Dead By Daylight: 5 Things Fans Miss About Old DBD

Dead by Daylight's 7th-anniversary Twisted Masquerade celebration is right around the corner, and we're nearing a decade in horror with the iconic 4v1 asymmetrical game. Over the years, the game has seen a lot of changes, with new characters being added to The Fog, some being removed, and a variety of gameplay mechanics switching up completely.

While a lot of content has been added to Dead by Daylight in the past 7 years, some has been removed for a variety of reasons, too. Long-time Dead by Daylight players will remember a lot of features that were once in the game but are no longer a part of it.

Let's take a look at some of the things veteran players might miss most about old Dead by Daylight, and what's in store for the game's future.

5 Things We Miss About Old Dead By Daylight

5. Retired Offerings (New Moon Bouquet, Splinters)

Several offerings in Dead by Daylight's history have now been retired. New Moon Bouquets altered the moonlight of a map, making trials darker than they would otherwise be; while this was a scary and fun mechanic in many players' eyes, it wasn't viable in the long term for developers to manage. These offerings could make maps too dark, causing accessibility issues and strained gameplay for many players, and making it harder for developers to control the lighting on their own maps. As a result, they were eventually disabled.

"The usage of these Offerings could have a lot of impact on the lighting of each map," Behaviour explained in the 1.8.2 patch notes when the offerings were disabled. "We needed more control over the exact lighting we decide to set in each map in order to ensure a good experience, and these offerings were making this harder."

The now-retired Splinter Offerings were an Iridescent-rarity offering that allowed players to play a single game as a specific licensed character they did not own, though they could not equip any perks or add-ons. For example, playing the Black Splinter offering would spawn players in as The Shape no matter what killer they selected, while the Glass Splinter allowed players to play as The Pig. These offerings were a fun mechanic and allowed players to experiment with new killers, but were disabled in the 3.6.0 update for unknown reasons.

4. Bloodweb Mystery Boxes

Bloodweb mystery boxes added a little bit of further surprise to what you'd find in the already-RNG-based Bloodwebs, only showing players the rarity of the item inside - but not the item itself - until players selected it in the Bloodweb and opened it.

When Bloodwebs were reworked, this feature was removed; however, sometimes developers bring back special limited-edition event mystery boxes during celebrations, so it's not entirely impossible for new players to check them out. Among these event mystery boxes are Winter Gifts during the Winter Event, Anniversary Events during the Anniversary Event (such as the upcoming 7th anniversary), and Halloween Treats during October's Haunted by Daylight.

3. Stranger Things License And Hawkins Laboratory Map

Dead by Daylight's Stranger Things chapter is arguably one of the most exciting and well-received chapters to come to the game, giving players the chance to play as Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, and The Demogorgon as they explore the Underground Complex in Hawkins National Laboratory. The Demogorgon's power allows him to create Portals to the Upside-Down, through which he can traverse to sneak up on survivors and attack them.

Unfortunately, the license was eventually removed from the game just a little over two years after it was added, with all of the Stranger Things characters and their cosmetics being removed from the store. Players who purchased any of the Stranger Things characters prior to 17 November 2021 are still able to play Nancy, Steve, and The Demogorgon - which is why you might see these licensed characters still running around in your trials - but they've been removed from the in-game store indefinitely, meaning new players won't be able to get their hands on them.

New players will also not get to experience the Hawkins Laboratory Map, since it was taken out of rotation, and players who owned Hawkins Laboratory Map offerings were refunded in Bloodpoints when the chapter was removed. If you're a newer player hoping to experience the Stranger Things chapter, though, don't lose hope; there's still lots of speculation that Stranger Things might return to Ded by Daylight.

2. More Flashlight Interactions

While this change is a very recent one, it's one that shook up the meta of the game and has frustrated much of the survivor side of the player community. Survivors were once able to use Flashlights to engage in a wide variety of killer interactions, ranging from destroying The Artist's birds to rendering The Hag's traps unusable, to light-burning and stunning The Wraith and The Nurse out of their powers. 

While most of these interactions were in the game from the very beginning - notably, light-burning Wraith - they eventually proved a little too powerful for survivors who were able to effectively use their item. As a result, developers took these Flashlight interactions out of the game in Chapter 28: End Transmission, with the addition of The Singularity. Of course, survivors can still use Flashlights to save fellow survivors from the killer's grasp and to stun the killer by blinding them.

1. Old Events

While Dead by Daylight is always introducing new events to the game, there are a series of old events that veteran players would love to come back. One of those is the Scorching Summer BBQ; but thankfully, it sounds like this seasonal celebration is coming back in 2023, according to some hints at the game's 7th-anniversary broadcast and in the Year 8 Roadmap.

The Future Of Dead By Daylight

Dead by Daylight has changed a lot since Behaviour Interactive first released the game back in 2016, and it's continuing to heavily shift with every new update, including the addition of new characters, changes to maps, brand new perks, quality of life updates, and more. As the years go by, developers are making an effort not just to add new content to the game, but bring more balance to existing mechanics.

If you're curious about what the future of Dead by Daylight looks like following all of the changes developers have made in the past, you'll want to take a look at the Year 8 Roadmap unveiled during the 7th anniversary live stream.