan Wake 2 launches in 2023 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Dead by Daylight is available for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.