Dead By Daylight All Kill Review: Is Trickster Worth Buying

Dead by Daylight's All Kill chapter features iconic K-Pop star The Trickster and his producer Yun-Jin Lee; while these unique characters have been in the game for a few years now, they've recently seen a major rework. This heavy Trickster rework has turned many fans' eyes back to the killer - but is he worth playing and buying in 2023 after the changes?

Let's take a deeper look at Dead by Daylight's All-Kill chapter, and whether you should consider purchasing the killer The Trickster and survivor Yun-Jin Lee.

Dead By Daylight All Kill Review

All-Kill Boasts Unique Aesthetics & Lore

While many of Dead by Daylight's original chapters have been controversial among players due to balance issues or other problems during the PTB, few have been as much so as All-Kill when it was released. While some players instantly fell for The Trickster and his strange tendency to record his victim's screams, others believed that his bright, vibrant look contrasted the game's dark, eerie vibe too drastically.

Despite the community's mixed feelings on Trickster and Yun-Jin's release, All-Kill has become an all-important part of Dead by Daylight (pun intended),featuring faces that have become fan favorites. Behaviour Interactive hasn't held back in delving into their lore and connections to one another in the game's tomes, making these characters significantly more interesting as time goes on. It's hard not to fall in love with The Trickster and his story when you see the gorgeous, fully-animated intro movie developers created for him, using a vibrant anime style that looks unlike the game's typical aesthetic.

To suit his vibrant personality and love for eccentric looks, Trickster also has a wide range of cosmetics available in neon colors. For players who like a more "in-your-face" look compared to more visually low-key characters like The Trapper, The Trickster is an incredibly fun choice. Most of his cosmetics allow for mixing and matching, too, allowing for even more eye-catching looks for this character.

Trickster Killer Gameplay Is Better Than Ever

Where All-Kill veers from Dead by Daylight's usual dark aesthetics, it also breaks the mold in terms of gameplay. The Trickster's ranged attacks work unlike any other killer in the roster, allowing him to hurl sharp knives at survivors at a rapid rate. His power lends itself to uniquely fast-paced ranged gameplay and could have been a real hit from the start -  but despite his interesting ability, on release and for a long while after, many players struggled to consider Trickster a viable killer in mid-to-high-tier gameplay.

His knives came with a recoil that was, according to developers, entirely random and did not depend on skill. It took a slurry of accurately thrown knives on multiple survivors to earn your Main Event (Trickster's "ultimate" ability), and when you did earn it, you had a very limited window to actually use it. To make things even worse, Trickster moved slower than your average killer, making it hard to catch up to survivors. Players using controllers reported that it was even harder to control the character's finicky attacks on consoles.

The issues after Trickster's release resulted in small tweaks over time, but developers eventually bit the bullet and gave Trickster a huge rework in 2023. This rework not only sped up Trickster's base speed and removed his knives' recoil, but also allowed him to gain Main Event significantly more quickly, allowing him to pose a real threat to survivors in chase. Trickster's recent rework makes him a truly viable killer for what might just be the first time ever since his release, making this a great time to purchase the All-Kill chapter.

All-Kill Survivor & Killer Perks

If you choose to buy the whole All-Kill chapter - which comes with both Trickster and Yun-Jin - you'll also receive each character's three personal perks. The Trickster's Hex: Crowd Control isn't particularly strong on many killers, but Starstruck is a different story; it can totally shut down a team going for flashlight blinds or sabotages, while No Way Out is a fun perk to use on any killer when you're looking to protect those exit gates last-minute and throw in a fun (for you) plot twist.

Yun-Jin Lee's perks aren't quite as strong as Trickster's, with Self-Preservation going largely unused by many players. However, Fast Track can help you gain generator progress rapidly, especially when paired with other generator repair speed perks. Smash Hit, on the other hand, is an all-around great Exhaustion perk that'll help you escape after stunning the killer.

Both characters' perks require some skill to use and are relatively useful, but they're not totally game-changing in any capacity. If you're looking to buy characters solely for their perks, I'd recommend selecting The Nurse or The Blight on the killer side, or Laurie Strode and David King for survivors.

All-Kill Chapter Review Verdict: A "Killer" Chapter

All in all, All Kill is a "killer" chapter, especially after Trickster's 2023 rework. Trickster has always boasted a unique and quite fun mechanic with his high-speed throwing knives, but many players found them hard to use when he was first released. Now that he's been reworked to be even faster and more efficient, Trickster is more worth mastering than ever. That's not to mention that he and Yun-Jin are both incredibly visually unique, which will draw many players in.

That said, neither character's perks are the best, so if you're only purchasing DLCs for characters' perks, you might want to skip out on this chapter and instead get those perks from the Shrine of Secrets.

Rating: 7/10

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