Sadako may be on her way to Dead by Daylight—at least that’s what we’re assuming based on Behaviour’s tease of Ringu and that we’re not getting her American alternate, Samara. Chapter 23 will bring Koji Suzuki’s iconic horror work to The Fog in of March next year in a collaboration that both Killer and Survivor mains have begged for these last few years.
Behaviour and the team at Kadokawa Cooperation are keeping details close to their chest for now, but there are at least a few interesting bits you can infer from the Dead by Daylight blog post, trailer, and a little familiarity with Ringu. If you’ve never seen the genre-defining Japanese horror series, the stand-out beats are that ominous well, the telephone ring, and Behaviour’s mention of a television flicker in the description. Also, please watch Ringu.
Western audiences may be more familiar with The Ring, an adaptation of the original Japanese movie, Ringu, and based on the novel from Suzuki. The crux of the tale follows those unlucky few who wind up watching Sadako’s cursed VHS and get her ominous call after. Seven days later, the little demon girl comes crawling out of a well on any nearby television screen to unalive her victims. It’s a lot and was probably one of the most frightening movies I remember from my childhood, but Ringu is a classic, and its influences on modern horror permeate through work around the world.
Dead by Daylight touts itself as the Horror Hall of Fame, and with a reputation like that, Sadako seems to be the most fitting addition to the roster we’ve seen in a while. It’s hard to imagine how she’ll work, but Behaviour has made other drastic tweaks to the game before to make other strange Killer choices feel more at home. Resident Evil’s Nemesis even saw additional enemies added to Dead by Daylight maps in the form of creepy, wandering zombies.
The asymmetrical horror game is definitely among my favorites this year, and despite counting myself among those begging for Ringu, it’s hard to go back to Dead by Daylight right now. Back in October, the studio launched its Hellraiser chapter, and excitement for the addition came to a screeching halt as its partners for the collaboration wound up using the in-game model for NFTs. The models don’t unlock anything extra for players in Dead by Daylight, so you aren’t missing content by not buying into Hellraiser NFTs, but Behaviour ultimately did play some part in bringing Pinhead NFTs to life.
Behaviour later clarified on Twitter, insisting they don’t sell NFTs and that they will never add blockchain tech to Dead by Daylight. While all of that can be true, a poor choice in a business partner is still a poor choice, and you don’t have to work with everyone. I haven’t played Dead by Daylight since the whole ordeal, and I’m not sure when I will again, but my hope is that studio leadership can offer a better plan and apology going forward.
