A few days ago, Behaviour Interactive revealed thatDead by Daylightwould receive some new content themed around AMC’sThe Walking DeadTV show in an upcoming DLC. While exciting, this news didn’t exactly come as a massive surprise to most fans, since the existence of this expansion was originally hinted at in a roadmap forDead by Daylightthat was unveiled at PAX East 2025. Regardless, though, since fans had been asking for aWalking Deadcrossover inDbDfor many years, it was somewhat surreal to finally see it come to fruition. AlthoughBehaviour confirmed that theWalking DeadDLC won’t contain a lot of new content, it did, at least, announce that it will add a few new significant characters to the game.
Rick Grimes and Michonne, two of the protagonists of AMC’sTheWalking Dead, are both going to be playable as Survivors inDead by Daylightupon this DLC’s release. These two characters will each have a set of three unique skills, some of which are complementary to each other and can make it easier to avoid attacks from Killers. One of themajor characters fromThe Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon, will also make an appearance inDead by Daylight, but only as a Legendary Skin for Rick Grimes; he won’t actually be available as a standalone character. While thisWalking DeadDLC seems largely decent for what it is, it honestly could have been a lot better if Behaviour went one step further and added a Killer.
One of the biggest fumbles withDead by Daylight’sWalking DeadDLC is its lack of additional Killers. Traditionally,the crossover DLCs forDbDhave added both Survivors and Killers, but this is the first time in the history of the game that an expansion has introduced two Survivors and almost nothing else. There are so many antagonists in theWalking DeadTV show that would’ve felt right at home as Killers inDead by Daylight, such as Alpha, Beta, The Governor, and even Negan Smith. While some of these characters — Negan, in particular — might have played a bit too similarly to other Killers in the game, it would have been nice to see them appear inDbDin some capacity.
Considering the number of recognizable locations in AMC’sThe Walking Dead, it’s a tad strange that Behavior Interactive also decided not to include any maps themed around the franchise initsDead by Daylightcrossover DLC. While there is a new map tile that appears whenever gamers play as either Rick or Michonne in the Garden of Joy map, this tile isn’t a full standalone map, and it only features a couple ofWalking Dead-themed locations. There are several places in theWalking Deadseries, like The Sanctuary, West Georgia Correctional Facility, and The Commonwealth, that seemed like ideal settings for aDead by Daylightmap, and yet, they’ve been completely overlooked by Behaviour.
The Walking DeadDLC has been labeled by Behaviour Interactive as a half-chapter expansion instead of a full one, so, to some extent, it’s understandable why it’s not that massive in scope. One could argue, however, that Behaviour shouldn’t have made the crossover DLC a half-chapter in the first place. Last year, the company released afullDungeons and DragonschapterforDead by Daylight, which included both a Killer and a Survivor, as well as some cosmetics.Dungeons and Dragonsisn’t even a horror franchise, so the fact that it received preferential treatment over a horror icon likeThe Walking Deadmakes little sense.
This may just be wishful thinking, but it would be great if Behaviour Interactive decided to revisitThe Walking Deadin another DLC forDead by Daylightsometime in the future. Given thatResident Evilhas received not one, but two DLCs for the game in the span of a few years, it wouldn’t be the first time that something like this has happened. There’s so much potential in thisWalking DeadandDead by Daylightcollaboration that it would just be unfortunate if it ended here.
