It's an old west shootout as aspiring filmmaker Zarina Kassir digs into the tale of the "Deathslinger," an Irish outlaw with a penchant for spears.
According to the Dead by Daylight Wikipedia, this journey to the past begins with Lebanese-American Zarina Kassir, who struggled with her heritage as a child.
After years of distancing herself from her family due to bullying, injustice in the news caused Zarina to accept her roots and begin making films about community issues. Zarina's attempt to expose an abusive restaurant was spun against her, but she found recognition for her documentary on the controversial execution of two Irish migrants. Soon, she became obsessed with gang member Clark Stevenson, who pushed her father to his death, and researched for a year before interviewing him in prison. Stevenson finally admitted the killing was premeditated, not manslaughter, earning her film acclaim, and inmates reached out, hoping for the spotlight. The only story that piqued her curiosity was the "Mad Mick Massacre," in which an Irish outlaw and his gang murdered the Hellshire warden. Aware the official story isn't always accurate, Zarina did some digging and uncovered a record of the outlaw, who was incarcerated in 1860 for assault. The wing where the crime occurred had been sealed, so Zarina studied the prison's blueprints, and during a prison tour, sneaked into the enclosed section. "Death to Bayshore" was carved into Mick's cell wall, and after finding a wrench in the brickwork, Zarina went cold, and fog rolled in after her father's bloody body appeared.
Zarina's discovery hearkens back to the youth of Caleb Quinn on the harsh American frontier, where "No Irish Need Apply" signs crushed his engineer father's hopes.
The man gifted a wrench when he showed interest, and as Caleb honed the skill with torture devices, Irish discrimination waned and he found work under Henry Bayshore. Despite Caleb's impressive technological feats, Bayshore ignored the man, earning Caleb's hatred and sending him into a fury by stealing and selling his patents. The engineer stormed his boss' office, and after beating him to a bloody pulp, Caleb used a rail spike gun he'd created to pin Bayshore to his desk. Bayshore miraculously survived, resulting in Caleb being sent to Hellshire, where he made friends with the warden, who gave extra meals in return for torture devices. Under the promise that Bayshore could be put away, Caleb created a speargun to reel in outlaws, earning the name "Deathslinger" when he disemboweled his first victims. After Caleb perfected his gun, the warden released several Irish inmates to be his "Hellshire gang," and they spent years hunting outlaws. Following a bloody battle in Glenvale, Caleb found a news article revealing the warden sold Hellshire to Bayshore, and he and his gang furiously rode to get vengeance. The Hellshire Gang busted in, murdering guards on their way to the office, where they discovered and beat Bayshore and the warden before tossing them to the inmates. Caleb dragged himself to his old cell, and fog rolled in as he failed to recall how he obtained the rusty wrench in his pocket. Seeing a dirt path before him and beautiful hooks, Caleb started walking, ignoring the pain in his injured leg.
When it comes to designs, I really like what we got in this chapter, especially the Deathslinger, whose face and weapon work together for an unsettling foe.
The Deathslinger is unique in that he has a gun, though of course others, like the Huntress and Plague, have ranged attacks as well. In a behind the scenes video, game designer Guillaume Bourque explains that while they wanted an fps feel from Caleb Quinn, a DBD vibe was needed, so they added the chain, which adds tension as the killer drags the survivor. Helping this is that the killer comes with a rather small terror radius, which, especially when combined with the perk "Monitor and Abuse," allows him to get close enough to snare his victims. His appearance also helps in scaring survivors, as he's a tall, menacing cowboy figure, and his face is quite a sight. His reverse-colored eyes are creepy enough, but beyond this, the Deathslinger has a busted up jaw, the remnants of a gunshot wound from the shootout just before he and his gang assaulted the prison, according to his Wiki. When hooked, survivors feel a bit helpless, and the Deathslinger lets out a creepy chuckle after reeling in and bashing his prey. His face has scars from the Glenvale battle, and unfortunately we don't get much of an explanation for why he walks with a leg brace, which caught my attention. The only hint we get at the splint's necessity is that Caleb had to limp to his cell after his Hellshire assault, which suggests either another wound from the Glenvale battle or an injury he received during his assault. On the survivor side of things, we have Zarina, who continues the game's excellent track record of diverse survivor options. A Lebanese American, Zarina has dark hair and tanned skin, and she, like the previous female survivors, doesn't always follow typical tropes for hair or clothing. Zarina can blend into a crowd thanks to some fashionable clothes like her brown jacket and ring scarf, but is also equipped for her investigative digging. In the behind the scenes video, the creators explain that Zarina is confident in herself and essentially their modern cowboy. Despite being brave for being able to head into a situation despite the danger, this is Zarina's problem as well, because she gets into some bad spots as a result.
To make sure the Deathslinger feels right at home, the Entity has crafted an entirely new map, the Dead Dawg Saloon.
The saloon is part of the town of Glenvale, where the Deathslinger's crew rode in a frenzy to defeat the Mason Kelly Gang and take back five abducted gang members. The situation quickly became a massacre all around, with people trying desperately to survive as even civilians got dragged into the conflict, leaving more dead than alive. Infuriated to discover their brothers-in-arms had already been killed, the Hellshire Gang found the remaining Mason Kelly followers and executed them. According to the behind-the-scenes video, this map is the crew's own Monument Valley, and it's quite a change from other realms. This new map features several unique features and additions to the DBD world, including a new killer shack and exit gates. The killer shack is basically just redesigned, but with the gates, we have a new Western look and smokestacks that billow black clouds once the gates are powered. The mechanical look given to the new exit gates gives me a kind of Steampunk feel, which makes sense given the Deathslinger's engineering prowess. Even the surrounding area has been altered, with the section outside the gates finally getting some designs rather than just having the Entity's empty space. Outside the rustic town, canyons and mountains can be glimpsed, and there's even a sunset peeking at the survivors from over a hill. Key features of this map are the Saloon, of course, with a whimsical piano playing the Deathslinger's chase music, and the gallows. Whereas the saloon is an enclosed area, and its generator is in an upper area that takes time for the killer to reach, the gallows are more open. With a single set of steps leading to the platform, survivors are left exposed as they work on the generator beneath several nooses. After completing the generator, the survivors fall through the trap doors in the platform used to hang people. I really enjoy the design of the map, though the saloon and gallows still feel like they're in the survivors' favor. There is a lot of open space in the map overall, but the saloon especially reminds me of structures from other maps like the house in Red Forest. One often-used survivor perk is Balanced Landing, especially on maps like Haddonfield, where survivors can jump off many structures for a speed boost. With both the saloon and the gallows, it will take the killer some time to reach any survivors who are working on a generator, which gives them an opportunity to either work on the gen for longer or hop off the roof, and, especially with BL, sprint away. A good thing we still got at the same time as this map, however is the addition of breakable walls for killers. "Infinites" have long been an issue in this game, being areas with long walls and safe windows and pallets that Survivors can easily loop for long periods of time. This is the reason for the "Bloodlust" mechanic in the game, in which killers get faster the longer they stay in a chase with a survivor. Now, there are areas that survivors could normally loop for long periods of time, but killers can find certain walls and bash them down.
When it comes to perks, we once again have a setup that seems much more in favor of survivors than killers, which is frustrating to see.
For Zarina, we have "Off the Record," available to others at level 30, "Red Herring," available at level 35, and "For the People," available at level 40. After getting off a hook, Off the Record activates for 60/70/80 seconds, reducing your grunts of pain by 100% and preventing the killer from seeing your aura. This doesn't initially seem like a very useful perk, and is certainly based more around being stealthy, and let's be honest: most people don't try to actually be sneaky. I could see this being paired with other perks, however. In particular, I wonder how this perk would work if another used Steve's "Babysitter," which causes survivors you unhook to leave no scratches or blood for 4/6/8 seconds, and allows you and the killer to see each other's auras for 4 seconds. If a survivor is running the perk Object of Obsession, which lets you and the killer see each other's auras if you look at them outside their terror radius, wouldn't they be granted the boon of seeing the killer's aura, being hidden, and making no noise? Essentially, this first perk feels to me like it'd only be useful by itself for sneaky survivors, but then could also be used with other perks effectively. Up next is Red Herring, which highlights a generator you've worked on for at least 3 seconds in yellow until it is completed, you start a new gen, or you enter a locker. After entering a locker, the generator gives off a noise notification, and the perk can be activated every 100/80/60. This perk reminds me of "Diversion," also known as the pebble, with seemingly an easier way of activating the perk. Whereas Diversion requires you be in the killer's terror radius, but not in a chase, for this ability you simply need to work on a generator. Off the Record seems like a great way to distract the killer away from someone or make them go to a generator you're not really focusing on. I know I've been in situations before where the killer was easily able to travel between the only remaining generators, and of course if they know which ones are getting worked on, they'll go to them often. If you find yourself in a situation where you can't get the generators done because the killer knows there are two you seem focused on, you could distract them. After working on a completely different generator, you'd then be able to hide in a locker near the one you want to focus on, then exit it and go on working. If you did enough on the other gen, the killer might start thinking you're switching your attention, and it'll make their patrol more difficult. Zarina's final perk, "For the People," feels like the old style of "insta-heal" medkits that, despite having a drawback, could still be perfect for surviors. Currently, medkits work in that one "instaheal" now gives survivors the same effect as borrowed time for a few seconds, while the other gives you a full heal state in a certain number of seconds if your state doesn't change. In the old style, the weaker instaheal would instantly give you or another a health state at the cost of your medkit, while the other would grant two with the same cost. I've seen this be used to great effect and used it myself, and this perk is similar: When you are at full health, you can instantly give another survivor a heal state at the cost of becoming broken yourself. Because you have to be at full health to use this perk, you can't take advantage of No Mither always leaving you broken, but if you can avoid the killer for long enough, it won't matter that you've entered this state. Another thing to consider when using this perk is that it makes you less likely to be the obsession if obsession perks are used, but once you use this ability, you become the new obsession.
Meanwhile we have the Deathslinger, and once again...the killer seems to have a single perk that could be useful in the right situation.
The Deathslinger has the abilities "Gearhead," available at level 30, "Dead Man's Switch," available at level 35, and "Hex: Retribution," available at level 40. Gearhead activates for 20/25/30 seconds after hitting a survivor twice with a basic attack, and highlights generators in yellow for as long as they are being repaired when a survivor hits a good skill check. As Otzdarva explains in this video showing off the perk, there are far too many downsides for the mediocre chance to see generators being worked on. Some survivors, like the Hillbilly and Leatherface, are better off using their power to instantly knock down survivors, making this perk pretty useless to them. For the killers where it's handy, it's entirely dependent on how things go for survivors, and only after you hit someone twice. In the thirty seconds that you have access to this ability, it's entirely possible that a survivor could hit great skillchecks, which wouldn't activate the perk, or that they won't even get a skillcheck at all. Because of this, the perk isn't doing much of anything most of the time, and there are perks that could be more helpful. The idea behind hitting a survivor twice before the perk activating is likely with the thinking that, after hitting someone twice and hooking them, the killer could then determine where to go next. The problem here is there's already a much better perk for such an idea: Barbecue and Chili, a Leatherface perk that allows the killer to see any survivors who are far enough away and not hiding in a locker, for a few seconds, and you get more bloodpoints. With Gearhead, you have a simple chance of knowing that a generator is being worked on, and if a survivor then gets off it, but you won't know where they've gone. Barbecue, meanwhile, shows you the exact survivor and shows if and how they're moving, so you can determine if you need to go right for a gen or cut them off. Second is "Dead Man's Switch," which again feels like a mediocre version of another perk, this time the Ghostface perk "Thrilling Tremors." With Thrilling Tremors, all generators not being worked on are blocked for 16 seconds if you pick up a survivor, and the ability can be activated every 100/80/60 seconds. Dead Man's Switch, meanwhile, activates for 35/40/45 seconds if you hook your obsession and a survivor stops working on a generator. This again feels like a limited effect, because for one thing, you specifically have to get and hook your obsession. It's more difficult for you to activate the ability when specifically your obsession is required for its use, though there are abilities like Nemesis that change who that is. Beyond this, it's that you are again dependent on survivors to do something, in this case stop working on generators. Even though Thrilling Tremors doesn't last as long, you immediately know which generators are and aren't being worked on, and can head to where survivors are. With this perk, the ability only activates after survivors stop working, which means you likely had to go find them first. Even after finding them, it's somewhat pointless because if you only find one person, it doesn't matter if the gen is blocked because they'll be in a chase, and others could know that they're okay as long as they just...keep doing what they were doing. Finally we have Hex: Retribution, which actually has a pretty cool effect, especially when paired with other hex perks. Hex perks work with a system of five totems around the map. If a perk is used, one totem will spawn lit with a flame, instead of dull, and of course more will be lit if more perks are used. In general, the weakness of hex totems comes from the fact that survivors can take the time to "cleanse" them, which eliminates the perk. Some, however, like Retribution, are tricks to punish survivors for this action, and can be useful in protecting other hexes. This ability causes survivors to become "oblivious," meaning they can't hear or feel the effects of the killer's terror radius, for 35/40/45 seconds if the cleanse a dull totem. If they cleanse any totems, even the one for Retribution, the killer can see all survivor auras for 10 seconds. This perk perfectly chains with other hexes, especially "Thrill of the Hunt" and "Haunted Grounds." With Thrill, survivors take longer to cleanse for each totem that's still in play, and the killer gets a noise notification when a survivor starts cleansing a totem. Haunted Grounds appears as two totems, and when one is cleansed, all survivors become "exposed" for a while, allowing the killer to down them with one hit. Thrill has always been a way to defend totems, and a method or perk selection has become known as the "Russian Roulette" build, in which you use only hex perks, including Thrill of the Hunt and Haunted Grounds. Because the killer has Thrill, survivors risk being found every time they touch a totem, and because they are randomly placed and in this case are all lit, survivors don't know which perk they're cleansing at any given time. Therefore, they could be hoping to cleanse Thrill and make their situation better, only for the totem to be revealed as Haunted Grounds, which makes things harder. Now Retribution is yet another way survivors would suffer from what they thought would be good, and if a survivor cleanses a Haunted Grounds totem, they'll be exposed and the killer will know where they all are.
Though I'm less than impressed with the Deathslinger's perks at the moment, I've loved this chapter and what we got out of it.
The Dead Dawg Saloon is a nice new place for the Dead by Daylight world, and I like the new breakable walls and what they could mean for chases. Zarina is a cool enough character with some interesting perks, and she can actually be compared to the Deathslinger in a way, as both have vengeance in their stories. With the Deathslinger, vengeance is his M.O., harboring an intense, years-long hatred for Bayshore because of his theft and the Deathslinger's imprisonment. He then sets out on a vengeful tirade essentially, as he catches people for their wrongdoings for the chance to imprison Bayshore. When he sees that the warden sold Hellshire to Bayshore, all his old feelings spring up once again, and now he wants revenge against the warden as well. Caleb Quinn's life is centered on getting revenge, and meanwhile Zarina went about a desire for revenge in a much better way. Zarina lost her father to a gang member, and she could've went about things more negatively than she did, and lose herself in the process. Rather than turn to violence, Zarina chose to expose the man for his own violence, finding peace for herself and potentially making a change in the world. The two are excellent ways to show the positive and negative ways you can deal with having been wronged by someone. The Deathslinger is a great addition to the killer roster in my opinion, and although of course his power has led to plenty of comparisons to the Huntress, I feel they play plenty different. There are plenty of moments the Huntress might be able to do things the Deathslinger can't, but he can also pull off moves that she couldn't dream of. Here's hoping that the Deathslinger will be good and fun enough for people to keep playing, and a visit to a ghost town will be a scary trip.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|