Why Dead by Daylight's Xenomorph Killer is so Controversial
Highlights Dead By Daylight has become a hub for horror franchise crossovers, with collaborations ranging from movies like Halloween to video games like Resident Evil. The latest crossover brings Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise to the game, introducing Ellen Ripley as a new Survivor and the Xenomorph as an overpowered Killer. The Xenomorph’s abilities, such as Hidden Pursuit and access to underground tunnels, make it an extremely tough enemy to fight, prompting fans to call for more balanced gameplay. The flame turrets feeling ineffective has not helped matters, either.
Over the past seven years, Dead By Daylight has become a hub for horror franchise crossovers. Dropping just a few months after the game initially launched, Dead By Daylight’s very first crossover added Halloween’s own Michael Myers to the asymmetrical multiplayer game, along with a map based on the movie series. Since then, Dead By Daylight has only continued to collaborate with horror franchises, ranging from other movie series like Saw and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, to fellow video games like Resident Evil.
The lastest Dead By Daylight crossover brings Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise to the game. Going above and beyond, this latest Alien collaboration adds a new Survivor in Ellen Ripley, a new map based on the first Alien movie’s Nostromo space freighter, and of course the main star of the whole DLC, the Xenomorph herself. And while the quality of this Dead By Daylight crossover DLC is very impressive, it isn’t without its criticisms, most of which revolve around the Xenomorph and her absurdly overpowered abilities.
Dead By Daylight’s Xenomorph Killer Is A Bit Too OP
When it comes to its Killers, Dead By Daylight tries to keep things as balanced as possible, though there are naturally just a handful that are ever so slightly more powerful than the rest. The Xenomorph has shot to the very top of that list already, with a handful of abilities and perks that are currently making it an extremely difficult foe to face off against. In a game where positioning and stealth are of paramount importance for the Survivor, the Xenomorph just steamrolls over all of that.
The Xenomorph’s main ability in Dead By Daylight is called Hidden Pursuit. This ability lets the Xenomorph enter a Crawler Mode, where it scurries around the map on all fours. This ability has several benefits for the Alien Killer. The most obvious of these is a new Tail Whip attack, which lets the Xenomorph attack players over the top of windows and pallets. This attack currently has an absurdly long range and fairly fast cooldown, making pallet switching and window escapes near impossible. In her Crawler state, the Xenomorph is also quite a bit faster, and has an extremely low terror radius, giving it a near-constant element of surprise.
The presence of the Xenomorph also spawns in a handful of Control Stations that are dotted around the map, often very close to generators. The Xenomorph can use these Control Stations to access an underground tunnel network, allowing them to zoom across the map in seconds. While underground, the Xenomorph can see footsteps and activity above them, allowing them to get the drop on unsuspecting Survivors. Naturally, all of these abilities make the Xenomorph a ridiculously tough enemy to fight, and that’s before even getting into possible perk combinations that allow it to see Auras across the map and increase its speed.
Survivors are given one unique form of defense against the Xenomorph’s many different abilities: a smattering of flame turrets. Located at each Control Station, players can pick up and place a handful of flame turrets wherever they choose. These flame turrets knock the Xenomorph out of its Crawler Mode, but that’s about it, and even that is a bit temperamental. Even if the Xenomorph stays in the turret’s range long enough to get knocked out of Crawler Mode, it can still use its basic attacks to get players, and its movement speed is barely reduced at all.
Right now, Dead By Daylight’s Xenomorph is extremely overpowered, and the only way all four Survivors are leaving is if they’re incredibly skilled or incredibly lucky. But there are some changes that could make the Xenomorph a bit more balanced, such as forcing the Xeno to return to its tunnels to recuperate after being set alight, or having the flame turrets briefly blind the Killer. Hopefully, some adjustments are made in the near future.
Dead by Daylight is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.