You read that headline right! Dead by Daylight and Five Nights at Freddy’s, two of the most celebrated horror games in history, are joining forces to deliver a new experience in the former’s game setting. This team-up between these two thrill providing games seems a bit late…
But better late than never!
Dead by Daylight is an online multiplayer game that features various player vs. player horror environments in which one player is the killer, and four others are trapped within the environment and must hide from the killer. This is not the only gimmick the game has. Dead by Daylight also features cooperative gameplay between those evading the killer. Escaping the environment alive is the name of the game.
There are also puzzles to activate in each environment that can defeat the killer. The game has been massively popular for a number of years now due to the variety of playable characters and maps. The development team behind the game have also stayed in contact with the playerbase, going so far as to allow players to submit new killer designs and holding numerous polls to determine an overall winner.
RELATED: ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ Review – Intricate Animatronics Dominate Diluted Horror
Similarly, Five Nights at Freddy’s takes inspiration from the jumpscare genre of horror. In the setting of the game you are the new employee of a security company in charge of monitoring a long-abandoned children’s pizzeria. (It looks suspiciously like a Bizarro Chuck E. Cheese, or for you older folks, ShowBiz.) The game began as a first person timing challenge game where players were tasked with not only surveying the horrors within the haunted restaurant, but also surviving the animatronics remaining from the active days of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
The game also features a limited-use, self-recharging battery that powers the environment’s traps and countermeasures for use against the baddies. The game’s functionality would eventually evolve to allow players to explore the restaurant, and eventually added new characters. This is where players discover the mayhem taking place inside the pizzeria is all because of “purple man”. The spirit causing the animatronics to rise with a bloodthirst uncharacteristic for happy fun time birthday party robots is none other than the original owner of the restaurant.
The biggest reveal in the game was the addition of Springtrap: a decayed and demented version of a previously revealed animatronic “Spring Bonnie”. Springtrap, however, wasn’t like Freddie, Chica, Foxy, or the other animatronic threats. This character was very disturbing to look at and even featured an exposed interior featuring a decaying human body.
It’s in Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 that we finally learn that the original owner of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, William Afton, used the Spring Bonnie animatronic as a costume to disguise himself and murder children that attended parties at his restaurant. The story that unfolds through gameplay tells us that William’s malevolence makes the other animatronics hostile, almost as though they are either tethered to his murderous desires, or if they are rising and destroying any adult they find in an attempt to protect the child victims of Afton.
It’s speculated by fans that the team-up between the two franchises will result in Springtrap being the latest killer that ‘The Entity’ captures and lets loose in it’s domain. There’s also speculation whether Springtrap will also come up in a custom FNAF themed map, and what his special attacks may be due to the lore of the game surrounding itself so deeply with the physical power of the dead.
The official release is set for 2025. It’s unclear if this will be released near Halloween for that extra spooky-doo power boost, or if it will release during the summer hype schedule. What is clear is that the collaboration sits between Five Nights at Freddy’s 10th anniversary in 2023, and Dead by Daylight’s 10th anniversary in 2026. Perhaps this marks a new chapter in the franchise that will live on for another 10 years. You’ll have to keep playing to find out!
Happy hunting!
