“Dead by Daylight” aiming for 20 years? A new Souls-like title sounds addictive already

Aiyo, this wave of ambition from Dead by Daylight has me mentally overloaded! At GDC they straight up said they want to keep pushing this asymmetrical horror game for another twenty years. Think about it, really think about it: this isn’t a game roadmap anymore, this is them building a giant horror universe project.

Let me recap the pace for anyone who hasn’t been following the news. Dead by Daylight has not been idle over these ten years: they’ve tried dating sims, done narrative choice games, and even rolled out comics and board games. Their moves are like a streamer doing collab marathons—trying every genre they can. And now they’re working with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster on a movie adaptation. The creative director even said he wants to sit in a theater and watch his own killers on the big screen. I can feel his excitement through the interview.

Now here’s the real highlight. The most explosive line in that interview was Dave’s straight-ball statement: he’s had one idea circling in his head—make a Souls-like game, somewhat like Elden Ring, set in the Dead by Daylight universe. The moment I heard that, I got chills, and one image popped into my mind: the Killers would no longer be online campers waiting for you at a hook, but turn into world bosses in an open world. You’re wandering aimlessly through a misty forest, and suddenly you hear your heartbeat speeding up—that sense of pressure just sounds delicious.

Let’s imagine it from a design perspective. If they really make it a Souls-like, the pacing changes instantly. Dead by Daylight right now is fast-paced mind games: heartbeat, blade flashes, pallet slams—it’s like watching a high-intensity livestream. A Souls-like, on the other hand, leans toward long-term torment: you have to memorize enemy moves, learn the map by heart, and every death is tuition you pay. If they can really build an open-world exploration system inside this horror universe, and layer on that feeling of being watched by the “Entity of the Fog,” and if they manage to max out that sense of integration, I’d gladly learn my lessons one death at a time. Even if I’m constantly being chased and beaten by Killers, I’d still want to clear all the side quests.

But we can’t just get hyped without thinking. Turning this dream into reality is anything but easy. The content volume and worldbuilding level of Elden Ring is the ceiling of Souls-likes. If they want to recreate something of similar scale under the Dead by Daylight setting, that’s basically turning the phrase “tip of the iceberg” into hard KPI targets. Not to mention the main game is still live: events, collaborations, balance changes—there’s a ton to handle. If they really spin up a new project, the team’s division of labor has to be extremely precise, otherwise it’s very easy to end up with a fatigued main game and half-baked spin-offs, which would be pretty awkward.

Looking at the numbers they’ve shared, the player base is around seventy million right now, and their long-term goal is to push toward that one-billion-user ceiling. That’s not just “keep the game going”; that’s building a cross-media empire. From board games to comics, then to movies, then branching into different game genres—this playbook strongly resembles the “big IP universe” strategy. For us players, the most direct benefit is: whatever style you like, you’ll probably find an entry point in this universe. Introverts can play the single-player Souls-like, extroverts can keep queuing to scare people, and story-lovers can go watch the movie and graphic novels.

While we’re here, a small suggestion for you guys: if you’re already a long-time Dead by Daylight player, this long-term plan is a clear positive—you can keep treating it as your regular social game and later see how the Souls-like spin-off and the movie turn out. If you’re a Souls-like fan who hasn’t touched the main game, you can just wait and see. When they officially announce the new project, check whether the combat feel and level design are worth your time. In any case, the studio has already gone as far as saying they “hope to keep celebrating anniversaries for the next ten years, and then plan for another twenty years after that.” Either they really will build a full-blown horror game universe for us, or this will go down as one of the boldest boasts in the industry. I’ve already pulled up a little stool—I’m in this for the long haul to see how this story plays out.