For those of you out there that love horror endeavors as much as you love gaming, I am sure you’ve seen Dead by Daylight. The asymmetric title developed by Behavior Interactive has been scaring the daylights out of survivors since June of last year. To keep fans happy for the past year, a slew of free and paid DLC has been released, adding maps, characters, and most importantly killers. Shhhhhh. This is A Lullaby For The Dark.
A Lullaby For The Dark introduces a new Killer – The Huntress. What happens when a small girl has to raise herself in the Russian woods? After Anna’s mother died protecting her, she was left to fend for herself. This brought out her animalistic side, and also apparently her “nurturing” side. Read more about her lore down below.
Her Killer Power adds a new dynamic: ranged combat. The Huntress will bring 5 hatchets to use from a distance. Are those pesky survivors running away? Worry no more! Simply lob a friendly hatchet towards them and POOF. No more problems. Along with this, she can read survivors’ auras when they enter the basement, she can cause the red stain to disappear once bloodlust kicks in, and most importantly she sings a horrifying lullaby. If anyone is in the terror radius, a failed skill check will give a regression penalty. With each hook of a survivor, the lullaby grows in power, meaning the time between the check and the sound warning becomes shorter. Along with this it is a sound effect. The Huntress will hum her lullaby, keep in mind she is still a child a heart, as she roams the stage. Survivors will hear her sing her Russian tune before they see her, as well as before the heartbeat sound and red stain. This adds to the atmosphere.
The new survivor, David King, will also add new ways to play. The first new skill is I Got You, Son! This gives a 50% bonus to Bloodpoints for being a rescuer, or being a protector. This goes in tandem with the most important part of Mr. King: Line Break. This allows David to run in, get hurt by the Killer, and with a jolt of adrenaline, burst away from the killer with immunity. This can be used to save teammates or yourself. The last perk is a mystery as for the usefulness, but could be interesting. With Just A Scratch, you will start handicapped. You cannot heal, and you start off injured. However, you are able to recover from the dying state, it reduces the noise your character makes from being injured, and it stops pools of blood from forming. This could be a detriment overall, or an awesome playstyle. Only time will tell.
The map is the least described of this pack. It is the woods that Anna grew up in, as well as her house. Not much more information but enough to paint the image. All of this will be added for free for PC this Thursday, 7/27/17. Console releases will be in the coming weeks. So what do you think? Are you excited to try this new killer? Do you think the new perks are OP? Let us know, and hopefully we will see you in the woods!
Killer Bio: The Huntress
As soon as Anna was able to walk, her mother started teaching her how to survive a harsh, solitary life in the northern woods. Living in such an extremely remote and dangerous area required skill and resilience. When sunlight became too dim for productive activities, they would take refuge in their house, a sturdy old cabin constructed to resist the toughest winters. Close to the hearth’s warmth, Anna would rest in her mother’s arms, surrounded by the few wooden toys and masks she had crafted for her. Drifting off to sleep with stories and lullabies, she dreamt happy dreams, ignorant of the events that would soon change everything.
Anna and her mother were stalking a great elk through the woods. They knew it was dangerous prey, but it had been a particularly difficult winter and they were almost out of food. The specter of starvation frightened them more than any forest creature. Without warning, the elk reared, bellowed and charged at Anna. She was paralyzed with fear as the whole world seemed to shake under the immense beast’s pounding hooves. The elk was close enough for Anna to see the murderous fury in its eyes when her mother threw herself in its path, ax in hand. A bloodcurdling scream escaped from her lips as the elk impaled her upon its antlers and hoisted her into the air. With all her strength, she brought her axe down on its head again and again while it tried to shake her loose. With a sickening crack, the antlers snapped and Anna’s mother was free. The beast collapsed.
Anna was too small to move her mother’s broken body, so she sat with her in the clearing where she had fallen. To distract her from the dying elk’s cries, Anna’s mother held her and hummed her favorite lullaby. They stayed like that, the huntress and the elk getting quieter and colder, until Anna was alone in the silent forest. Eventually she stood up and started the long walk back home.
Still a child, she knew just enough about life in the frozen forest to survive. She followed her instincts and became one with the wild. She got older and stronger and practiced her hunt. As she grew into a dangerous predator, her humanity became a half-remembered dream.
She widened her territory and lived off her hunts. She worked her way up through squirrels and hares and mink and foxes. Eventually she grew tired of them and hunted more dangerous animals like wolves and bears. When unsuspecting travelers came through her woods, she discovered her new favorite prey: humans. Unlucky souls who strayed into her territory were slaughtered like any other animal. She liked to collect their tools and colorful garments and especially toys when there were little ones. But she could never bring herself to kill the little girls.
Girls she would take back to her house, deep in the woods. They were precious, and looking at them woke up something deep in her heart. She craved the closeness of a loved one, a child of her own. Among the pillaged wooden toys, dolls and story books she couldn’t read, the girls would be tied by the neck with a rough and chafing rope fastened firmly to the wall. She couldn’t let them wander off, or they would surely die outside.
Every time, the girls would waste away and die of cold or starvation or sickness. Every time, it plunged Anna deeper into pain and sorrow and madness. She was compelled to try again, and started raiding the nearest villages to slaughter families and kidnap their daughters. She wore one of the animal masks her mother crafted for her so many years earlier to try to calm the frightened children. Villagers spread the legend of a half-beast lurking in Red Forest: The Huntress, who killed men and ate little girls.
War eventually came to the forest. German soldiers began to pass through, on the march to attack the collapsing Russian Empire. During these dark times, there were no more travelers. The villagers had abandoned their homes, and no more little ones to be found; only soldiers. Many of them were found with violent ax wounds. Whole groups disappeared mysteriously. Once the war was over, the rumors of The Huntress disappeared with it, engulfed by the Red Forest.
