Summary
Dead by Daylight’s latest playable test beta has raised some significant fears for the future of one memorable killer. While the changes that make it to the PTB are not always concrete, they are a good indicator of the direction that the developers have in mind for a killer, perk, or mechanic. Tweaking older features is natural in order to keep the game evolving and feeling fresh without older characters and perks falling behind, but this process is by no means perfect. If some ofDead by Daylight’s PTB changes go through, they could have devastating effects for one killer.
One good example of a rework would beDead by Daylight’s Legion killer. The changes made to Legion’s kit not only made it more intuitive to play, but also added their mixtape add-ons as chase music. The end result was one of the best reworks thatDead by Daylighthad seen to date, giving The Legion a significant boost in popularity and utility. There are still more killers that fans are waiting to see reworks for, usually to strengthen weaker killers. What makes the PTB so important is that it lets players test these changes before they go live.
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Among the killers, Sadako is not in an enviable spot.Sadako joinedDead by Daylightin a crossoveralongside an adult version of Yoichi fromRingu. She’s a strategic killer whose main quirks are demanifesting for stealth purposes, teleporting through TVs, and being able to instantly kill a survivor who becomes fully Condemned. However, she’s on the lower scale of power for killers, largely thanks to her lack of power in chases and Condemned being highly unreliable without a specific setup. Sadako is finally seeing a rework in the latest PTB, but her changes have been negatively received due to their effects.
The changes for Sadako in the PTB have the potential to utterly destroy her viability in-game.Michael Myers' abilities inDead by Daylightshow how powerful an instant kill is, which lead to Sadako’s Condemn mechanic being rebalanced. She now spreads Condemn at a slow rate to every survivor on the map when she teleports, except for those holding tapes, who gain stacks for being hit and hooked. However, as a trade-off, Survivors now have no Condemn build-up for taking tapes from her TVs, and can return them to any TV on the map rather than a specific one, making avoiding Condemned very easy.
These changes are devastating to Sadako’s utility. Interacting with tapes let Survivors shut off TVs for 90 seconds, taking away Sadako’s ability to teleport.Dead by Daylight’s upcoming changesbasically let survivors turn off Sadako’s powers at will, making her far more difficult to play when she wasn’t strong to begin with. Even worse, a useful add-on for her stealth gameplay called Reiko’s Watch was made weaker, while the Iridescent Videotape has been changed to resemble her old power. As a result, Iridescent Videotape would go from being a strong add-on for Sadako to being virtually required for her to have a chance.
The reaction to the rework, especially from fans of Sadako, has been heavily negative, and it’s not difficult to see why. This rework makes Sadako possibly the worst killer in the game. WithDead by Daylight’s 7th anniversaryrecently passing, fans should be in a celebratory mood. Instead, a good portion of the fanbase is worried for the future of a well-liked licensed killer. These changes can still be reverted, and hopefully they will be by the PTB’s end. Sadako is a fun killer inDead by Daylight, and these changes would take a lot of enjoyment out of playing her.
Dead by Daylightis available now for Mobile, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
