Dead by Daylight's 8th Anniversary Was Its Best Yet

Dead by Daylight has revealed all of the Tryks up its sleeve for the game's 8th anniversary, and they've managed to make the latest Twisted Masquerade the best one yet. This year's celebration draws a lot of inspiration from previous years’ events, but it doesn't feel like it's been done before. That's mainly because of the all-new Tryk Cards, which change throughout the match and modify gameplay, and Invitations, which have truly game-changing powers.

Invitations empower killers with the ability to remotely Hook survivors after picking them up, preventing the need to walk to a hook. Survivors can block vaults, create single-use pallets, and silence their footsteps with the all-new 'Quiet Mode.' These effects are pretty impactful on the match for both killers and survivors, and how you use them can easily dictate who wins the trial - but the killers' Remote Hook might just be the most powerful of them all, pretty much freeing killers from the need to worry about flashlight saves or stuns.

Meanwhile, Tryk Cards can do anything from speeding up both the Killer and the survivors significantly, to causing everyone to immediately lose or gain an invitation. This adds a lot of fun - and chaos - to trials, even if it isn't exactly fair.

But it doesn't seem like it particularly wants to be balanced or fair - the anniversary game mode strives to be fun rather than competitive, and that's something that a lot of Dead by Daylight players The cards are accompanied by a sassy and mysterious NPC named Tryks, also known as The Mad Designer; she can be both seen and heard in matches, making them feel all the more interactive. Draw certain Tryks cards with a negative effect, and she'll mockingly say, "That’s kinda not fair… dontchya think?" 

This year's anniversary not only introduces some awesome lore elements with the introduction of Tryks herself, it also switches up gameplay in ways that players have been asking for. DBD's 8th anniversary event might leave competitive players switching back to the regular queue, but for those who enjoy the "party game" style fun that only customs can usually offer, 2024's Twisted Masquerade will have you jumping into trial after trial. Just as players - including myself - hoped that Chaos Shuffle would be permanent, I can already foresee the community hoping to be able to play with Tryk Cards year-round.