The reigning king of asymmetrical horror games, Dead by Daylight boasts many mega franchise IPs, including Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Resident Evil, to name but a few, with more to surely be added in future updates. BHVR is constantly adding new content, such as killers, survivors and maps.

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At the current state of play, Dead by Daylight has a total of 19 realms, and with each variant, this brings the map total up to 40. With such a large number, there are undoubtedly those that stand out as stronger from a gameplay and aesthetic standpoint.

Updated on February 14th, 2023, by Amy Cowley: The original article was released close to three years ago, and at that point, Dead by Daylight was a completely different game. Some maps had yet to be remade, such as the Cold Wind Farm maps, and other maps, such as RPD or Eyrie of Crows, had yet to be released. The difference in the game between then and now is astronomical, meaning a lot of the information in the original article was too dated to reflect the current state of play. Therefore, this article has been rebuilt from the ground up to reflect the game as it is now.

10 Midwich Elementary School

One of the clasrooms from the Midwich map.

The map included with the Silent Hill Chapter, Midwich Elementary School, was full of fun little easter eggs from the Silent Hill game, such as a girl crying in the bathrooms, a body falling out of a locker, and if the survivors complete the generators in a certain order, the clock tower will open up to reveal the secrets inside.

From a gameplay perspective, it is not the strongest of all, but some killers can avail themselves of the long corridors, such as the Gunslinger or the Huntress. The survivors will have to rely on their quick reflexes or multiple classrooms to avoid death.

9 Macmillan Estate - Coal Tower

A screenshot of Coal Tower.

One of the base maps for the game, intended for the killer known as the Trapper, Coal Tower is one of the more balanced maps of the game. With strong loops, including the main building that survivors can easily chain to the nearby T and L walls, survivors can give killers a run for their money, but that's not to say it's overly survivor-sided.

The inclusion of breakable walls in the upstairs and downstairs areas of the main building can give killers an edge, especially if they catch them out on the upper floor and force them to drop. Without the aid of certain perks, survivors are stunned for a second after dropping from a height, which can be the difference between life and death during chases.

8 Haddonfield - Lampkin Lane

Screenshot of the reworked Haddonfield, showing the back of one of the houses.

Once upon a time, this map was the bane of all killers, presenting the greatest challenge they would face. Swf's, or even solo players, could make a mockery of killers by chaining chases through the closely gathered houses until all generators popped.

But that was the past. Now, Haddonfield has seen a major rework with the idea of balance in mind, as well as an improvement in its overall look. Now more closely resembling the street from Halloween, the main street is wider, presenting fewer broken loops, and the houses are more spaced out to disable the possibility of infinite chases.

7 Crotus Prenn - Disturbed Ward

The disturbed ward map.

The disturbed ward is the asylum version of the Crotus Prenn maps that includes many places for survivors to take killers on a chase, including a shack, main buildings, and the greenhouse outside without it being too one-sided.

The main building is distances enough from the shack that survivors may struggle to chain them together without taking a single hit at the very least, and the survivors are given some strong palettes within the building to earn an easy stun and make their quick escape. There is also a chance for vault points to spawn on some of the ramps outside to keep the chase going for longer or for killers to double back and catch the survivor off guard.

6 MacMillan Estate - Groaning Storehouse

The Groaning Storehouse Variant, showcasing two palette spawns outside of main building.

Another Macmillan Estate variant, the Groaning Storehouse, is one of the stronger versions, boasting a large main building with a central generator and multiple wall and crate loops to keep gameplay fresh and interesting. As one of the base maps, it saw an overhaul in recent years to improve the graphic fidelity, and the fresh coat of paint really did improve the interest of this map.

Balanced well enough for both sides, while it isn't the most beautiful, it won't raise many complaints when it spawns.

5 Grave of Glenvale - Dead Dawg Saloon

Dead Dawg Saloon, the wild western themed map.

This wild-western-themed map was introduced in the game when the Chains of Hate chapter was released, seeing the inclusion of the Gunslinger and the survivor Zarina. There are some opinions within the community this map is overly survivor-sided with the strong loops, such as the maze of chaining walls and the saloon, but skilled killers can easily score their 4k.

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The saloon is fitted with breakable walls to make chases more balanced, and killers can employ loop tactics such as hiding their killers stain or certain perks that make tracking their prey easier. Not only that, the map is very pleasing with its overall aesthetic with some fun little easter eggs such as the vultures and the haunted piano.

4 The Game - Gideon's Meat Packing Plant

The mannequin room from the Game map.

The meat packing plant presents possibly the largest multi-floor maps, which definitely offers an advantage to certain killers while also providing great boon possibilities.

Originating from the movie Saw, the map comes from the meat packing plant that Amanda uses as a base of operations in the third movie, including a room full of monitors, a frozen body, and bloody torture devices designed to twist unfortunate victims' limbs. Excellently designed, with some challenging loops for survivors to zone killers, the Game stands as one of the stronger in the maps but certainly is not the strongest.

3 Eyrie of Crows

A plateua from the Eyrie of Crows, showing a sarcophagus and a palette

One of the more recently introduced maps, Eyrie of Crows, was included with the game when the Artist and Jonas were released. It stands out as one of the more aesthetically pleasing maps with a tall tower structure, a swirling vortex of books in the library, and blots of ink floating up to the sky.

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From a gameplay perspective, Eyrie of Crows has some strong loops for survivors, with long walls on the upper level of the main building. However, the killer also has some advantages in this map, with the main building offering a bird's eye view of the entire map to locate survivors.

2 Crotus Prenn - Father Campbells Chapel

Maurice, the three-eyes dead horse in the circus portion of the map.

The other variant of the Crotus Prenn realm is Father Campbells Church, the dedicated map for the Clown, introduced into the game upon his release. This variant sees the asylum in the centre of the map replaced by a church which can be a strong loop point for survivors, but with a bit of mind-gaming and cutting survivors off from vaults, killers can catch out survivors here.

The other major point of interest is the circus, including a circle of tents, typical circus music players through a crackly speaker, a trailer players can run through, and even a cardboard character cut out players can put their face in for a bit of fun. But the star of the show is Maurice, the undead three-eyes horse that has become much love among fans.

1 Yamaoka Estate - Family Residence

The Family Residence variant of Yamaoka Estate.

A balanced and quite stylish map, Family Residence is the Spirit's version of the Yamaoka Estate, of which there are currently two variants. With nods to traditional Japanese aesthetics, such as a typical Japanese-style building with tatami walls and gazebos with ritual-like altars, Family Residence is well-designed.

Not only this, the map feels balanced to play on both sides. The two buildings--main building and shack--spawn on completely opposite ends of the map that can break up overly long chases to prevent killers being stringed along for a 5 gen chase, but survivors can also avail themselves of vault points and nearby wall loops to prevent them from being downed too early into the match.

Dead by Daylight is currently available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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