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During a recent Twitch stream, Behaviour Interactive laid out the 2024 roadmap for Dead by Daylight updates. The developer has maintained an aggressive schedule, releasing new characters and perks every three months in addition to smaller updates every six weeks. Based on the roadmap, 2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the game, with a large number of buffs, nerfs, QoL improvements, and overall changes coming our way. Unfortunately, there are a few red flags on this roadmap that should signal to every player that there are potholes ahead. Whether you’re a hardcore Huntress main or casually Survive with Friends, here are the reasons Dead by Daylight‘s 2024 roadmap should worry you.
Dead by Daylight 2024 Roadmap Explained
Dead by Daylight‘s 2024 update roadmap is roughly divided into three areas: perk updates, killer updates, and QoL / gameplay changes. These changes range from much-demanded Bloodweb improvements and the addition of an FOV slider to a solution for tricky 3-gen situations. Though the 3-gen solution is problematic and will prove difficult to balance, the other QoL changes should be a net positive for players. The Bloodweb is notoriously slow and cumbersome, and some players have reported motion sickness-like symptoms as a result of the game’s FOV, so updates in those areas are great news.
Problems only start arising when we look at the planned perk and killer updates. Dead by Daylight has always struggled with balance issues, and that’s not surprising. It’s an asymmetrical game, after all, and keeping things fun and fair in a 4v1 is anything but easy. Nonetheless, Behaviour has proven unwilling or unable to fix some core issues during the game’s lifespan, preferring to roll out pricy skins instead. In some ways, what’s missing from the 2024 update roadmap is even more worrisome than what’s there. Grim Embrace, Save the Best for Last, and Quick Gambit are getting tweaks. Yet dozens of other weak and OP perks are getting ignored.
Killer Tweaks and Updates
There’s an extensive list of killers getting either updates or reworks in 2024. Almost a third of the game’s killer roster is scheduled for some kind of change next year. Some are easy to understand, others not so much. The Twins are getting a rework because they’re notoriously buggy and suffer punishing cooldowns, resulting in Charlotte and Victor having the lowest pick rate in the game. The Blight, meanwhile, is scheduled for a long-overdue add-on pass. Alchemist’s Ring, Adrenaline Vial, and other OP add-ons have maintained his position as the second-strongest killer in the game for years. At long last Behaviour seems ready to fix these characters.
Yet several of the characters selected for tweaks don’t make sense. Huntress, Demogorgon, and Doctor stand out the most. Demogorgon is considered by many to be one of the most balanced characters in the entire game. Further, there are few issues with Huntress and Doctor in terms of their basekit and add-ons. The decision to fiddle with balanced characters is baffling when there are characters like Freddy and Myers who desperately need a rework. The Shape is one of the weakest characters in the game unless he uses his Tombstone add-ons to instantly mori a survivor, yet he gets skipped over in favor of changing Huntress? It’s a strange and worrisome decision.
The Nurse Problem in Dead by Daylight
If there’s one character who needs to be on Dead by Daylight‘s 2024 roadmap more than any other, it’s Sally Smithson. The Nurse has maintained her spot as the strongest killer in the game since her release, despite a series of nerfs. The developer seemingly has little intention of changing that. The Nurse is fun to play, but her ability to Blink through objects fundamentally breaks most gameplay. Arguably the biggest issue is that Nurse’s mere existence prevents the developers from buffing a huge number of perks that need it. Behaviour can’t buff most perks because they would instantly become OP on Nurse. The solution is obvious: rework Nurse’s power to nerf it so that perks are no longer gatekept.
If you want to blame something, blame statistics. Behavior has made it clear that statistics such as kill rates play a huge role in its decision-making. The Nurse consistently has one of the lowest kill rates in the game. Why? Because she proves challenging for new players to learn compared to someone like Chucky, resulting in many games in which every survivor escapes her. Why should Dead by Daylight‘s 2024 roadmap should worry you? Because it’s evidence that Behaviour is still letting a spreadsheet do the thinking. That’s a problem for survivors and killers alike. Maybe there will be some surprises, but right now it looks like we should all be bracing ourselves for another round of Pig nerfs instead.
Dead by Daylight is available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch.
