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It’s hard to play the killer in Dead by Daylight, and I’m not talking about skill. When you’re the 1 in a 1v4, there’s no fallback plan, no help, and no jungler to blame. You own your triumphs and your mistakes. Survivor feels rough, particularly in solo queue, but even then you have strangers to help shoulder the burden. It’s easier as a SWF because even if you’re getting bled out for four minutes by a tournament-skin Nurse, you can swap self-soothing jokes over Discord while the timer ticks down. Well, forget all that. Now there’s 2v8.
Dead by Daylight and the 2v8 Difference
Dead by Daylight‘s 2v8 mode is killer co-op, and I can’t imagine something more soothing in the game. It’s like finding out that the Freddy chasing you across RPD brought dream pallets: you’re not only safe, you’re cartoon safe. Of course, to anyone who’s played PvP games with random teammates, turning solo into a co-op affair might sound awful. It only takes a few bad or toxic players in Overwatch or LoL to achieve Hair Tearing Stage 1. You don’t need to grind to P100 to see it happen. Won’t 2v8 be even more stressful in DbD?
Expectations make a difference. Behaviour’s pitching 2v8 as a party mode. Much like the Light’s Out and My Little Oni modifiers, it’s trying to be fun and different, not balanced. 2v8 gives Nurse an extended lunge, reduced cooldown, and an extra Blink. Triple-buffing the game’s strongest character for no reason but the lols is a sign we should relax. Behaviour doesn’t take 2v8 seriously, and neither should we. Neither side should expect fair matches, and if you can accept that premise, 2v8 could be stress free. It’s not CS:GO. It’s a Mario Party minigame.
Generator Counts and Impossible Fun
Despite doubling the number of survivors and killers, 2v8 mode requires the completion of only 8 generators, not 10. Isolated from other variables, that doesn’t make sense. In normal matches, a Trapper or Wraith can lose multiple generators before getting their first hook, even with meta loadouts. Requiring fewer completed gens hands a huge advantage to survivors, but there are two big question marks. How much will the new class system and killer powers shift the balance? I can’t imagine the devs are counting on Nurse to carry every hapless Billy. So again, won’t 2v8 be even more stressful in DbD?
Despite the reduced gen count and random killer teammates of questionable ability and morals, I’m hopeful. 2v8 will be a limited-time event, but if all goes well, Behaviour could extend it. As an exhausted Hag and Unknown main, I need the psychic reshuffling this mode offers. Until now, the undeniable advantage of survivor over killer was the ability to join a SWF. Now that killers can bring a friend, Azarov’s and Mother’s Dwelling are about to get a lot less menacing. Instead of watching survivors dance at the exit gate, Billies can watch Huntresses practice their orbitals over the roof of the Thompson House. Honestly, it might be worth it just for that.
