While video games with asymmetric abilities for characters are nothing new in the multiplayer scene, games with asymmetric gameplay have only recently begun appearing frequency. But for every failure like Evolve, there's a Dead by Daylight, which arguably began the asymmetric horror trend that Resident Evil wants to get in on now.
Dead by Daylight features a player as a killer, hunting down the other players who take on the roles of survivors trapped in a nightmare landscape. The killer must use their traps, tricks, and cunning to catch and sacrifice the survivors to their patron, The Entity, while the players must turn on the generators scattered around the map, save each other, open the gates, and escape alive.
In a surprising move, a spinoff for Dead by Daylight was announced that will copy the original game for mobile devices with Dead by Daylight Mobile confirmed to have a spring release window. The official release date of Dead by Daylight Mobile is now confirmed as April 16 this year for iOS and Android mobile devices. A recent trailer on YouTube confirms the date with a scared man waking up from a nightmare, only to realize the real nightmare is trying to escape from his phone.
[embed]https://youtu.be/G5XxQcR-WlQ[/embed]
Dead by Daylight Mobile almost exactly mirrors the experience of playing Dead by Daylight on a console or on the PC. It requires quick fingers for skill checks and peeled eyes to spot killers, something that is made easier with a larger, more detailed screen. Aside from physical constraints, the gameplay is likely to be very similar, so methods for leveling up quickly in Dead by Daylight should work just as well in the mobile version.
Strange as it may seem, the idea of a 4v1 asymmetric horror game for mobile is not without precedent. In China, an asymmetric Tom & Jerry survival game was released for mobile some time ago with a title that translates to Tom and Jerry: Joyful Interaction and features four mice trying to survive against the titular cat, all done in typical cartoony Tom & Jerry form.
With games like Joyful Interaction and soon, no doubt, Dead by Daylight Mobile proving it can be done, there may soon be more asymmetric survival and horror titles coming to phones and other mobile devices. The asymmetric horror trend that has continued with games like Friday the 13th may grow even larger with this development since being able to take games on the go tends to extend players' attachment.
Dead by Daylight Mobile will release for iOS and Android mobile devices on April 16.