Dead by Daylight has become a treasure trove for horror fans with its great crossovers with genre royalty. Its latest addition adds in content inspired by 1979’s Alien, which winds up being a natural fit for the 4v1 survival game. Made with incredible respect and love for the source material, this is the best Dead by Daylight chapter yet.
The true star of the Dead by Daylight Alien DLC is the Xenomorph, which is a new playable killer for the game. Behaviour Interactive did a great job of capturing the fear of the original movie — a seemingly unkillable beast stalking its prey and coming out of nowhere to inflict terror and damage. Potentially the deadliest killer yet, the Xenomorph is able to use tunnels to quickly traverse maps and gain the basic whereabouts of survivors. Its special Crawler Mode ability also increases the danger as it can stealthily move around and use its tail to attack at a longer range — although survivors can use moveable flame turrets as a defense mechanism that will disable its power.
As with nearly any change, it is worth noting that there have been some concerns about balancing from the community. I’m sure at the higher levels of play this might become an issue, but as a more casual player, it just makes the matches all the more thrilling. The Xenomorph is a fearsome foe that is a blast to play, and it feels like a real accomplishment whenever you survive an encounter. The odds are already stacked against survival when you’re up against an unkillable enemy, so I’ve always found the appeal in the fun and unique situations that come out of play sessions rather than being obsessed with winning or losing. Unless you’re highly competitive, I wouldn’t get hung up on these issues.
Also new to the Dead by Daylight Alien DLC is the iconic Ellen Ripley as a survivor. While the default look is from the 1979 film, there’s also a “Back in Action” outfit that uses her look from James Cameron’s Aliens that looks great as well (there are also some great skins for the Xenomorph that range from the Queen to the Grid Xenomorph from Alien vs. Predator). Ripley is a blast to use thanks to three unique perks that make her a viable survivor. My favorite is Light-Footed, which allows for running footsteps to be silent. That’s naturally super helpful, as is the ability to set chemical traps and to sense all your teammates and the closest generator when leaving a locker.
The Alien DLC also adds a free map for all players based on the movie called Nostromo Wreckage. This is a real highlight as it features some really great Easter eggs, such as a facehugger jump scare and the random chance of Ripley’s cat Jonesy being in the ship’s lockers. It looks fantastic — as you can go inside the ship and the surrounding planet you’ve crashed on — and is a lot of fun to play. There’s even a secret dead body that spawns, which has a keycard, that helps open a secret room that has an item and the MU/TH/UR 6000 inside. With how much detail Behaviour crammed in, you can tell that the developer clearly loves the franchise.
Dead by Daylight Alien Chapter DLC Review: The Final Verdict
Behaviour Interactive has really freshened up Dead by Daylight with its Alien DLC. The Xenomorph proves to be one of the game’s fiercest killers yet by adding new gameplay elements, which is all fitting given how terrifying it is in the 1979 movie. Fun to play and terrifying to go up against; it’s a perfect fit for an asymmetrical horror game. Ripley and the new stage are also great additions, and any fan of the franchise won’t regret picking up this DLC pack.
Disclosure: The publisher sent ComingSoon a code for our Dead by Daylight Alien Chapter DLC review.