Dead By Daylight 10th Anniversary Event Proves Classic Horror is Here to Stay

2 hours ago 2

Published Jun 19, 2026, 2:32 PM EDT

Laurence Wall is a Contributor at DualShockers who has been writing professionally since 2022 and covering games since 2023. He primarily writes guides and lists, with a focus on indie games, RPGs, ARPGs, Soulslikes, MMOs, card games, boss fights, and detailed tutorials.

Before joining DualShockers, Laurence worked as a game reviewer for Movies, Games and Tech. He also co-founded and served as a contributor liaison for a university creative writing magazine, where he was one of the publication’s principal contributors. Laurence holds a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.

The 10th anniversary event for Dead by Daylight has come and gone, and those of us lucky enough to have been there were blessed with a boatload of tantalising new details about the future of this beloved game.

The Dualshockers team was invited by Behaviour Interactive for a tour of the Montreal studio, a chance to talk to the lead devs, and, of course, the opportunity to enjoy the 10th anniversary event. I couldn’t say no to that, could I?

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What followed was an action-packed weekend, full of surprises and fascinating conversations. While Dead by Daylight has indeed had a brilliant first 10 years, it seems as though the best is yet to come! Let me share a bit of what I learned and a glimpse of DbD’s glistening and gory future!

The Studio Tour

On Saturday 13th, I set off for the Behaviour Interactive Studio over in Montreal. It was here that I got a sneak peek at all the goodies to come at the event the following day.

After the major announcements, we were shown around the offices, getting a glimpse of Behaviour’s full timeline of game production along with brilliant pieces of art showcasing every single update in the history of DbD.

Imagine my surprise when I came back into the meeting area and saw the Huntress and the Nurse, two brilliant renditions of the in-game character models, brandishing their blood-soaked weapons at us! For photos, of course, we weren’t in any immediate danger!

A bit later in the day, I spoke with Dave Richard and Mathieu Côté, with a ton of burning questions in mind, to get an inside peek at the creative process from the minds of its lead developers. I came away from the chat with a smile on my face, knowing that the future of Dead by Daylight is in safe hands. If you want to read the full interview, check out the link above!

The Anniversary Event

Light turned to dark as the remains of the day fell away, and I slept knowing full well that everyone heading to the event was going to have an absolute blast! But just what was in store for these awaiting fans?

Well, as I wandered inside, the fog, quite fittingly, enveloped me, and I stared in awe at the huge event space that had been set up. Blood-soaked models of killers and hooks were dotted around the hall, the claws of the Entity, bursting from the ground, merch stalls, meet-and-greets and claw machines all awaited gleeful fans.

You could head over to the Indie game space to get a glimpse of some upcoming horror titles, or sit down and play some board games for a breather. The most spectacular thing I saw, however, was the interactive panoramic screen, which showed a selection of Dead by Daylight's most iconic killers all trapped behind glass.

An ominous red light shone down from above, and if you were confident enough to step into it, you’d see a unique animation play out, or the killer would even lunge forward, trying to break from their confinement. It was ridiculously cool, and I spent far too long simply watching all the animations play out!

Of course, I had to leave eventually, when I soon realised this was just the first room of many. Add to this a full-on gaming room where you could test the newest Killer, Jason, an art gallery with bundles of concept art, a huge outdoor concert stage and even a special escape room experience. It certainly kept me and the thousands of fans there busy all day.

As we all awaited the livestream, I managed to watch some panels hosted by some of the DbD devs, covering everything from cosmetic and character design to a particularly fascinating talk on sound design and the elements that add fear and suspense to a game like DbD. However, finally, the darkness began to encroach, and the Livestream began in earnest.

10th Anniversary Announcements

Brand New Content

So what does the future of Dead by Daylight look like? Well, here’s a quick look at everything that was announced:

A new survivor, named Shane Wiigwaas, was announced as part of the new “Life Road” chapter, due June 25th.
The first-ever community chapter, called the Chorus of Sin, comes on August 25th.
A new map, based on a Mall and the concept of liminal spaces, comes in Dead by Daylight’s 11th year.
A whole new Anniversary event, called the Black Banquet, is on the way. Each trial will feature 2 courses, where survivors can gather ingredients to change the match in mysterious ways. All the while, killers will be poisoning the feast while hunting their prey.
A full chapter continuing the events of The Casting of Frank Stone is set to arrive in March 2027.
New details regarding the Dead by Daylight movie were also announced. The movie will be produced by Blumhouse/Atomic and directed by Thordur Palsson.
Finally, we received a surprise: a new chapter featuring Art the Clown from the Terrifier movies is coming this November.

Collections and Cosmetics

Naturally, on top of new content, we were blessed with a whole host of shiny new cosmetics to get our claws stuck into:

An Iron Maiden/Huntress Legendary cosmetic
A desert-themed Sunflesh Collection due in one of the upcoming Rifts.
2 Walking Dead Legendary Outfits featuring Glenn and Negan.
New cosmetics in relation to Silent Hill F, with a Legendary Hinako outfit and a Bubble Head Nurse Outfit.
A Diablo-themed collection is coming, with the first cosmetic showing Lilith.
A Scooby-Doo collection is also on the way.
An entire music video featuring Ice Nine Kills was shown, which also includes band T-shirts for the Survivors and masks for Legion.

The Future of Dead by Daylight

If all of that wasn’t already enough, we got some absolutely massive news about updates that will change the entire playing field. The team announced that they wanted to be a bit more open with these new announcements, deciding to show us features that are still pretty early on in development. Transparency with the players was a crucial part of future plans.

The biggest of these was the major graphical update coming in late 2027. Not only will this improve graphical fidelity by reworking character models and maps, but it will also bring it more in line with modern releases. This is pretty important for the new player's onboarding experience.

The audio is getting a major rework, too, improving realism and immersion while adding new voicelines for older characters that aren’t as fleshed out. On top of this is the introduction of a dynamic weather system that allows variations of rain, wind, snow, and other conditions to affect the trials.

The team announced that they wanted to be a bit more open with these new announcements, deciding to show us features that are still pretty early on in development. Transparency with the players was a crucial part of future plans.

In terms of game modes, we’re going to see an official 1v1 mode, as well as a zombie mode in early development. And if all that got you itching to create some content of your own, the Devs are also working on a whole suite of modding tools, so players can create their own parallel version of DbD, unbound by the rules and regulations of the original.

Phew! That was a lot, right? The future of Dead by Daylight is shaping up to be pretty incredible, so honestly, there’s no better time to jump in than now! Draw the curtains and turn down the lights, because the killers are here, and you’re in for a fright!