Back in May, Behaviour Interactive teased a new singleplayer horror game e19 set in the Dead by Daylight universe being developed by Supermassive Games, the studio behind Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and The Quarry. Tonight at The Game Awards, that game was formally unveiled as The Casting of Frank Stone, a narrative-focused game that promises "an unprecedented look at the wider world of Dead by Daylight."
Frank Stone does not sound like he was a good dude. Details are light but the Behaviour Interactive announcement references such thing as "his violent past," his "blood-soaked legacy," and of course, "the gruesome crimes of a sadistic killer," which "spawn horrors beyond comprehension" in the Oregon steel town of Cedar Hills—horrors that will soon be uncovered by a group of young friends, likely with unfortunate (but entirely predictable) results.
Unlike Dead by Daylight, a multiplayer game of cat-and-mouse that's simply about staying alive (or, if you're playing as the killer, ensuring that doesn't happen), The Casting of Frank Stone is focused primarily on story. The trailer doesn't reveal anything about how the game will play, but "every decision you make shapes the story and impacts the fate of the characters within it," Behaviour Interactive said in the announcement. "Brimming with emotional gut-punches and high-stakes horror, discover how a simple decision can become a truly heart-wrenching dilemma.
"For players who find comfort in the unknown, and glee in the grotesque, Supermassive Games' cinematic storytelling brings new levels of emotion, immersion, and intensity to this darkly rich universe."
In a way, this kind of Dead by Daylight experience is overdue. As we said in our 2021 review, the original game has evolved over the years—it launched in 2016—from "an outrageously silly Halloween romp" to something far deeper and more engaging. Mechanics, builds, and tactics are the focus, but there's a lot of underlying lore that ties together the game's disparate lineup of psycho killers. Story is never going to be front-and-center when you're trying betdog to avoid a grisly death at the hands of a rampaging lunatic, but a standalone singleplayer game enables players to more slowly and carefully dig into the narrative angle.
"We’re always looking at ways to offer different experiences to the Dead by Daylight community," Behaviour Interactive head of partnerships Mathieu Côté said. "Our players have been interested in a singleplayer sbfplay narrative experience for quite some time, and we’re excited to expand the Dead by Daylight universe and explore new territory with Supermassive games, a studio that is at the forefront of modern video game storytelling."
The Casting of Frank Stone is expected to be out sometime in 2024, and will be available for PC on Steam, Epic, and the Microsoft Store.