Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical horror game where one player is the Killer and the other four are Survivors. Matches are referred to as trials. The Survivors' objective is to escape the trial by repairing five of seven generators scattered throughout the map, which will power up the two exit gates. The Killer must impale all Survivors on hooks before they escape, which will cause them to be sacrificed to a malevolent force known as the Entity.

When only one Survivor remains, an escape hatch opens at a random location on the map; if the Killer closes the hatch or an exit gate is opened, the two-minute "Endgame Collapse" begins, with the timer being extended if there are any incapacitated or hooked Survivors. When the timer ends, any remaining Survivors are immediately sacrificed to the Entity.

A group of four Survivors must elude one Killer obsessed with sacrificing them on hooks to a malevolent being called the Entity. The Survivors' perspectives are third-person, while most Killer's perspectives are first-person. The Survivors can only fight back by stunning the Killer or using items such as flashlights to blind them. Survivors can also vault over obstacles much faster than the Killer, providing a means of escape.

Survivors use these obstacles and tools to help them elude the Killer for as long as they can. To escape, Survivors must repair five of the seven generators scattered across the map to power up the exit gates. They must then open the exit gates and escape through them; the final Survivor may also find an unmarked escape hatch to jump into, though the hatch can be shut if the Killer finds it first. Repairing generators can be made quicker through items such as toolboxes, repairing a generator alongside other Survivors, or if certain perks are equipped to help the process along.

The first trailer for the game was released on March 2, 2016. After a closed beta released on May 29, the game was released for Windows on June 14, 2016. The game was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017, Nintendo Switch in 2019, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020. The game was released on Stadia in 2020, and was available until Stadia's discontinuation in 2023.

It became Steam Deck Verified in 2023. The Nintendo Switch version was ported to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025. Cross-play between different systems was added in 2020. Cross-progression, allowing for the same user to access their account on different systems, was added in 2024.

Dead by Daylight received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. GameSpot awarded it a score of 9 out of 10, saying, "At launch, Dead by Daylight suffered because it relied on peer-to-peer hosting and absent social features, but over time it rectified these issues. And while a brief and premature tussle with skill-based matchmaking turned the new player experience into a bit of a horror show (a problem which is now [was] fixed), thanks to its community of players, Dead by Daylight is without peer in the asymmetrical competitive multiplayer arena, and has grown into one of the most robust horror experiences around." Luke Winkie of PC Gamer awarded it a score of 88 out of 100, saying, "In the five years since Behaviour Interactive released Dead by Daylight on Steam, the game has developed razor-sharp mechanical intrigue, an ultra-complex web of versatile builds and strategies, and a diverse suite of characters, each equipped with relative strengths and weaknesses."

During its first week, Dead by Daylight sold more than 270,000 copies. The game sold more than 1 million copies within 2 months. On November 16, 2017, more than 3 million copies were sold. As of May 2019, the game sold more than 5 million copies.